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Alanis Morissette

Alanis Morissette may be known first as a singer-songwriter, but performance has never been limited to the recording studio. Born in Ottawa on June 1, 1974, the Canadian-American artist made an early move into television, appearing in five episodes of the children’s sketch-comedy series You Can’t Do That on Television in 1986. It was an appropriately lively starting point for a career that would eventually span singing, songwriting, composing, acting and musicianship. Morissette’s defining artistic qualities emerged most forcefully through music: an emotive mezzo-soprano voice, confessional writing and a willingness to leave anger, uncertainty and contradiction unresolved. After two albums released in Canada, she found an international audience with 1995’s Jagged Little Pill. Its success turned songs including “You Oughta Know,” “Hand in My Pocket” and “Ironic” into major hits, while the album earned Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. Rather than simply repeat that breakthrough, she followed it with the more densely personal Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and later took sole writing and production duties on Under Rug Swept. Her work has also repeatedly crossed into film, television and theatre. She recorded “Uninvited” for the City of Angels soundtrack, earning Grammy Awards for Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and contributed “Wunderkind” to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In 2023, she released a cover of “No Return,” the theme song for the television series Yellowjackets. Her catalogue also became the foundation of the stage musical Jagged Little Pill, for which she contributed the new songs “Smiling” and “Predator.” As a screen performer, Morissette is part of a broader creative career rather than a conventional movie-star trajectory. What connects the different strands is her directness: whether acting, composing or singing, she approaches performance as a way of putting complicated emotions plainly in view.