Nancy Thompson

Background
Nancy Thompson is the original protagonist of A Nightmare on Elm Street, played by actress Heather Langenkamp. She is characterized by the grey streak in her grey hair from her nightmares.

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Nancy Thompson is the Girl Next Door who goes to Springwood High with her friends Tina, Glen and Rod. She is best friends with Tina, who has been suffering from traumatizing nightmares in which a man is trying to kill her. Nancy is surprised to learn that she and Tina are sharing the same dreams of a dirty, burned man in a red and green sweater. Tina is killed, and Nancy quickly realizes that these shared nightmares have the ability to kill them in reality.

Alarmed and having survived a few dream attacks, Nancy attempts to stay awake, raising some alarm with her mother Marge. Nancy begins drinking coffee, taking pills to stay alert. Afraid of her daughter's increasingly erratic behaviour, Marge sends Nancy to the Katja Institute for sleep, where Nancy learns that she can pull things from the dream realm back into reality. Nancy begins to form a plan as to how to take him out.

As her friends are slaughtered one by one, Nancy realizes that eventually she will be next. Refusing to die at the hands of the man now known to her as Fred Krueger, Nancy decides to pull Freddy out of his dream and take him out before he takes her out. After turning her back on him, refusing to believe in him any longer, Freddy is sent howling back to hell. Nancy escapes the nightmare...or does she?

Between the events of one and three, Nancy moves away from Springwood, presumably after the death of her mother Marge in the first film.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
Nancy does not specifically appear in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, though her presence is still felt with the new kid, Jesse Walsh, who has moved into her old home -- and her old room -- at 1428 Elm Street. Jesse and his girlfriend Lisa discover Nancy's old journal, chronicling her battles with Freddy Krueger.

Springwood has pretty much dismissed Nancy as a crazy, but no mention is made of whether or not she is still in Springwood at this point.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Nancy Thompson makes her return in The Dream Master, returning to Springwood to be an intern at the Westin Hills Psychiatric facility. Nancy has been doing groundbreaking research on pattern nightmares and now takes the experimental drug Hypnocil to suppress her nightmares and keep Freddy at bay.(does not work)

Nancy meets Kristen Parker and soon learns that Freddy is indeed back in full force, terrorizing and murdering children stuck in the psychiatric facility for being deemed as "suicidal". Dr. Neil Gordon takes a shine to Nancy, though he expresses disappointment in her for taking Hypnocil. As more and more of the kids wind up dead, however, Neil comes to Nancy's side, prescribing Hypnocil for the kids.

After Nancy and Neil are fired from Westin Hills -- after their patient Joey falls into a coma -- Nancy and Neil go to Nancy's estranged father, now a beaten down alcoholic, to track down Freddy's remains and give him a proper burial, to let him rest in peace and spare the lives of the kids. While Neil and her father Donald go for the remains, Nancy rushes back to Westin Hills, where Kristen Parker has been sedated after an outburst. Nancy and the surviving patients go into the dream to conquer Freddy and rescue Joey and save Kristen. They are successful.

Nancy is visited by an apparition of her father -- who was killed in the junkyard by Freddy's skeletal remains -- and she says good bye to him. However, the apparition is Freddy, and he stabs Nancy, throwing her to the ground. Nancy manages to save Kristen from Freddy's murderous rampage before dying.

Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors
Nancy appears as a spirit in this six-issue comic book series, resurrected by new Dream Master Jacob Johnson to help send Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees back to hell. She helps her love Neil Gordon defeat them by reading from the Necromonicon Ex-Mortis.

In Media
Nancy appears in the 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game adapted from A Nightmare on Elm Street. She is again teamed with other survivors to take on Freddy. Her character has the ability to freeze enemies.

Trivia
Heather Langenkamp beat over 200 actresses for the role of Nancy Thompson

Jennifer Grey, Demi Moore, Courteney Cox and Tracy Gold all auditioned for the role of Nancy Thompson

Prior to making Elm Street, Heather Langenkamp had only seen the horror film Burnt Offerings

During the scene where Nancy is running away from Freddy, back to her home, Heather Langenkamp cut her foot enough to require stitches. You can see her visibly limping in the scene.

In the original script, Nancy's name was Nancy Wilson.

Quotes
"Oh, God -- I look 20 years old." -- Nightmare 1

"Whatever you do, don't fall asleep." -- Nightmare 1

"Screw your pass." -- Nightmare 1