Jodie Foster Life Story
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Jodie Foster (born November 19, 1962) is a two-time Academy Award winning American actress, director, and producer.
Alicia Christian Foster was born to Lucius Foster and Brandy Almond in Los Angeles, California. She attended an exclusive prep school, the Lycée Français de Los Angeles, before going to Yale University where she earned a B.A. in literature and graduated magna cum laude in 1985.
While at Yale, Foster led a fairly normal life, considering her celebrity. She often would spend time with friends at the local dive bar Anchor, and she occasionally partied in the haunts of one of the secret societies, Manuscript Society (a scene recounting such an event is noted in Tom Perrotta’s novel Joe College).
Foster has appeared in more than 100 film and television shows since beginning her career at age three as the Coppertone Girl in a television commercial. Foster debuted as a television actress in a 1968 episode of Mayberry R.F.D.. Her first film appearance came in the 1970 TV movie Menace on the Mountain. Foster made a number of Disney movies, including Napoleon and Samantha (1972), One Little Indian (1973), Tom Sawyer (1973), Freaky Friday (1976) and Candleshoe (1977).
She also co-starred with Christopher Connelly in the 1974 TV series version of Paper Moon. As a teenager, Foster made several appearances on the French pop circuit as a singer. Commenting on her years as a child actress, which she describes as an “actor’s career”, Foster has said that “it was very clear to me at a young age that I had to fight for my life and that if I didn’t, my life would get gobbled up and taken away from me”.
At age 14, Jodie received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a preteen prostitute in Martin Scorsese’s film, Taxi Driver opposite Robert De Niro. De Niro’s character in Taxi Driver intended to assassinate a presidential candidate. In 1981, John Hinckley, Jr. shot U.S. President, Ronald Reagan and three other people.
He claimed his motive was to impress Foster. His obsession with Foster came after repeated viewings of the film, and he stalked her while she attended Yale University. This has been an incident of intense discomfort for Foster, who has been known to walk out of interviews if Hinckley’s name is even mentioned. The punk band Jodie Foster’s Army is named in reference to Hinckley’s actions.
Unlike child stars such as Shirley Temple or Tatum O’Neal, Foster successfully transitioned to adult roles. She won the first of her two Golden Globes and Academy Awards as Best Actress for her role as a gang-rape survivor in The Accused (1988). She earned her second for her co-starring role opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 film, The Silence of the Lambs. Foster is fluent in French, which she speaks with very little accent, and has performed in French-language films, such as Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004).
Foster made her directoral debut in 1991 with Little Man Tate, a drama about a child prodigy, in which she also costarred. She also directed Home for the Holidays (1995), a comedy starring Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr.. In 1992, Foster founded a production company called Egg Pictures in Los Angeles, and she began working as a producer in 1994 with the acclaimed Nell, the story of young woman raised in an isolated place who has to return to civilization.
She appeared as a scientist for the SETI project searching for extra-terrestrial life in the sci-fi movie Contact in 1997, based on the novel by scientist Carl Sagan. She appeared alongside Matthew Mcconaughey.
In the 2000s, Foster established a commercially successful persona as a tough, resourceful single mother, as embodied in the films Panic Room (2002) and Flightplan (2005).
Foster has appeared in a number of Japanese commercials, mostly in the 1990s. These include advertisements for the Honda Civic, Keri cosmetics, Mt. Rainier ice coffee, and the Pasona Temporary Agency. In 1998, an asteroid, 17744 Jodiefoster, was named in her honor. After taking a break from acting, Foster returned in the 2005 film, Flightplan.
Foster’s latest film, Inside Man, a thriller co-starring Denzel Washington, was released on March 24, 2006 and opened at #1 at the box office. Her next film will be The Brave One, a thriller which is being filmed in New York City, directed by Neil Jordan and co-starring Terrence Howard. Commenting on her latest roles, Foster has said that she enjoys appearing in mainstream genre films that have a “real heart to them”.
Foster gave the Class of 2006 University of Pennsylvania commencement address on May 15, 2006, the university’s 250th Commencement. The university also conferred to her the Doctor of Arts (honoris causa) degree for her lifelong achievement and contribution to film in both acting and directing. Her address is available in webcast and mp3 format.
Foster is intensely private about her personal life. She has two sons, Charles (b. 1998) and Christopher (b. 2001), but has not revealed the father’s identity or even if they have the same father. Because she has lived with producer Cydney Bernard for several years, some people assume that she is a lesbian, but Foster has not made any public statements regarding her sexual orientation. An unauthorized biography, Foster Child, written by her brother Buddy Foster, identifies her as bisexual.
In December 2007, Foster made headlines when, during an acceptance speech at Hollywood Reporter’s “Women in Entertainment” event, she paid tribute to film producer Cydney Bernard, referring to her as “my beautiful Cydney, who sticks with me through the rotten and the bliss.” Some media interpreted this as Foster coming out, as Bernard was believed to be her girlfriend since both met in 1992 during the filming of Sommersby.
Foster and Bernard never attended premieres or award ceremonies together, nor did they ever appear to be affectionate with each other. However, Bernard was seen in public with Foster’s children on many occasions. On May 15, 2008, several news outlets reported that Foster and Bernard had “called it quits.”
Foster is an atheist and does not follow any “traditional religion.” She has discussed the god of the gaps. Foster has “great respect for all religions” and spends “a lot of time studying divine texts, whether it’s Eastern religion or Western religion.” She and her children celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah. Some sources claim that Foster is a member of Mensa, but Foster herself denied that she is a member in an interview on Italian TV network RAI.
Foster’s films have spanned a wide variety of genres, from family films to horror. She has also won three Bafta Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a People’s Choice Award, and has received two Emmy nominations.
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