Dropping out of high school at 16, Demim Moore worked as a debt collector for a time and tried modeling. She developed an interest in acting, and in 198 she landed a role on the popular television soap opera “General Hospital” and in the film “Choices.” She appeared in the 3-D science fiction horror flick “Parasite” with her husband Freddie Moore, who she married the previous year.

After leaving her soap opera role, Moore captured attention in “St. Elmo’s Fire.” This film told the story of a group of friends as they confront post-college life. Moore then starred opposite Rob Lowe in “About Last Night,” a look at young singletons in Chicago.

Again playing the love interest, Moore co-starred with John Cusack in the popular comedy “One Crazy Summer.” She was working steadily, but had yet to score a big, box-office hit. Moore then appeared on the big screen with “The Seventh Sign,” an apocalyptic thriller. Moore took on lighter fare with her next effort, 1989’s “We’re No Angels,” which starred Robert De Niro and Sean Penn.

Moore’s biggest career breakthrough came in 1990 with the romantic drama “Ghost.” Ghost brought in approximately $218 million at the box office and earned five Academy Award nominations. Her next two films, “Nothing But Trouble” and “The Butcher’s Wife,” showed off Moore’s comedic side.

Co-starring with Tom Cruise, Moore played a tough navy lawyer in the smash hit “A Few Good Men.” She continued to prosper commercially with “Indecent Proposal.” In 1994, she starred opposite Michael Douglas in the box office hit “Disclosure.”

In 1995, Moore made movie history when she became the highest paid actress at the time — netting a $12.5 million payday for “Striptease.” The film is about a single mother who works as a stripper to earn money to fight her ex-husband for custody of their daughter (played by Moore’s real-life daughter Rumer).

She starred in 1997’s “G.I. Jane” as the first woman to attempt to join the elite Navy Seals military unit. For her role Moore trained vigorously, lifting weights for two hours a day and going for six-mile runs. She even shaved off her hair for one scene. All of this dedication, however, translated into a middling showing at the box office. Through her production company, Moving Pictures, Moore found more success as a producer of “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” and its sequels “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” and “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”

After a hiatus to raise her three daughters, Moore’s next big screen venture was heralded as her comeback. In “Charlie’s Angels 2: Full Throttle,” she played a villain named Madison Lee. Moore appeared opposite such younger talents as Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz.

In recent years, Moore has worked on several films. She had a small, but dramatic role playing an alcoholic lounge singer in Emilio Estevez’s “Bobby,” which imagined the final hours of Robert Kennedy through the eyes of different people at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel. Moore followed up this success with the thriller “Mr. Brooks” with Kevin Costner. She co-starred in the heist caper “Flawless” in 2008, which co-starred Michael Caine. In 2011, Moore gave another impressive performance in the drama “Margin Call.” She also expanded her work behind the camera that same year, signing a deal with the Lifetime cable network for several new projects.