Michelle Ingrid Williams (born September 9, 1980) is an American actress best known as Jen Lindley on "Dawson's Creek". Born in Kalispell, Montana, she is the eldest of the five children of Larry, a commodities broker, and Carla Williams, a homemaker.
When she was nine, her family moved to San Diego, California. Her mother took her to auditions in Los Angeles where she won her first film role, as a space alien who turned into Natasha Henstridge in the 1995 movie "Species". She graduated from high school at fifteen and was emancipated from her parents so she could pursue an acting career. She won several small roles before she was cast as Jen Lindley on "Dawson's Creek", the part that made her a star.
Her first starring role in films was as Arlene in "Dick" (1999). Since then, she has been in a half-dozen films, including "The Station Agent", "Me Without You" and "Brokeback Mountain" where she met her fiancee, actor Heath Ledger.
She gave birth to the couple's first child on October 28, 2005, a baby girl named Matilda Rose Ledger.
