Jodie Foster
 |
Publicity still of Foster as "Iris", the 12 year old prostitute in Taxi Driver (1976) |
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, 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 for her role as
Clarice Starling, opposite
Anthony Hopkins as
Hannibal Lecter, in the 1991 film,
The Silence of the Lambs.
Foster made her directoral debut in 1991 with
Little Man Tate, an unsuccessful drama about a
child prodigy, in which she also costarred. 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 young woman raised in an isolated place who has to return to civilization.
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 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.
After taking time away from the spotlight, Foster returned in the
2005 blockbuster,
Flightplan. Foster portrayed a woman whose daughter disappears on an airplane which Foster's character had helped to build.
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, 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".
Foster gave the Class of
2006 University of Pennsylvania commencement address on
May 15,
2006, the university's 250
th 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[
1][
2]. Her
address is available in webcast and mp3 format.
Personal life
Foster is intensely private about certain aspects of her personal life. She has two sons, Charles (b.
1998) and Kit (b.
2001), both of whom she has revealed were created by
artificial insemination through
sperm bank donors, but she has not revealed the father's identity or even if they have the same father, or whether the children will or do know their father(s).It has been rumored that she is a
lesbian, although she has never confirmed such.
*Chosen by
Empire magazine as one of the 100 "Sexiest Stars" in film history (#45). [1995]
*Was supposed to be Commencement Speaker for Smith College in
Massachusetts but eventually had to decline. [2000]
*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
Napoleon and Samantha, a Disney movie.
*Hosted
Saturday Night Live at age 14, making her the youngest person to host (until a seven-year-old
Drew Barrymore hosted in the 1980's). The episode she hosted was also the last episode featuring
Chevy Chase as a castmember.
*Had to pull out of
Double Jeopardy (1999) because she became pregnant.
*Ranked #18 in
Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time.
*She has two sisters and a brother, Lucinda "Cindy" Foster (b. 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.
*Is a member of
MENSA.
*As a result of attending an exclusive French-speaking private school in Los Angeles, Foster is fluent in
French, which she speaks with almost no accent, and has performed in French-language films, such as
Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004).
*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.
*There have been at least 20+
punk,
hardcore,
heavy metal,
New Wave and
No Wave recordings that directly or indirectly reference Foster, included works by U.K. Subs,
JFA, PH2,
Half Japanese,
Sonic Youth, Darlington and Caustic Christ. Foster's voice has been
sampled from interviews and film performances and included on some tracks.
*Canadian poet
R. W. Watkins dedicated a 2002 broadside of
haikus to "Foster on her 40th". The haiku are based on her 1976 film
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (and the 1974 novel of the same name by
Laird Koenig), and were expanded to 24-page
chapbook-size for a 2005 republication by Nocturnal Iris Publications. The new edition features at least one avant-garde drawing of Foster by Watkins dating from 1988. Watkins also publishes the
fanzine Cellar, which concentrates on Foster's early and/or darker cinematic work, as well as that of Koenig, and (in particular) the point at which their careers intersect:
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.
*She is a fan of the
Los Angeles Dodgers.
*Loves organic food.
*"Kids talk like sailors now. Adults don't want to know." -- at age 14.
*On the advantages of being an actress who is months from turning 40: "They've lived longer, they're more confident about their choices and they don't have to be hip and cool anymore, which I think is a godsend - you make really bad choices when you are trying to be hip." -- April 2004
*"If I fail, at least I will have failed my way."
*On "Foster Child", her brother, Buddy Foster's unauthorized biography about her: "A cheap cry for attention and money filled with hazy recollections,
fantasies and borrowed
press releases. Buddy has done nothing but break our mother's heart his whole life."
Footnotes
*
Japanese commercials
