Liesel Matthews (born March 14, 1984) is an American former child actress and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune. She starred as Sara Crewe in A Little Princess, a 1995 film adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic.
Uncle is Hyatt Hotel chain founder Jay Pritzker.
Attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. Class of 2002.
A member of the Pritzker family, which owns the Hyatt hotel chain and is said to control a fortune worth more than USD$15 billion.
Her family (Pritzker) has been near the top of Forbes magazine's "America's Richest Families" list since the magazine began in 1982. The Pritzkers started the Hyatt Hotels chain and also own Royal Carribean Cruise Lines.
Her stage name is the result of a vicious custody battle between her parents. When Little Princess, A (1995) was released she was supposed to be listed with her real last name, Pritzker-Bagley (she added the name Bagley after her mother remarried). However, her father insisted that she be listed as simply Liesel Pritzker and threatened to keep her from being in the film if his request was not honored. She took the last name Matthews after her brother Matthew's name.
She is one of 12 surviving grandchildren of patriarch Abram Nicholas Pritzker, a financier and industrialist who died in 1986. He left "substantially all of the vast holdings" of the family to trust funds, according to the suit.
The Pritzker family owns Hyatt, a chain that owns or operates 207 hotels worldwide, the family also controls industrial companies, real estate, cruise lines, banks, mining, railroads and the TransUnion credit bureau.
Attending Columbia University
According to the Forbes power list in 2003, she has a net worth of $160 million.
Has a stepsister, Karen
Stepdad is James J. Bagley
Has an older brother, Matthew
Parents are Irene & Robert (divorced)
Shares a birthday with Michael Caine (I), Mercedes McNab, Kylie Tyndall, Keaton Tyndall, Quincy Jones, Chris Klein (I), & Jamie Bell (I)
