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50 free Working Girl trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Working Girl opens on the Staten Island Ferry with Carly Simon's 'Let the River Run' and ends on the same boat, with Tess McGill finally in an office of her own. In between, Mike Nichols turned Kevin Wade's corporate Cinderella story into a six-time Oscar nominee and a $103 million hit. This quiz covers the plot (the Trask radio deal, the broken leg, the borrowed wardrobe, the notebook left behind), the production (Molly Ringwald's audition, the 7 World Trade Center lobby, the day the shoot shut down), the awards, and the afterlife: the Sandra Bullock TV series, the Cyndi Lauper musical and the Hulu reboot. Every answer is explained, so you can settle who actually won what at the 1989 Oscars and Golden Globes.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed Working Girl?
Mike Nichols
He agreed to direct after reading the script while shooting Biloxi Blues in Arkansas.
Q 02In what year was Working Girl released?
1988
It opened in the US and Canada on December 21 in 601 theaters before expanding over Christmas.
Q 03Tess McGill commutes to Manhattan from which New York borough?
Staten Island
Many scenes were shot in the New Brighton section of the borough, and the film opens and closes on its ferry.
Q 04Who plays Katharine Parker, Tess's scheming boss?
Sigourney Weaver
She earned an Oscar nomination and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for the role.
Q 05What is the name of Harrison Ford's mergers-and-acquisitions character?
Jack Trainer
He works at a rival firm and does not reveal who he is when he meets Tess at a bar the night before their meeting.
Q 06How did Tess earn her business degree?
Through night school
Despite the degree, her first boss and co-workers treat her like a bimbo while benefiting from her instincts.
Q 07Tess gets fired from her first job after doing what?
Posting insults about him on a VDT
Her boss had fixed her up with a rival executive who only wanted cocaine and sex; the message amused her colleagues.
Q 08What is the name of the mergers-and-acquisitions firm where Tess works for Katharine?
Petty Marsh
Four different Manhattan buildings stood in for its offices, including the lobby of 7 World Trade Center.
Q 09Tess's big idea is for Trask Industries to buy what?
A radio network
Katharine dismisses the idea to Tess's face, then plans to pass it off as her own.
Q 10How does Katharine end up out of the office and in the hospital?
A skiing accident
She breaks her leg and asks Tess to house-sit, which is how Tess finds the notes revealing the planned theft.
Q 11What is the name of Tess's best friend who helps with her makeover?
Cyn
Joan Cusack's performance earned one of the film's two Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations.
Q 12Tess passes out in a cab after mixing alcohol with what?
Valium
Jack takes her to his apartment; she leaves the next morning wrongly believing they slept together.
Q 13What does Tess accidentally leave at Katharine's apartment that exposes her deception?
Her notebook
It contains Jack's phone numbers and the time of the merger meeting, which Katharine then crashes.
Q 21How much did Working Girl gross worldwide?
$103 million
Of that, $63.8 million came from the US and Canada and $39.2 million from the rest of the world.
Q 22How many Academy Award nominations did Working Girl receive?
Six
They included Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress for Melanie Griffith; only the song won.
Q 23Which two Working Girl actresses were both nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar?
Sigourney Weaver and Joan Cusack
Neither won; the Oscar that year went to Geena Davis for The Accidental Tourist.
Q 14Katharine claims Jack follows a strict ethical code because he was once accused of what?
Stealing an idea
When Tess repeats the story at the meeting, Jack insists it was all a lie.
Q 15How does Tess finally convince Trask that the radio idea was hers?
An elevator pitch about its inspiration
Katharine cannot explain where the plan came from and is fired on the spot.
Q 16On her first day at Trask, Tess mistakes her new assistant Alice for whom?
Her supervisor
Tess insists on treating Alice as a colleague, the opposite of how Katharine treated her.
Q 17Who wrote and performed the film's theme song 'Let the River Run'?
Carly Simon
It plays over the opening shots of commuters on the Staten Island Ferry and reached No. 49 on the Hot 100.
Q 18'Let the River Run' made its creator the first solo artist to win which three awards for one song?
Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy
The song was composed, written and performed entirely by a single artist, a first for that trio of honors.
Q 19Where did 'Let the River Run' peak on the Billboard Hot 100?
No. 49
It did better on the Adult Contemporary chart, reaching No. 11 in early 1989.
Q 20Which label released the Working Girl soundtrack album in August 1989?
Arista
Scored by Carly Simon and Rob Mounsey, it peaked at No. 45 on the Billboard 200.
Q 24How many Golden Globes did Working Girl win?
Four
From six nominations it took Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actress for Griffith, Supporting Actress for Weaver and Best Song.
Q 25The film's composer received a BAFTA nomination in which category?
Best Original Score
The film's other BAFTA nods went to Griffith for Best Actress and Weaver for Best Supporting Actress.
Q 26Screenwriter Kevin Wade was inspired by seeing New York career women doing what in 1984?
Walking in tennis shoes while carrying their heels
The image of commuters switching shoes became the film's opening motif.
Q 27The director read the Working Girl script while shooting which film in Arkansas?
Biloxi Blues
Melanie Griffith had read the screenplay over a year before production and wanted the part of Tess.
Q 28Which actress auditioned for Tess but was deemed 'too young'?
Molly Ringwald
The director was so set on Griffith that he threatened to leave the film if the studio would not hire her.
Q 29Which studio made Working Girl?
20th Century Fox
It agreed to cast Griffith only after Weaver and Ford, both major stars, were aboard.
Q 30Why did the studio finally agree to cast Melanie Griffith as Tess?
Weaver and Ford's star power lowered the risk
Griffith had lobbied for the role for more than a year before her formal audition.