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Alicia Christian " Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an Oscar-winning American actress and director. Foster was born to Lucius Foster and Brandy Almond in Los Angeles, California, where she attended an exclusive prep school, the Lycée Français de Los Angeles, before going on to Yale University, where she earned a B.A. in literature, graduating magna cum laude in 1985.
Foster has made more than 100 appearances in film and television since the age of five. She began her career at age two in a television commercial as the Coppertone Girl. She debuted as a television actress in a 1969 episode of Mayberry R.F.D., and in film in the 1970 TV movie Menace on the Mountain. She appeared in several 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.
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, and in 1981, John Hinckley, Jr. shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three other people, claiming he did it to impress Foster. Hinckley had become obsessed with Foster after repeated viewings of the film, and stalked her for a time while she attended Yale University.
Unlike other child stars like Shirley Temple or Tatum O'Neal, Foster was able to make a successful transition 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 victim in The Accused (1988). She earned her second for her co-starring role opposite Anthony Hopkins in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs. She is fluent enough in French that she has performed in French-language films, such as Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004).
She made her debut as director 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. 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. In 1992, Foster founded a production company called Egg Pictures in Los Angeles.
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.
Foster is intensely private about her personal life. She has two sons (Charles in 1998 and Kit in 2001), but has never revealed the identity of their father or whether they share a father.
In 1998 asteroid 17744 Jodiefoster was named in her honor. |
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