Molly Ringwald was born on February 18, 1968, in Roseville, California, to Adele Edith, a cook, and Robert Scott "Bob" Ringwald, a blind jazz pianist. She has two siblings, Beth and Kelly, and an older brother who passed away before she was born.

Molly Ringwald is of German and Swedish descent. She started her acting career at the age of five, appearing in a stage production of "Alice in Wonderland" as the Dormouse. The next year, she recorded "Molly Sings: I Wanna Be Loved by You," a music album of Dixieland jazz with her father and his group, the Fulton Street Jazz Band. Ringwald graduated from the Lycée Français de Los Angeles.

In 1978, at the age of 10, Molly Ringwald was chosen to play Kate in the West Coast production of "Annie." In 1979, she appeared on the TV series "Diff'rent Strokes" and was selected to become part of the large cast of that show's spin-off, "The Facts of Life."

She played Molly Parker, a perky, feminist student at Eastland Girls School. At the beginning of the second season, the show underwent a major revamp, and most of the cast, including Ringwald, were cut from the show. Ringwald later said that Nancy McKeon replaced her to play a new character named Jo.

In 1980, Molly Ringwald performed as a lead vocalist on two Disney albums. On the patriotic album "Yankee Doodle Mickey," Ringwald sang "This Is My Country," "The Star-Spangled Banner," and "God Bless America."

She later performed one track, "The First Noel," on a Disney Christmas album, "Disney's Merry Christmas Carols." Turning toward motion pictures, she got a key supporting role in the 1982 film "Tempest," directed by Paul Mazursky, and was nominated for a Golden Globe award for the role.

Molly Ringwald became a teen idol following her appearances in filmmaker John Hughes' teen films "Sixteen Candles" (1984), "The Breakfast Club" (1985), and "Pretty in Pink" (1986). These films led to the media referring to her as a member of the "Brat Pack."

Her final teen roles were in "For Keeps" and "Fresh Horses" (both in 1988). Following leading roles in "King Lear" (1987), "The Pick-up Artist" (1987), "Strike It Rich" (1990), and "Betsy's Wedding" (1990), she moved to Paris and began acting in French films.

In subsequent decades, Molly Ringwald acted in the television shows "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" (2008-2013), "Riverdale" (2017-2023), "Creepshow" (2021), "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" (2022), and "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" (2024).

Molly Ringwald married French writer Valéry Lameignère in 1999; the couple divorced in 2002. In 2007, she married Panio Gianopoulos, a Greek-American writer and editor. They have three children together: Adele Georgiana, Mathilda Ereni, and Roman Stylianos.

Ringwald is also a published author, having written several books, including a memoir titled "Getting the Pretty Back."