Jodie Foster (1962- )
"Normal is not something to aspire to,
it's something to get away from."
Being "normal" isn't something Jodie Foster need worry about - after all, this extraordinary woman is one of the most talented and intelligent actors ever alive. She is also an outstanding director and producer. Born Alicia Christian Foster in Los Angeles on November 19, 1962, Jodie's special gifts were apparent from an early age. She began reading at three and by age four had starred in a television commercial. Her intelligence and businesslike attitude led to numerous acting jobs. Between the ages of seven and 10 she appeared on television sitcoms and she made her film debut in 1972. Her breakthrough role was as a child prostitute opposite Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's controversial Taxi Driver (1976), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Jodie appeared in numerous films throughout the 1980s and her next big break came in 1988 with The Accused, in which she played a victim of gang rape. She won her first Academy Award for this role. Her second Academy Award came a few years later when she starred as Special Agent Clarice Starling in the FBI psychological thriller The Silence of the Lambs (1991), starring opposite Anthony Hopkins, who portrayed Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. In 1991 she made her directorial debut with Little Man Tate, in which she also starred. In 1992 she formed her own production company, Egg Pictures, whose first project was Nell (1994), which Jodie produced and starred in alongside Liam Neeson. She was again nominated for an Academy Award for that part. She has directed and/or produced several other projects in recent years, in addition to starring in such films as Contact (1997), based on Carl Sagan's science fiction novel, and Anna and the King (1999), as the English schoolteacher who captured the heart of the King of Siam. Jodie refused to reprise her role as Clarice Starling in Hannibal (2001); she cited scheduling conflicts as the reason, though many people think it's because she thought the script was inferior. More recent projects include David Fincher's thriller The Panic Room, in which Jodie plays a woman terrorized by burglars, and The Brave One, where she plays a victim who takes matters into her own hands. |
Drew Barrymore (1975- )
"There's something liberating about not pretending.
Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk."
Drew Barrymore is simply one of the most likeable personalities out there. She is not only an adorable and fiery actor, but also a Hollywood powerhouse in her own right as a producer. Born in Los Angeles on February 22, 1975 and coming from a legendary acting family, Drew was in television commercials as a baby. In 1982 she gained instant fame as Gertie in Steven Spielberg's E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial. She then starred in the sci-fi thriller Firestarter (1984), based on the novel by Stephen King, and Irreconcilable Differences (1984), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. But this child star soon developed problems. She was drinking by age nine, smoking marijuana by 10, and using cocaine by 12. She was a party-loving wild child. By the time she was 14, she had been institutionalized in a rehab center/mental institution after a suicide attempt. She then chronicled these highly-publicized bouts and her subsequent recovery in her autobiography, Little Girl Lost. After minor roles in unsuccessful projects, she made a comeback with her first major starring role in Poison Ivy (1992). She quickly gained success and newfound respect with such films as Bad Girls (1994), Boys on the Side, and Mad Love (both 1995). By the time she had a high-profile cameo in Wes Craven's runaway hit Scream (1996), she had become a major Hollywood star. She appeared opposite Edward Norton in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (1996), alongside Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer (1998), and with Anjelica Huston in the Cinderella story Ever After (1998). She then ventured into producing with her next project. She had founded her production company Flower Films in 1994, and their first release was Never Been Kissed (1999), a remarkable look into high school popularity, cliques, and the importance of being yourself. The year 2000 saw her star with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu in the super-blockbuster big-screen version of Charlie's Angels, which showed Drew as a tough action heroine. She was also a producer on the film. More recent projects are Penny Marshall's Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), in which she plays a teen mother, and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, a successful blockbuster sequel. Drew continues to serve as producer as well as actor on most of her projects. |
Natalie Portman (1981- )
"I'm going to college. I don't care if it ruins my career.
I'd rather be
smart than a movie star."
Natalie Portman is an amazing actor and young woman. She's not only beautiful and talented, but she's also intelligent and kind, luminous on screen and stunning in person, and full of integrity. An only child, she was born in Jerusalem, Israel on June 9, 1981. In the late 1980s, her family moved to the U.S., eventually settling on New York's Long Island. Her father is an infertility specialist and her mother is a homemaker. After a dance class in 1991, Natalie was discovered by a modeling scout in a pizza parlor. She said "no thanks" to modeling, but did express an interest in acting, something she pursued at summer theatre camp. Soon she found herself cast as a lead character in Luc Besson's Léon or The Professional when just 13 years old. From her very first film, Natalie was tagged with star quality. In Léon (1994), her character Mathilda befriends a rugged hitman played by Jean Reno. He serves as her mentor, and she becomes his savior. This intense film won Natalie popular attention and critical acclaim. She then had several smaller, yet memorable, roles. In Michael Mann's Heat (1995), she had a dark part as Al Pacino's suicidal stepdaughter. Next up was her scene-stealing turn in Ted Demme's Beautiful Girls (1996) as a precociously attractive, wise-beyond-her-years ingénue who captures the heart of Timothy Hutton. Her next films, Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You and Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (both 1996), let Natalie act alongside a wide array of superstars, including Alan Alda, Goldie Hawn, Drew Barrymore, Edward Norton, Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, and Martin Short. Natalie made her Broadway debut as the title character in a revised version of The Diary of Anne Frank when she was 16. For this role, critics noted her grace as well as her unfettered talent and youthful exuberance. She skyrocketed to international superstardom when she starred as the wise young leader Queen Amidala in George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). She then starred opposite Susan Sarandon in Anywhere But Here (1999), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and Stockard Channing and Ashley Judd in Where the Heart Is (2000). In the summer of 2001, she returned to the New York stage in Mike Nichols's production of Chekhov's The Seagull, starring with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, John Goodman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. She appeared in the sequels Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. She won a Golden Globe for her part in Closer and starred in the independent hit Garden State in 2004. More recent roles include the heroine in V for Vendetta (2005), dual roles in Goya's Ghosts (2006), and as the infamous Anne Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). |
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