Jodie Foster

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Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster at the 61st Academy Awards Governor's Ball, March 29, 1989
Birth name	Alicia Christian Foster
Born	November 19, 1962 (age 44) Los Angeles, California, United States
Years active	1968 - present
Notable roles	Iris in Taxi Driver Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs
Academy Awards
Best Actress 1988 The Accused 1991 The Silence of the Lambs
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama 1989 The Accused 1992 The Silence of the Lambs
BAFTA Awards
Best Actress in a Leading Role 1991 The Silence of the Lambs Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1976 Taxi Driver ; Bugsy Malone

Jodie Foster (born November 19, 1962) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actress, director, and producer.

Early life

Foster was born as Alicia Christian Foster to Lucius Foster III and Evelyn 'Brandy' Foster (née Almond) in Los Angeles, California. Her father left the family a few months before she was born, and her mother supported the family by working as a film producer. She attended an exclusive French-speaking prep school, the Lycée Français de Los Angeles, and graduated valedictorian before going to Yale University where she earned a B.A. in literature and graduated magna cum laude in 1985.^[2] While at Yale, Foster, like fellow 1985 Yale graduate Jennifer Beals of Flashdance fame, led a fairly normal life, considering her celebrity status. She would often spend time with friends at the local dive bar Anchor, and she occasionally partied in the haunts of one of the secret societies, the Manuscript Society (a scene recounting such an event is noted in Tom Perrotta's novel Joe College).

Early career

Foster made nearly 50 film and television appearances before she attended college. She began her career at age three as the Coppertone Girl in a television commercial and 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), Freaky Friday (1976) and Candleshoe (1977). She also co-starred with Christopher Connelly in the 1974 TV series version of Paper Moon and alongside Martin Sheen in the 1976 cult classic The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. 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."^[3] She hosted Saturday Night Live at age 14, making her the youngest person to host at that time until Drew Barrymore hosted when 7 years old. Foster was originally meant to be Princess Leia but was unable to pull out of her contract with Disney.^[4] She made her debut (and only official) musical recordings in France in 1977: two 7" singles, "Je T'attends Depuis la Nuit des Temps" b/w "La Vie C'est Chouette" and "When I Looked at Your Face" b/w "La Vie C'est Chouette." The A-side of the former is sung in French, the A-side of the latter in English. The B-side of both is mostly spoken word and is performed in both French and English. These three recordings were included on the soundtrack to Foster's 1977 French film Moi, fleur bleue.

Jodie Foster as the pre-teen prostitute "Iris" in Taxi Driver (1976), the role that jump-started her career and earned her an Academy Award nomination.

At age 14, Foster was nominated for the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress for her role as a pre-teen prostitute in Martin Scorsese's film, Taxi Driver opposite Robert De Niro. De Niro's character, the deranged Travis Bickle, intends to "save" her from life on the streets. When that doesn't work, he tries to assassinate a presidential candidate.

John Hinckley Jr., a deranged fan, became obsessed with her after seeing the film repeatedly, and he stalked her while she attended Yale, sending her love letters to her campus mail box and even talking to her on the phone. On March 30, 1981, he shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three other people, and claimed his motive was to impress Foster, then a Yale freshman. The media stormed the Yale campus in April "like a cavalry invasion," following Foster relentlessly. In 1982, Foster was called to testify during his trial. After she responded to a question by saying that "I don’t have any relationship with John Hinckley," Hinckley threw a pen at her and yelled "I’ll get you, Foster!"^[5] Another man, Edward Richardson, followed Foster around Yale and planned to shoot her, but decided against it because she "was too pretty."^[6] This all caused intense discomfort to Foster, who has been known to walk out of interviews if Hinckley's name is even mentioned.^[7] Foster's only public reactions to this were a press conference afterwards and an article entitled Why Me?, which she wrote for Esquire magazine in December 1982, about two years after the assassination attempt.^[8] The punk band Jodie Foster's Army is named in reference to Hinckley's actions.

Transition to adult roles

Unlike child stars such as Shirley Temple or Tatum O'Neal, Foster successfully made the transition to adult roles, but not without initial difficulty. She gained significant weight while at Yale and, after several unsuccessful films post-Taxi Driver, was forced to audition for her role in The Accused. She won the part and the first of her two Golden Globes and Academy Awards as Best Actress for her role as a gang-rape survivor. She earned her second in what is arguably her most famous role^{[citation needed]}, Clarice Starling, opposite Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, in the 1991 film, The Silence of the Lambs.

In 1997 she starred alongside Matthew McConaughey in the sci-fi movie Contact, based on the novel by scientist Carl Sagan. She portrayed a scientist searching for extra-terrestrial life in the SETI project. In 1998, an asteroid, 17744 Jodiefoster, was named in her honor.

Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling

In the 1990s Foster began to branch out into other aspects of film besides acting. She made her directorial debut in 1991 with Little Man Tate, a critically acclaimed^[9] drama about a child prodigy, in which she also co-starred. She also directed Home For The Holidays (1995), a black 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 a young woman raised in an isolated place who has to return to civilization.

Recent roles

After taking time away from the spotlight, Foster returned in the 2005 blockbuster Flightplan. Foster portrayed a woman whose daughter disappears on an airplane that Foster's character, an engineer, had helped to design.

She has performed in French-language films, such as Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004), and dubs her own voice in American movies for releases in French speaking countries.

Foster's most recent film, Inside Man, a thriller co-starring Denzel Washington and Clive Owen, was released on March 24, 2006, and opened at #1 at the box office. Her next film will be The Brave One, a thriller that is being filmed in New York City, both in Manhattan and Brooklyn. It is directed by Neil Jordan and co-stars 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."^[10]

At the 2007 Academy Awards she referred to the death of Randy Stone two weeks prior and called him her best friend.

Personal life and recognition

She has two sisters and a brother, Lucinda "Cindy" Foster (born 1954), Constance "Connie" Foster (b. 1955), and Lucius "Buddy" Foster (b. 1957). During the filming of both Taxi Driver and The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane her stand-in was her older sister, Connie.

Foster is intensely private about certain aspects of her personal life. She has two sons, Charles (b. 1998) and Kit (b. 2001). She has never disclosed or discussed their father. She pulled out of Double Jeopardy (1999) because she became pregnant.^[11] She also is a member of Mensa, with an IQ of 140. ^[12]

She gave the Class of 2006 University of Pennsylvania commencement address on May 15, 2006, the university's 250^th commencement. The university also conferred on her the Doctor of Arts (honoris causa) degree for her lifelong achievement and contribution to film in both acting and directing.^[13][14] Her commencement address is available in Webcast (jump to 1:44:08) and MP3 format.

Quotes

• "This is such a big deal, and my life is so simple. There are very few things — there's love, and work, and family. And I'd like to thank all my families, all the tribes that I come from and, most importantly, my mother Brandy who taught me that all my finger paintings were Picassos and that I didn't have to be afraid. And, mostly, that cruelty might be very human, and it might be very cultural, but it's not acceptable." — Oscar Acceptance Speech, 1989 Academy Awards, Best Actress in a Leading Role, The Accused.
• "I'd like to dedicate this award to all the women before me that never had the chances that I've had, the survivors, the pioneers and the outcasts. My blood, my tradition. And I'd like to thank all the people in this industry who've respected my choices and have not been afraid of the power and dignity that that entitled me to" — Oscar Acceptance Speech, 1992 Academy Awards, Best Actress in a Leading Role, The Silence of the Lambs.

Filmography

Award Nominations

References

Footnotes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Jodie Foster

• Jodie Foster at the Internet Movie Database
• Jodie Foster at the Notable Names Database
• Jodie Foster at All Movie Guide
• Jodie Foster at TV.com