---

Actress, Director, Producer

Birth Name: Alicia Christian Foster
Date & Location of Birth: 19 November 1962, Los Angeles, California, USA, Born at 8:14 AM PST


Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series "Mayberry R.F.D." (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered to play the prostitute Iris in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received an Academy Award nomination in the "Best Supporting Actress" category, marked a breakthrough in her career. In 1980 she graduated as the best of her class from the College Lycée Français and began to study English Literature at Yale University, from where she graduated magna cum laude in 1985. One tragic moment in her life was March 30th, 1981 when John Warnock Hinkley Jr. attempted to assassinate the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Hinkley was obsessed with Jodie and the movie Taxi Driver (1976) in which Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro, tried to shoot presidential candidate Palantine. Despite the fact that she never took acting lessons, she was the first actress to receive two Oscars before the age of thirty. She received her first award for her part as Sarah Tobias in The Accused (1988) and the second one for her performance as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

IMDb mini-biography by
Mathias Peter Gabel

Lily Tomlin & Jodie Foster - Women In Film

Trivia:

(1995) Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#45).

(2000) Was supposed to be Commencement Speaker for Smith College in MA but eventually had to decline.

Uses her own voice in all of the French versions of any of her movies, because she can speak French fluently.

As a youngster, was mauled by a lion and carried briefly in its mouth after a day of filming a Disney movie

Majored in literature at Yale; graduated magna cum laude in 1985

(20 July 1998) Son, Charles, born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Had to pull out of Double Jeopardy because she became pregnant.

(October 1997) Ranked #18 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.

(1997) Received honourary Doctorate from Yale University.

Mother Brandy managed her through age 20.

Owns and chairs Production Company EGG PICTURES in Los Angeles, founded in 1990.

John F. Hinckley Jr. claimed that he attempted to kill President Reagan in order to impress her.

Graduated in 1980 as the class valedictorian from the private academy Lycée Français in Los Angeles.

Was reading by the time she was three years old.

Fluent in French by age 14, she spoke her own lines in the 1977 film Moi, fleur bleue (1977).

Sister of Buddy Foster.

(1976) Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1976" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 28.

Born Alicia Christian Foster in 1962, her three siblings insisted on calling her "Jodie".

Made her acting debut in a Coppertone suntan lotion commercial when she was 3 years old. Has said that her only regret is that she would love to live life without knowing what it's like to be famous.

For Sommersby (1993), Foster learned how to handle a horse-pulled buckboard.

Was offered a role in "Rubyfruit Jungle" twice and turned it down.

Has two convertibles.

Enjoys kickboxing, yoga, karate, aerobics, and weightlifting and collects fancy kitchenware and black and white photos.

Loves organic food.

Her favorite book is "Franny and Zooey" by J.D. Salinger.

Received an Honorary Degree from Smith College in Northampton, MA.

Gave the Class Day speech at Yale in 1993 and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Yale in 1997.

Got the role of Annabel Bradsford in the comedy Maverick (1994) after Meg Ryan turned it down.

Fought with CBS over a $12,000 hair and makeup bill incurred in preparation for her appearance on "60 Minutes II" (1999), Dec. 1999 to promote Anna and the King (1999).

Youngest host of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) until Drew Barrymore hosted in 1982.

Was replaced by Ashley Judd for the lead in Double Jeopardy (1999).

Starred as Addie Pray in the short lived TV show "Paper Moon" (1974)_ which was originally a movie starring (I) O'Neil, Tatum.

Never liked "All in the Family" (1971) because "It seemed to be doing the same thing each week".

Got the role of Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs, The (1991) after Michelle Pfeiffer turned it down.

(29 September 2001) Son, Kit, born in Los Angeles weighing 6 lbs 3 oz.

Father Lucius Foster left the family when Jodie's mother was a few months pregnant with her.

Was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2002.

Shut down production company Egg Pictures in late 2001 to spend more time with her children.

Was first choice to play the role of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, but could not get out of her contract with Disney. George Lucas then decided to make Princess Leia older.

Measurements: 34-24-33 1/2 (Souce: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Trivia courtesy of Internet Movie DataBase
For Jodie Foster's Filmography, please visit http://www.imdb.com