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Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster a two-time Academy Award winner, won her first Oscar for her poignant performance as a rape survivor in the 1988 drama The Accused, for which she also won Golden Globe and National Board of Review Awards. She won her second Academy Award for her work in the 1991 Oscar-winning Best Picture The Silence of the Lambs. Foster's portrayal of FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling in that film also brought her Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards, as well as the New York and Chicago Film Critics Awards for Best Actress.

Foster received her first Oscar nomination at the age of 14 for her performance in Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver, also winning awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics. That year, she also became the only American actress to win two BAFTA Awards in the same year, earning Best Supporting Actress and Best Newcomer honors for her performances in both Taxi Driver and Bugsy Malone. Foster earned her latest Oscar nomination and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her work in the title role of 1994's Nell, which also marked her first film as a producer.

Foster is currently filming Nim's Island, in which she stars with Abigail Breslin and Gerard Butler. She most recently starred in Spike Lee's Inside Man and the thriller Flightplan and had a cameo appearance in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's French-language film A Very Long Engagement. In all, she has appeared in more than 40 films, also including David Fincher's Panic Room; Andy Tennant's Anna and the King; Robert Zemeckis' Contact; Maverick, with Mel Gibson and James Garner; Sommersby, opposite Richard Gere; Woody Allen's Shadows and Fog; Stealing Home; Siesta; Five Corners, for which she won an Independent Spirit Award; Claude Chabrol's The Blood of Others; Tony Richardson's The Hotel New Hampshire; and Adrian Lyne's Foxes. In addition, the multi-lingual Foster loops her own dialogue in French for all of her films.

Foster began her career at age three, appearing as The Coppertone Girl in a memorable television commercial. Emerging as one of the most successful child actresses of the day, she made her feature film debut in 1972's Napoleon and Samantha, followed by the role of Becky Thatcher in the 1973 musical version of Tom Sawyer. In 1974, Foster gave a stand-out performance in Martin Scorsese's hit Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Two years later, Scorsese cast her in the pivotal role of the young prostitute, Iris, in Taxi Driver, which was only one of five films in which the young actress appeared in 1976. She also starred in Bugsy Malone, Echoes of a Summer, The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, and the original Freaky Friday, for which she earned her first Golden Globe Award nomination.

Behind the camera, Foster made her motion picture directorial debut in 1991 with the acclaimed drama Little Man Tate, in which she also starred. In 1995, Foster directed and produced Home for the Holidays, starring Holly Hunter, Anne Bancroft and Robert Downey Jr.

In 1992, Foster founded her production company, Egg Pictures. In addition to Nell and Home for the Holidays, the company has produced the features Waking the Dead and The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, in which Foster also appeared. In 1998, Foster served as an executive producer on the Showtime movie The Baby Dance, which won a coveted Peabody Award and received four Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, both including Best Movie Made for Television. Egg Pictures also presented the award-winning French film Hate in the United States.

Foster graduated with honors from Yale University in 1985, earning a B.A. in Literature.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2007.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Jodie Foster Facts

Birth NameAlicia Christian Foster
OccupationActress, Producer
BirthdayNovember 19, 1962 (61)
SignScorpio
BirthplaceLos Angeles, California, USA
Height5' 3½" (1m61)  How tall is Jodie Foster compared to you?
Awards1995 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Female Actor in a Leading Role (for Nell)
1992 Academy Awards: Best Actress (for The Silence of the Lambs)
1992 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama (for The Silence of the Lambs)
1992 BAFTA Awards: Actress in a Leading Role (for The Silence of the Lambs)
1989 Academy Awards: Best Actress (for The Accused)

Selected Filmography

The Silence of the Lambs
Elysium
Panic Room
Taxi Driver
Nim's Island
Inside Man
Maverick
Contact
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