Helen Slater debuted her acting career with ‘Amy & The Angel’ in 1982. Soon after, following her high school graduation, she secured the lead role in 1984’s ‘Supergirl.’
Although the film received mixed reviews from critics in those years, it brought fame and new parts in projects like ‘The Legend Of Billie Jean’ to Slater. Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, she took part in many comedies and dramas that made a name for her in the industry, including ‘Ruthless People,’ ‘The Secret Of My Success,’ ‘Happy Together,’ and ‘A House In The Hills.’
Around that time, the actress married editor Robert Watzke and gave birth to a daughter. Then, she stepped out of the spotlight for a few years with occasional appearances in TV shows as a guest star and in less commercial films.
As she made a comeback in 2003, Slater returned to the DC universe with her role as Superman’s biological mother in the 2007 series ‘Smallville.’ Later, in 2015, she played Supergirl’s mother, Eliza Danvers, in 13 episodes of the ‘Supergirl’ series.
By the 2020s, the actress shifted her focus from acting to studying. In her fifties, she began pursuing a Ph.D. in mythology at the Pacifica Graduate Institute in Northern California. Discussing this with The Jewish Chronicle in 2022, she explained:
“A lot of my attention has moved towards that because work has become so scarce for women in their fifties. I have been so lucky in being under the wire [in Hollywood] and still being able to make a living at it.”
Slater also entered the music industry by releasing two albums, ‘One Of These Days’ and ‘Crossword,’ in the early 2000s. Additionally, she contributed to the ‘Supergirl’ comic book series by writing ‘A Hero’s Journey’ for its fifth volume in 2010.