Jump to content

Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sturunner (talk | contribs) at 00:04, 25 June 2014 (Reverted 1 edit by 164.67.46.233 (talk): Deleted OR & Personal Opinion. U must cite sources for such a charge. Discuss on talk . (TW)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Please do not use {{Infobox television film}} directly. See the documentation for available templates. Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story is an American TV film directed by Peter Levin. It was first released on April 7, 2003 in the United States. This movie is adapted from Liz Murray's autobiography, Breaking Night.

Synopsis

Thora Birch stars as Liz Murray, one of two daughters of an extremely dysfunctional Bronx family. As a young girl, Murray lives with her sister, their drug-addicted, schizophrenic mother and their father, also a drug addict who is intelligent, but has AIDS, lacks social skills, and is not conscientious. She is removed from the home and put into the care system as her father cannot take care of her. At 15 she moves in with her mother, sister and Grandfather who sexually abused her mother. After a run-in with her Grandfather she runs away with a girl from school who is being abused at home. After her mother Jean Murray (1954-1996) dies of AIDS, which she got from sharing needles during her drug abuse, she gets a 'slap in the face' by her mother's death and begins her work to finish high school, which she amazingly completed in two years, rather than the usual four. She becomes a star student and earns a scholarship to Harvard University through an essay contest sponsored by The New York Times.

Cast

Reception

Awards and nominations

2003 Emmy Awards
  • Nominated: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie — Thora Birch
  • Nominated: Outstanding Made for Television Movie
  • Nominated: Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special — Anita Brandt-Burgoyne
2003 Casting Society of America (Artios)
  • Nominated - Best Casting for TV Movie of the Week — Susan Edelman
2004 American Cinema Editors (Eddies)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Homeless_to_Harvard:_The_Liz_Murray_Story&oldid=614294735"