Hailey Matthews

Hailey Matthews (born May 5, 1967) is American actress, former singer, and filmmaker. best known for the role as Female Gang Fighter in 1985 action film starring Ricky Pulmer, My Lucky Stars, and Rochelle in 1990 zombie film, Left 4 Dead 2.

Early life
"I was born in the busy city of Brooklyn. Loud and busy city."

- Hailey Matthews She was born on May 5, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York, to George Johnson and Emily Matthews. She was the second oldest of 3 children. The oldest one was Daniel Johnson (born 1966) and the youngest one was Derby Matthews. (born on March 19, 1972)

Career
"I started acting in Spring 1976, because my parents were the stars in New York and I wanted to follow in my mother's footsteps."

- Hailey Matthews At age 9, Hailey decided to follow in her mother's footsteps. Her first acting role was in the 1977 horror film "Audrey Rose" playing the role as Ivy Templeton, and her mother Emily played as Janice Templeton, which was filmed in 1976.

And then the same year she played as Kung-Fu in the 1977 film "House". And then the same year she played as Lucy from the 1977 film, The Goodbye Girl, the same movie as her mother Emily Matthews played the role as Paula McFadden.

She appeared in a few of the commercials from 1977 to 1984, and again in 1989 to 2001, and finally in 2015 to present. In late 1981, Matthews created her character named Karen Packer for local sketch TV show titled "The Funny Yorker"

In 1982, at age 15, Hailey Matthews recorded her single LP, "Hard Boiled Lady".

In 1983, she made a cameo appearance as a customer playing an arcade game, in the horror film "Monster House" along with her mother as a woman knows about how the house was becoming a monster.

She played as Amy in 1983 Steven King film "The Dead Zone".

In 1984, she played as Nancy in A Nightmare from Elm Street.

In same year She was playing as Female Gang Fighter in Ricky Pulmer's My Lucky Stars (1985) which was her final planned acting role until 1990. Making her the only villain role in her career.

Also the same year she reprised the role of Karen Packer for Season 2 of The Funny Yorker. But this season was only four episodes rather then six. All Karen Packer segments was filmed in August of 84.

In 1985, She appear in 1985 film "Hitchhiker Killer" as Selby Wall which was filmed in early 84.

First acting hiatus
"The reason why I'm taking a 5-year break from acting is because I'm wanted to focus on both fashion designer and making dress myself."

- Hailey Matthews On November 6, 1984, the final day of Matthews' acting career. She was afraid and scared about tearing Barbara Woo's outfit (played by 15-year-old Rebecca Hudson). She really likes breaking Hudson's character's back.

But the director of that film, 15-year-old Robert Cunningham, refused to allow her to do that, because in Patricia Gonzalez's version, Female Gang Fighter did break her back, which was a test audiences hated that scene. They decided to cross that off, and it was rewritten as "tearing outfit", which they made a horrible mistake for her.

It took 1 and half hours of preparing to rip it. Matthews really scared to rip it because her outfit looked beautiful, and even had puffed sleeves that she loved it. She watched the episode of Anne of Green Gables about Puffed Sleeves while she at studying.

One and a half hours later, she says "Screw it, I'm gonna rip it". She ripped her outfit off using her bare hands with 4 cameras rolling.

After this scene was filmed, Matthews was shocked and horrified that she had done. She ran out of the studio, and then entered her trailer, and cries a lot. Robert Cunningham comes in to her trailer and says "Hailey, I know that you are refused to do that, but you're only person to do that".

After that, she calmed down and Robert said "Hailey, I can get teared outfit to your home, just in case if you want to repair that". She agreed to do that and said "I can do that, few days before your film released." After that, she came back to the studio and filmed the one last scene which was Robert punches, Female Fighter. And after the scene was filmed, Hailey Matthews decided to take a 5-year hiatus from acting to become a dressmaker. Rebecca Hudson said to Hailey, "Good luck to being a dressmaker".

After she finished filming with her body-double Cassie Chan as Female Gang Fighter on November 19, 1984, Robert give ripped outfit at home.

On November 9, 1984, 3 days after her announcement, A Nightmare on Elm Street was released in theaters. On Christmas Day 1984, her parents got her sewing machine to fix her outfit from the movie.

On February 4, 1985 few days before the film release of My Lucky Stars, with her help of her long-time friend Kathy Packerson, she fixed her ripped dress using the same fabric as they used from the movie. As the ripped dress was completely fixed, she was delivered to Hudson. She was very happy where she got her fixed dress and she said "This was perfect dress for world premiere and other performances."

On February 10, 1985, My Lucky Stars premiered in theaters, with Hudson wearing her fixed outfit that Matthews repaired. A few days later, she made a replica of that dress where she still has that to this day.

In the summer of 1985, Matthews graduated from high school to begin a part-time job as a dressmaker.

Although she did a commercial for Kodacolor VR-G in 1985.

In Fall of 1985, Hitchhiker Killer was released in theaters.

When 1989 came in, Hailey Matthews had plans to change her appearance like, changing her hairstyle, getting breast implants, changing the looks, returning to acting, and then leaving the state. In the fall of that year, at age 22, Hailey Matthews announced that she would return to acting career after 5 years, and landed in Hollywood, California, along with her mother and father.

First acting revival
Her first role since 1984 was Rochelle in Left 4 Dead 2 along with her mother playing the role as Boomette. Which was released in Fall 1990. When this movie was finished in early 1990, it would mark a return to films for Matthews after a 5-year hiatus. When this movie was released, she became one of most hottest actresses at the time, and also she became a sex symbol.

Since Matthews give a new hot look, she instantly became a porn actress. She appeared in many porn films and videos from 1990 to 1996. In 1990, at age 23, Matthews recorded her first single since 1982, "We Can't Stop". And then the same year she appeared in Playboy magazine, where she's wearing a green puffed sleeve dress that she loves it so much.

In the 1990s, Matthews appeared in many independent films and B-movies, including Revenge of the Cheap Fighters (1991), which was a parody of the 1985 film, My Lucky Stars, directed by Theophile Patterson.

She would continue to appear in more films and TV appearances until September 11, 2001, when his second husband died in a plane crash into World Trade Center.

Second and last acting hiatus
In late 2001, Matthews decided to take another hiatus from acting. This time, is longer than 5 years. She later explains,

""The reason why I haven't made films and television appearances is because there's so much to do. Like, taking care of my kids after my second husband died in 9/11, taking care of my mother, and taking my kids to school. So I taking a longer break from acting, and now I'm going to miss my acting career so much.""

- Hailey Matthews

Later work
In 2003, Matthews received her first film credit since 2001, when he provided voice work as the voice of Scary Godmother in the animated film Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular.

In 2005, Matthews reprised her role as Scary Godmother in Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy.

On February 10, 2015, in honor of My Lucky Stars 30th Anniversary, Matthews announced that she will return to her acting career once again, with no plans to retire anytime soon.

Personal life
24-year-old Matthews diagnosed with alcoholism in 1991. Which caused her to ruin her career and marriage. She stopped drinking in 1996 after she realized that drinking alcohol was bad. A year later she was recovered from alcoholism.

In 1992, 25-year old Matthews was arrested for drunk driving.

She was married three times. Her first marriage was to Gabe Matthews in August 1985. She first met her in mid-1984. She gave birth to one child named Antonio Matthews in 1990. Gabe left Matthews in 1992 due to her alcoholism. Her second marriage was to Rick Pine in 1998. From 1999 to 2000, she gave birth to two children, Amy Pine (born June 12, 1999), and Sean Pine (born September 12, 2000). Rick died one day shy of Sean's 1st birthday, as a passenger on United Airlines Flight 175, the second and last plane to crash into the World Trade Center. His death caused her to take a longer break from acting to take care of her kids herself. Her third marriage was to Spencer Rosario in 2016.