Liz Murray(II)
- Producer
- Actress
Liz Murray grew up to impoverished, heroin-addicted, HIV-infected
parents. At age 9, she started bagging groceries and pumping gas. She
did not attend school until 8th grade. Her mother also suffered from
blindness and mental illness, and died of AIDS-related tuberculosis
when Liz was 15. Liz often only went to school to pick up train passes
and a hot meal. When her father moved to a shelter, Liz found herself
living on the streets, eating from dumpsters and finding shelter on
all-night subway routes. She had dismal grades due to poor attendance,
but was accepted by the Humanities Preparatory School in Greenwich
Village, where she encountered teachers who cared about her welfare.
Liz began to read literature and study physics, but still had no stable
place to stay. She did her homework in subway stations and stairwells.
Because she started high school late (age 17), she doubled her
courseload and finished high school in two years. She received a New
York Times scholarship for needy students and was accepted to Harvard,
where she began classes in 2000. Her memoir 'Breaking Night' is due
from Hyperion Books in 2005.