Jodie Foster
Encyclopedia
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress.
Foster began acting in commercials at three years of age, and her first significant role came in the 1976 film Taxi Driver
as the preteen prostitute
Iris for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
. Also that year, she starred in the cult film The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress
in 1989, for playing a rape survivor in The Accused. In 1991, she starred in The Silence of the Lambs as Clarice Starling
, a gifted FBI trainee, assisting in a hunt for a serial killer
. This performance received international acclaim and her second Academy Award for Best Actress. She received her fourth Academy Award nomination for playing a hermit in Nell
(1994). Other popular films include Bugsy Malone
(1976), Freaky Friday
(1976), Maverick
(1994), Contact
(1997), Panic Room (2002), Flightplan
(2005), Inside Man
(2006), The Brave One
(2007), and Nim's Island
(2008).
Foster's films have spanned a wide variety of genres, from family films to horror
. In addition to her two Academy Awards she has won three BAFTA Awards
for two films, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a People's Choice Award, and has received two Emmy nominations.
, California, the daughter of Evelyn "Brandy" Ella (née Almond) and Lucius Fisher Foster III. Her father, a decorated Air Force lieutenant-colonel turned real estate broker, came from a wealthy background and left his wife before Jodie was born. Evelyn supported Jodie by working as a film producer. After appearing as a child in several commercials, Foster made her first credited TV appearance on The Doris Day Show
. Her first film role was in the 1970 television movie Menace on the Mountain, which was followed by several Disney
productions.
Foster attended a French-language prep school
, the Lycée Français de Los Angeles
, and graduated in 1980, as the valedictorian
. She frequently stayed and worked in France as a teenager, and still speaks the language fluently. She attended Yale University
, and was a member of Calhoun College
and Manuscript Society
. She graduated magna cum laude, earning a bachelor's degree in literature in 1985. She was scheduled to graduate in 1984, but the shooting
of then-President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr.
, in which Hinckley's fascination with Foster created unwanted adverse publicity for her, caused her to take a semester's leave of absence from Yale. She later gave the Class Day speech at her alma mater in 1994, and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the university in 1997.
Fluent in French, Foster has dubbed
herself in French-language versions of most of her films. In 2004, she took a minor role in the French WWI film, A Very Long Engagement
. She also understands German and can converse in Italian.
Foster has German, English and Irish roots, being the descendant of Mayflower
passengers William Mullins and his wife Alice, and of Priscilla
and John Alden
. Another English ancestor is Samuel Eddy, born in 1608, in Kent, and one of her great-great-great grandmothers, Eliza Platt, was from Ireland.
in a television commercial and debuted as a television actress in a 1968 episode of Mayberry R.F.D.
She was managed by her mother. In 1969, she appeared in an episode of Gunsmoke
, where she was credited as "Jody Foster". She is also credited as "Jodi Foster" for her 1970 Daniel Boone
role and credited as "Jodie Foster" for her 1970 Adam-12
role. Although not a regular on The Courtship of Eddie's Father
, she appeared from time to time as Eddie's friend Joey Kelly. She made her film debut in the 1970 TV movie Menace on the Mountain and was featured as Tallulah in Bugsy Malone
in 1976. As a child, Foster made a number of Disney
movies, including Napoleon and Samantha
(1972) and One Little Indian (1973), and she continued to star in Disney films into her early teens. On television, she appeared in an episode of The Partridge Family
titled "The Eleven-Year Itch", co-starred with Christopher Connelly in the 1974 TV series Paper Moon
and alongside Martin Sheen
in the 1976 cult film The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
. As a teenager, Foster made several appearances on the French pop music
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." She hosted Saturday Night Live
at age 14, making her the youngest person to host at that time until Drew Barrymore
hosted at the age of seven. She also said,
Foster 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" backed with "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.
Foster starred in three films in 1976: Taxi Driver
, Bugsy Malone
, and Freaky Friday
. She was nominated for the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress
for her performance in Taxi Driver. She won two British Academy Film Awards
in 1977: the BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
for her performances in Bugsy Malone opposite Scott Baio
and Taxi Driver opposite Robert De Niro
. She received a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Freaky Friday
. As a teenager, she also starred in the Disney adventure Candleshoe
(1977) and the coming-of-age drama Foxes (1980).
became obsessed with Foster after watching Taxi Driver
a number of times, and 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 attempted to assassinate
U.S. President Ronald Reagan (shooting and wounding Reagan and three others) and claimed his motive was to impress Foster, then a Yale freshman. The media stormed the Yale campus in April "like a cavalry invasion," and followed Foster relentlessly.
Another man, Edward Richardson, followed Foster around Yale and planned to shoot her, but decided against it because she "was too pretty." This all caused intense discomfort to Foster and reporters have constantly been warned in advance not to bring up the subject in front of her, as she has been known to walk out of interviews if Hinckley's name is even mentioned. In 1991, Foster canceled an interview with NBC's Today Show when she discovered Hinckley would be mentioned in the introduction. Foster's only public reactions to this were a press conference afterwards and an article titled "Why Me?" that she wrote for Esquire
in December 1982. In that article she wrote that returning to work on the film Svengali with Peter O'Toole
"made me fall in love with acting again" after the assassination attempt had shaken her confidence. In 1999, she discussed the experience with Charlie Rose
of 60 Minutes II
.
Unlike other child stars such as Shirley Temple
or Tatum O'Neal
, Foster successfully made the transition to adult roles, but it was not without initial difficulty, as several of the films in her early adult career were financially unsuccessful. These included The Hotel New Hampshire
, Five Corners, and Stealing Home
. She had to audition for her role in The Accused. She won the part and the first of her two Golden Globes
and Academy Awards
and a nomination for a BAFTA Award
as Best Actress for her role as a rape survivor. She starred as FBI trainee Clarice Starling
in the 1991 thriller The Silence of the Lambs, for which she won her second Academy Award and Golden Globe, and won her first BAFTA Award for Best Actress
. This is the only film that Foster has won the most awards for. This "sleeper"
film marked a breakthrough in her career, grossing nearly $273 million in theaters and becoming her first blockbuster
.
Foster made her directorial debut in 1991, with Little Man Tate
, a critically acclaimed drama about a child prodigy
, in which she also co-starred as the child's mother. 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. It primarily produced independent film
s until it was closed in 2001. Foster said that she did not have the ambition to produce "big mainstream popcorn" movies, and as a child, independent films made her more interested in the movie business than mainstream ones. She played Laurel Sommersby in Sommersby
opposite Richard Gere
, who would comment that "She's very much a close-up actress, because her thoughts are clear."
Foster starred in two films in 1994, first in the hugely successful western spoof Maverick
and later in Nell
, in which she starred as an isolated woman who speaks an invented language and must return to civilization. Her performance earned her nominations for her fourth Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and an MTV Movie Award, and won her a Screen Actors Guild Award and a People's Choice Award. In 1996, Women in Film awarded her the Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. In 1997, she starred alongside Matthew McConaughey
in the science-fiction movie Contact
, based on the novel by scientist Carl Sagan
. She portrayed a scientist searching for extraterrestrial life in the SETI
project. She commented on the script that "I have to have some acute personal connection with the material. And that's pretty hard for me to find." Contact was her first sci-fi film, and her first experience with a bluescreen. She commented,
, was named in her honor. In 1999, she starred in the non-musical remake of The King and I
titled Anna and the King
, which became an international commercial success.
In 2002, Foster took over the lead role in the thriller Panic Room after Nicole Kidman
dropped out due to a previous injury. The film costarred Forest Whitaker
, Jared Leto
, Dwight Yoakam
and Kristen Stewart
and was directed by David Fincher
. It grossed over $30 million in its opening weekend in the United States, Foster's biggest box office opening success of her career so far. She then performed in the French-language film Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement)
(2004), speaking French fluently throughout. She returned to English-language films with the 2005 thriller Flightplan
, which opened once again in the top position at the U.S. box office and was a worldwide hit. She portrayed a woman whose daughter disappears on an airplane that her character, an engineer, helped to design.
In 2006, Foster co-starred in Inside Man
, a thriller directed by Spike Lee
and starring Denzel Washington
and Clive Owen
, which again opened at the top of the U.S. box office and became another international hit. In 2007, she starred in The Brave One
directed by Neil Jordan
and co-starring Terrence Howard
, another urban thriller that opened at No.1 at the U.S. box office. Her performance in the film earned her a sixth Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination and another People's Choice nomination, for Favorite Female Action Star. Commenting on her latest roles, she has said she enjoys appearing in mainstream genre films that have a "real heart to them."
In 2008, Foster starred in Nim's Island
alongside Gerard Butler
and Abigail Breslin
, portraying a reclusive writer who is contacted by a young girl after her father goes missing at sea. The film was the first comedy that Foster has starred in since Maverick
in 1994, and was also a commercial success.
, for the film Sugarland; however, the film was shelved indefinitely in 2007. Foster is developing a biopic of Leni Riefenstahl
. She directs and stars opposite her Maverick
co-star Mel Gibson
in a black comedy titled The Beaver
, out in April 2011.
Foster provided her voice in a tetralogy episode of The Simpsons
titled "Four Great Women and a Manicure
."
Foster recently stated that she would be involved with directing a sci-fi film. The film is still in the script stage, however, it is said to be a family-based film.
and Mayberry, R.F.D. Foster and her brother have been estranged for many years. In 1997, he wrote a book titled Foster Child in which he stated "I have always assumed Jodie was gay or bisexual." In the book, he writes that she was conceived in her father's office three years after their parents divorced when their mother went to him for child support. He also claims that her name was changed from "Alicia" to "Jodie" because it was a code "Jo D" for their mother's partner, Josephina Dominguez. Jodie Foster called the book:
Foster is intensely private about certain aspects of her personal life, notably her sexual orientation
, which has been the subject of speculation.
Foster has two sons: Charles "Charlie" Foster (b. July 20, 1998) and Christopher "Kit" Foster (b. September 29, 2001). Foster gave birth to both children, but has not revealed the identity of the children's father(s).
In December 2007, Foster made headlines when, during an acceptance speech at Hollywood Reporter's "Women in Entertainment" event, she paid tribute to film producer Cydney Bernard, referring to her as "my beautiful Cydney, who sticks with me through the rotten and the bliss." Some media interpreted this as Foster coming out
, as Bernard was believed to be her girlfriend since both met in 1992, during the filming of Sommersby
. Foster and Bernard never attended premieres or award ceremonies together, nor did they ever appear to be affectionate with each other. However, Bernard was seen in public with Foster's children on many occasions. On May 15, 2008, several news outlets reported that Foster and Bernard had "called it quits."
Foster is an atheist
and does not follow any "traditional religion." She has discussed the god of the gaps
. Foster has "great respect for all religions" and spends "a lot of time studying divine texts, whether it's Eastern religion or Western religion." She and her children celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah. Some sources claim that Foster is a member of Mensa
, but Foster stated that she is not a member during an interview on Italian
TV network RAI
.
Foster began acting in commercials at three years of age, and her first significant role came in the 1976 film Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
as the preteen prostitute
Prostitution of children
Prostitution of children or child prostitution is the commercial sexual exploitation of children in which a child performs the services of prostitution, for financial benefit. The term normally refers to prostitution by a minor, or person under the local age of majority...
Iris for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
. Also that year, she starred in the cult film The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is a 1976 Canadian-French film directed by Nicolas Gessner and starring Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen. It was written by Laird Koenig, based on Koenig's 1974 novel of the same title; Koenig also wrote a stage play based on his book...
. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
in 1989, for playing a rape survivor in The Accused. In 1991, she starred in The Silence of the Lambs as Clarice Starling
Clarice Starling
Clarice M. Starling is a fictional character and the protagonist in the novels The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal by Thomas Harris....
, a gifted FBI trainee, assisting in a hunt for a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. This performance received international acclaim and her second Academy Award for Best Actress. She received her fourth Academy Award nomination for playing a hermit in Nell
Nell (film)
Nell is a 1994 drama film starring Jodie Foster as a young woman who has to face other people for the first time after being raised by her mother in an isolated cabin. The film was directed by Michael Apted, and was based on Mark Handley's play Idioglossia. The original music score is composed by...
(1994). Other popular films include Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema...
(1976), Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday (1976 film)
Freaky Friday is a 1976 American comedy film starring Jodie Foster as Annabel Andrews and Barbara Harris as her mother.The film is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers, in which mother and daughter switch bodies and get a taste of each others' lives. The cause of the switch is left...
(1976), Maverick
Maverick (film)
Maverick is a 1994 Western comedy film based on the 1950s television series of the same name, created by Roy Huggins. The film was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by William Goldman and features Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner, as well as several cameo appearances...
(1994), Contact
Contact (film)
Contact is a 1997 American science fiction drama film adapted from the Carl Sagan novel of the same name and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Both Sagan and wife Ann Druyan wrote the story outline for the film adaptation of Contact....
(1997), Panic Room (2002), Flightplan
Flightplan
Flightplan is a 2005 thriller film directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Erika Christensen, Kate Beahan, Greta Scacchi, and Sean Bean. It was released in North America on September 23, 2005...
(2005), Inside Man
Inside Man
Inside Man is a 2006 crime-drama film directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster. The film's screenplay was written by Russell Gewirtz and produced by Brian Grazer...
(2006), The Brave One
The Brave One (2007 film)
The Brave One is a 2007 crime-drama/psychological thriller film directed by Neil Jordan, produced by Joel Silver, and starring Jodie Foster. It was released in the United States on September 14, 2007...
(2007), and Nim's Island
Nim's Island
Nim's Island is a 2008 Australian adventure-fantasy film directed by Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin and starring Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, and Gerard Butler. The story is based on the book Nim's Island by Wendy Orr. A young girl, Nim, seeks help from the author of her favorite adventure...
(2008).
Foster's films have spanned a wide variety of genres, from family films to horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
. In addition to her two Academy Awards she has won three BAFTA Awards
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
for two films, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a People's Choice Award, and has received two Emmy nominations.
Early life
Foster was born in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California, the daughter of Evelyn "Brandy" Ella (née Almond) and Lucius Fisher Foster III. Her father, a decorated Air Force lieutenant-colonel turned real estate broker, came from a wealthy background and left his wife before Jodie was born. Evelyn supported Jodie by working as a film producer. After appearing as a child in several commercials, Foster made her first credited TV appearance on The Doris Day Show
The Doris Day Show
The Doris Day Show is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 1968 until September 1973. In addition to showcasing Doris Day, the show is remembered for its many abrupt format changes over the course of its five-year run...
. Her first film role was in the 1970 television movie Menace on the Mountain, which was followed by several Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
productions.
Foster attended a French-language prep school
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
, the Lycée Français de Los Angeles
Lycée Français de Los Angeles
Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles is a bicultural independent, private school based in Los Angeles. Offering preschool – 12th grade, the learning institution was founded by Esther and Raymond Kabbaz in 1964 and is structured as a non-profit organization...
, and graduated in 1980, as the valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
. She frequently stayed and worked in France as a teenager, and still speaks the language fluently. She attended Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and was a member of Calhoun College
Calhoun College
Calhoun College is a residential college of Yale University.-Early history:In 1641, John Brockston established a farm on the plot of land that is now Calhoun College...
and Manuscript Society
Manuscript Society
Manuscript Society is a senior secret society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Toward the end of each junior year, 16 undergraduates are "tapped" to be inducted into the society, which meets twice weekly for dinner and discussion...
. She graduated magna cum laude, earning a bachelor's degree in literature in 1985. She was scheduled to graduate in 1984, but the shooting
Reagan assassination attempt
The Reagan assassination attempt occurred on Monday, March 30, 1981, just 69 days into the presidency of Ronald Reagan. While leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr...
of then-President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr.
John Hinckley, Jr.
John Warnock Hinckley, Jr., attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1981, as the culmination of an effort to impress teen actress Jodie Foster. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has remained under institutional psychiatric care since...
, in which Hinckley's fascination with Foster created unwanted adverse publicity for her, caused her to take a semester's leave of absence from Yale. She later gave the Class Day speech at her alma mater in 1994, and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the university in 1997.
Fluent in French, Foster has dubbed
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
herself in French-language versions of most of her films. In 2004, she took a minor role in the French WWI film, A Very Long Engagement
A Very Long Engagement
A Very Long Engagement is a 2004 French romantic war film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou. It is a fictional tale about a young woman's desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed on the battle of the Somme, during World War I...
. She also understands German and can converse in Italian.
Foster has German, English and Irish roots, being the descendant of Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
passengers William Mullins and his wife Alice, and of Priscilla
Priscilla Alden
Priscilla Alden , , noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims, was the wife of fellow colonist John Alden . They married in 1623 in Plymouth.-Biography:...
and John Alden
John Alden
John Alden is said to be the first person from the Mayflower to set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620. He was a ship-carpenter by trade and a cooper for Mayflower, which was usually docked at Southampton. He was also one of the founders of Plymouth Colony and the seventh signer of the Mayflower Compact...
. Another English ancestor is Samuel Eddy, born in 1608, in Kent, and one of her great-great-great grandmothers, Eliza Platt, was from Ireland.
Child star
Foster made nearly 50 film and television appearances before she attended college. She began her career at age three as a Coppertone GirlCoppertone girl
Coppertone is the brand name for an American sunscreen, owned by Merck, formerly Schering-Plough. Coppertone is the sister brand to Bain de Soleil, which is targeted to adult females....
in a television commercial and debuted as a television actress in a 1968 episode of Mayberry R.F.D.
Mayberry R.F.D.
Mayberry R.F.D. is a spin-off and direct continuation of The Andy Griffith Show under a new title, for the same sponsor, General Foods...
She was managed by her mother. In 1969, she appeared in an episode of Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, where she was credited as "Jody Foster". She is also credited as "Jodi Foster" for her 1970 Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
role and credited as "Jodie Foster" for her 1970 Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
role. Although not a regular on The Courtship of Eddie's Father
The Courtship of Eddie's Father
The Courtship of Eddie's Father is an American television sitcom based on the 1963 movie of the same name, which was based on the book written by Mark Toby...
, she appeared from time to time as Eddie's friend Joey Kelly. She made her film debut in the 1970 TV movie Menace on the Mountain and was featured as Tallulah in Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema...
in 1976. As a child, Foster made a number of Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
movies, including Napoleon and Samantha
Napoleon and Samantha
Napoleon and Samantha is a 1972 family/adventure/drama directed by Bernard McEveety and written by Stewart Raffill. Filmed in and around John Day, Oregon, it stars Michael Douglas, Jodie Foster, and Johnny Whitaker.-Plot:...
(1972) and One Little Indian (1973), and she continued to star in Disney films into her early teens. On television, she appeared in an episode of The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
titled "The Eleven-Year Itch", co-starred with Christopher Connelly in the 1974 TV series Paper Moon
Paper Moon (TV series)
Paper Moon is a short-lived situation comedy which aired on ABC during the fall of 1974, starring Christopher Connelly and Jodie Foster in the roles of Moses Pray and his presumed daughter, Addie...
and alongside Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
in the 1976 cult film The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is a 1976 Canadian-French film directed by Nicolas Gessner and starring Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen. It was written by Laird Koenig, based on Koenig's 1974 novel of the same title; Koenig also wrote a stage play based on his book...
. As a teenager, Foster made several appearances on the French pop music
French pop music
French pop music is the pop music sung in the French language. It is usually performed by singers from France, Belgium, Quebec, or any of the other francophone areas of the world...
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." She hosted Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
at age 14, making her the youngest person to host at that time until Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
hosted at the age of seven. She also said,
"I think all of us when we look back on our childhood, we always think of it as somebody else. It's just a completely different place. But I was lucky to be around in the '70s and to really be making movies in the '70s with some great filmmakers – the most exciting time, for me, in American Cinema. I learned a lot from some very interesting artists – and I learned a lot about the business at a young age, because, for whatever reason, I was paying attention; so it was kind of invaluable in my career."
Foster 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" backed with "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.
Foster starred in three films in 1976: Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
, Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema...
, and Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday (1976 film)
Freaky Friday is a 1976 American comedy film starring Jodie Foster as Annabel Andrews and Barbara Harris as her mother.The film is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers, in which mother and daughter switch bodies and get a taste of each others' lives. The cause of the switch is left...
. She was nominated for the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for her performance in Taxi Driver. She won two British Academy Film Awards
British Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...
in 1977: the BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
-Best British Director, Producer or Writer in the First Film:*2006 - Red Road - Andrea Arnold**Black Sun – Gary Tarn**Pierrepoint – Christine Langan**London to Brighton – Paul Andrew Williams...
and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film...
for her performances in Bugsy Malone opposite Scott Baio
Scott Baio
Scott Vincent James Baio is an American actor and television director, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, and as the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge....
and Taxi Driver opposite Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
. She received a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday is a classic comedic children’s novel written by Mary Rodgers first published in the USA in 1972, and adapted for film several times.-Plot:...
. As a teenager, she also starred in the Disney adventure Candleshoe
Candleshoe
Candleshoe is a 1977 Walt Disney Productions live action family film and heist film based on the Michael Innes novel Christmas at Candleshoe and starring Jodie Foster, Helen Hayes in her last big screen appearance, David Niven and Leo McKern.-Plot:...
(1977) and the coming-of-age drama Foxes (1980).
Target of fan obsession
John Hinckley, Jr.John Hinckley, Jr.
John Warnock Hinckley, Jr., attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1981, as the culmination of an effort to impress teen actress Jodie Foster. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has remained under institutional psychiatric care since...
became obsessed with Foster after watching Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
a number of times, and 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 attempted to assassinate
Reagan assassination attempt
The Reagan assassination attempt occurred on Monday, March 30, 1981, just 69 days into the presidency of Ronald Reagan. While leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr...
U.S. President Ronald Reagan (shooting and wounding Reagan and three others) and claimed his motive was to impress Foster, then a Yale freshman. The media stormed the Yale campus in April "like a cavalry invasion," and followed Foster relentlessly.
Another man, Edward Richardson, followed Foster around Yale and planned to shoot her, but decided against it because she "was too pretty." This all caused intense discomfort to Foster and reporters have constantly been warned in advance not to bring up the subject in front of her, as she has been known to walk out of interviews if Hinckley's name is even mentioned. In 1991, Foster canceled an interview with NBC's Today Show when she discovered Hinckley would be mentioned in the introduction. Foster's only public reactions to this were a press conference afterwards and an article titled "Why Me?" that she wrote for Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
in December 1982. In that article she wrote that returning to work on the film Svengali with Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
"made me fall in love with acting again" after the assassination attempt had shaken her confidence. In 1999, she discussed the experience with Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
of 60 Minutes II
60 Minutes II
60 Minutes II was a weekly primetime news magazine television program that was intended to replicate the "signature style, journalistic quality and integrity" of the original 60 Minutes series.It aired on CBS on Wednesdays, then later moved to Fridays at 8 p.m...
.
Adult career
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
or Tatum O'Neal
Tatum O'Neal
Tatum Beatrice O'Neal is an American actress best known for her film work as a child actress in the 1970s. She is the youngest to win a competitive Academy Award, at the age of 10, which she won for her performance as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon opposite her father Ryan O'Neal...
, Foster successfully made the transition to adult roles, but it was not without initial difficulty, as several of the films in her early adult career were financially unsuccessful. These included The Hotel New Hampshire
The Hotel New Hampshire (film)
The Hotel New Hampshire is a 1984 comedy-drama film based on John Irving's 1981 novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Tony Richardson and stars Jodie Foster, Beau Bridges, Rob Lowe, and Nastassja Kinski. The film also features Wilford Brimley, Amanda Plummer, Matthew Modine,...
, Five Corners, and Stealing Home
Stealing Home
Stealing Home is a 1988 movie, starring Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, Jonathan Silverman, and Harold Ramis. The film is directed by Steven Kampmann and William Porter.-Plot summary:...
. She had to audition for her role in The Accused. She won the part and the first of her two Golden Globes
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
and Academy Awards
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
and a nomination for a BAFTA Award
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :...
as Best Actress for her role as a rape survivor. She starred as FBI trainee Clarice Starling
Clarice Starling
Clarice M. Starling is a fictional character and the protagonist in the novels The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal by Thomas Harris....
in the 1991 thriller The Silence of the Lambs, for which she won her second Academy Award and Golden Globe, and won her first BAFTA Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :...
. This is the only film that Foster has won the most awards for. This "sleeper"
Sleeper hit
A sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
film marked a breakthrough in her career, grossing nearly $273 million in theaters and becoming her first blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
.
Foster made her directorial debut in 1991, with Little Man Tate
Little Man Tate
Little Man Tate is a 1991 motion picture drama directed by and starring Jodie Foster.It tells the story of Fred Tate, a 7-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-actualize in a social and psychological construct that largely fails to accommodate his intelligence...
, a critically acclaimed drama about a child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
, in which she also co-starred as the child's mother. She also directed Home for the Holidays
Home for the Holidays (film)
Home for the Holidays is a 1995 comedy-drama film directed by Jodie Foster and produced by Peggy Rajski and Jodie Foster. The screenplay was by W. D. Richter based on the short story by Chris Radant...
(1995), a black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
starring Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...
and Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey, Jr. is an American actor. Downey made his screen debut in 1970 at the age of five when he appeared in his father's film Pound, and has worked consistently in film and television ever since. During the 1980s he had roles in a series of coming of age films associated with the...
In 1992, Foster founded a production company called Egg Pictures in Los Angeles. It primarily produced independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
s until it was closed in 2001. Foster said that she did not have the ambition to produce "big mainstream popcorn" movies, and as a child, independent films made her more interested in the movie business than mainstream ones. She played Laurel Sommersby in Sommersby
Sommersby
Sommersby is a 1993 romantic drama film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Richard Gere, Jodie Foster, Bill Pullman and James Earl Jones.Set in the Reconstruction period following the U.S...
opposite Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
, who would comment that "She's very much a close-up actress, because her thoughts are clear."
Foster starred in two films in 1994, first in the hugely successful western spoof Maverick
Maverick (film)
Maverick is a 1994 Western comedy film based on the 1950s television series of the same name, created by Roy Huggins. The film was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by William Goldman and features Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner, as well as several cameo appearances...
and later in Nell
Nell (film)
Nell is a 1994 drama film starring Jodie Foster as a young woman who has to face other people for the first time after being raised by her mother in an isolated cabin. The film was directed by Michael Apted, and was based on Mark Handley's play Idioglossia. The original music score is composed by...
, in which she starred as an isolated woman who speaks an invented language and must return to civilization. Her performance earned her nominations for her fourth Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and an MTV Movie Award, and won her a Screen Actors Guild Award and a People's Choice Award. In 1996, Women in Film awarded her the Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. In 1997, she starred alongside Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor.After a series of minor roles in the early 1990s, McConaughey gained notice for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused . He then appeared in films such as A Time to Kill, Contact, U-571, Tiptoes, Sahara, and We Are Marshall...
in the science-fiction movie Contact
Contact (film)
Contact is a 1997 American science fiction drama film adapted from the Carl Sagan novel of the same name and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Both Sagan and wife Ann Druyan wrote the story outline for the film adaptation of Contact....
, based on the novel by scientist Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...
. She portrayed a scientist searching for extraterrestrial life in the SETI
SETI
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is the collective name for a number of activities people undertake to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. Some of the most well known projects are run by the SETI Institute. SETI projects use scientific methods to search for intelligent life...
project. She commented on the script that "I have to have some acute personal connection with the material. And that's pretty hard for me to find." Contact was her first sci-fi film, and her first experience with a bluescreen. She commented,
The film was another huge commercial success and earned Foster nominations for numerous awards, including a Golden Globe. In 1998, an asteroid, 17744 Jodiefoster
"Blue walls, blue roof. It was just blue, blue, blue. And I was rotated on a lazy SusanLazy SusanA Lazy Susan is a rotating tray, usually circular, placed on top of a table to aid in moving food on a large table or countertop.- Origin :The term "Lazy Susan" made its first written appearance in a Good Housekeeping article in 1906, although their existence dates back to the 18th century...
with the camera moving on a computerized arm. It was really tough."
17744 Jodiefoster
17744 Jodiefoster is a Mars-crossing asteroid discovered on January 18, 1998 by the OCA-DLR Asteroid Survey at Caussols. It is named after the actress Jodie Foster. The original citation from Minor Planet Circular 46683 reads :...
, was named in her honor. In 1999, she starred in the non-musical remake of The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
titled Anna and the King
Anna and the King
Anna and the King is a 1999 biographical drama film loosely based on Anna and the King of Siam, the story of Anna Leonowens, who was an English schoolteacher in Siam, now Thailand, in the 19th century...
, which became an international commercial success.
In 2002, Foster took over the lead role in the thriller Panic Room after Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
dropped out due to a previous injury. The film costarred Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
, Jared Leto
Jared Leto
Jared Joseph Leto is an American actor, director, producer, occasional model and musician. Leto has appeared in both big budget Hollywood films and smaller projects from independent producers and art houses. He rose to prominence for playing Jordan Catalano in the teenage drama My So-Called Life...
, Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...
and Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room , Zathura , In the Land of Women , The Messengers , Adventureland and The Runaways .- Early life :Stewart was born and raised in Los...
and was directed by David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
. It grossed over $30 million in its opening weekend in the United States, Foster's biggest box office opening success of her career so far. She then performed in the French-language film Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement)
A Very Long Engagement
A Very Long Engagement is a 2004 French romantic war film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou. It is a fictional tale about a young woman's desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed on the battle of the Somme, during World War I...
(2004), speaking French fluently throughout. She returned to English-language films with the 2005 thriller Flightplan
Flightplan
Flightplan is a 2005 thriller film directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Erika Christensen, Kate Beahan, Greta Scacchi, and Sean Bean. It was released in North America on September 23, 2005...
, which opened once again in the top position at the U.S. box office and was a worldwide hit. She portrayed a woman whose daughter disappears on an airplane that her character, an engineer, helped to design.
In 2006, Foster co-starred in Inside Man
Inside Man
Inside Man is a 2006 crime-drama film directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster. The film's screenplay was written by Russell Gewirtz and produced by Brian Grazer...
, a thriller directed by Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
and starring Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
and Clive Owen
Clive Owen
Clive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...
, which again opened at the top of the U.S. box office and became another international hit. In 2007, she starred in The Brave One
The Brave One (2007 film)
The Brave One is a 2007 crime-drama/psychological thriller film directed by Neil Jordan, produced by Joel Silver, and starring Jodie Foster. It was released in the United States on September 14, 2007...
directed by Neil Jordan
Neil Jordan
Neil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...
and co-starring Terrence Howard
Terrence Howard
Terrence Dashon Howard is an American actor. Having his first major role in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, which subsequently led to a number of roles in films and high visibility among African American audiences. Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of well-reviewed television...
, another urban thriller that opened at No.1 at the U.S. box office. Her performance in the film earned her a sixth Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination and another People's Choice nomination, for Favorite Female Action Star. Commenting on her latest roles, she has said she enjoys appearing in mainstream genre films that have a "real heart to them."
In 2008, Foster starred in Nim's Island
Nim's Island
Nim's Island is a 2008 Australian adventure-fantasy film directed by Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin and starring Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, and Gerard Butler. The story is based on the book Nim's Island by Wendy Orr. A young girl, Nim, seeks help from the author of her favorite adventure...
alongside Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...
and Abigail Breslin
Abigail Breslin
Abigail Kathleen Breslin is an American teen actress. She is one of the youngest actresses ever to be nominated for an Academy Award....
, portraying a reclusive writer who is contacted by a young girl after her father goes missing at sea. The film was the first comedy that Foster has starred in since Maverick
Maverick (film)
Maverick is a 1994 Western comedy film based on the 1950s television series of the same name, created by Roy Huggins. The film was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by William Goldman and features Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner, as well as several cameo appearances...
in 1994, and was also a commercial success.
Current projects
Foster was set to direct, as well as reunite with actor Robert De NiroRobert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
, for the film Sugarland; however, the film was shelved indefinitely in 2007. Foster is developing a biopic of Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
. She directs and stars opposite her Maverick
Maverick (film)
Maverick is a 1994 Western comedy film based on the 1950s television series of the same name, created by Roy Huggins. The film was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by William Goldman and features Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner, as well as several cameo appearances...
co-star Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
in a black comedy titled The Beaver
The Beaver (film)
The Beaver is a 2011 drama film directed by Jodie Foster and starring Mel Gibson and Foster in their first film together since 1994's Maverick.-Plot:...
, out in April 2011.
Foster provided her voice in a tetralogy episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
titled "Four Great Women and a Manicure
Four Great Women and a Manicure
"Four Great Women and a Manicure" is the twentieth episode of the twentieth season of The Simpsons. It was broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 10, 2009. It is the first Simpsons episode in history to have four acts instead of the usual three...
."
Foster recently stated that she would be involved with directing a sci-fi film. The film is still in the script stage, however, it is said to be a family-based film.
Personal life
Foster has two older sisters, Lucinda "Cindy" Foster (b. 1954), Constance "Connie" Foster (b. 1955), and an older brother, Lucius Fisher "Buddy" Foster (b. 1957). During the filming of both Taxi Driver and The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, Connie was her stand-in. Buddy Foster had his own career for several years appearing in regular spots on television shows such as HondoHondo (TV series)
Hondo is a Western television series starring Ralph Taeger, that aired in the United States on ABC during the 1967 fall season.-Overview:Hondo was based on the film of the same name starring John Wayne, which was in turn based on an early Louis L'Amour novel...
and Mayberry, R.F.D. Foster and her brother have been estranged for many years. In 1997, he wrote a book titled Foster Child in which he stated "I have always assumed Jodie was gay or bisexual." In the book, he writes that she was conceived in her father's office three years after their parents divorced when their mother went to him for child support. He also claims that her name was changed from "Alicia" to "Jodie" because it was a code "Jo D" for their mother's partner, Josephina Dominguez. Jodie Foster called the book:
Foster is intensely private about certain aspects of her personal life, notably her sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
, which has been the subject of speculation.
Foster has two sons: Charles "Charlie" Foster (b. July 20, 1998) and Christopher "Kit" Foster (b. September 29, 2001). Foster gave birth to both children, but has not revealed the identity of the children's father(s).
In December 2007, Foster made headlines when, during an acceptance speech at Hollywood Reporter's "Women in Entertainment" event, she paid tribute to film producer Cydney Bernard, referring to her as "my beautiful Cydney, who sticks with me through the rotten and the bliss." Some media interpreted this as Foster coming out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
, as Bernard was believed to be her girlfriend since both met in 1992, during the filming of Sommersby
Sommersby
Sommersby is a 1993 romantic drama film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Richard Gere, Jodie Foster, Bill Pullman and James Earl Jones.Set in the Reconstruction period following the U.S...
. Foster and Bernard never attended premieres or award ceremonies together, nor did they ever appear to be affectionate with each other. However, Bernard was seen in public with Foster's children on many occasions. On May 15, 2008, several news outlets reported that Foster and Bernard had "called it quits."
Foster is an atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
and does not follow any "traditional religion." She has discussed the god of the gaps
God of the gaps
God of the gaps is a type of theological fallacy in which gaps in scientific knowledge are taken to be evidence or proof of God's existence. The term was invented by Christian theologians not to discredit theism but rather to discourage reliance on teleological arguments for God's existence.-...
. Foster has "great respect for all religions" and spends "a lot of time studying divine texts, whether it's Eastern religion or Western religion." She and her children celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah. Some sources claim that Foster is a member of Mensa
Mensa International
Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test...
, but Foster stated that she is not a member during an interview on Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
TV network RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968–1970 | Mayberry, R.F.D. | bit parts in 2 episodes | TV series |
| 1969 | The Doris Day Show The Doris Day Show The Doris Day Show is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 1968 until September 1973. In addition to showcasing Doris Day, the show is remembered for its many abrupt format changes over the course of its five-year run... |
Jenny Benson | TV series, season 1: "The Baby Sitter" |
| 1970 | Menace on the Mountain | Suellen McIver | TV movie in 2 parts "The Wonderful World of Disney" |
| 1970 | Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (TV series) Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the... |
Rachel | TV series, season 6, episode 24: "Bringing Up Josh" |
| 1970 | Adam 12 | Mary | TV series, season 3, episode 6: "Log 55 Missing Girl" |
| 1972 | Bonanza Bonanza Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the... |
Bluebird | TV series, season 13, episode 24: "A Place to Hide" |
| 1972 | My Sister Hank | Henrietta "Hank" Bennett | TV |
| 1972 | Napoleon and Samantha Napoleon and Samantha Napoleon and Samantha is a 1972 family/adventure/drama directed by Bernard McEveety and written by Stewart Raffill. Filmed in and around John Day, Oregon, it stars Michael Douglas, Jodie Foster, and Johnny Whitaker.-Plot:... |
Samantha | |
| 1972 | Kansas City Bomber Kansas City Bomber Kansas City Bomber is a 1972 American drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Jerrold Freedman and starring Raquel Welch.- Plot summary :The film is an inside look at the world of co-ed Roller Derby, then a popular league sport.... |
Rita | |
| 1972 | Anne Chan (voice) | TV series | |
| 1973 | Rookie of the Year | Sharon Lee | TV |
| 1973 | Alexander, Alexander | Sue | TV |
| 1973 | Partridge Family | Julie | TV series |
| 1973 | Tom Sawyer | Becky Thatcher | |
| 1973 | Kung Fu Kung Fu (TV series) Kung Fu is an American television series that starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller, who was also a writer for, and co-producer of, the series... |
Alethea Patricia Ingram | TV series, season 1, episode 11: "Alethea" |
| 1973 | One Little Indian | Martha McIver | |
| 1973 | Pugsley (voice) | TV series | |
| 1974 | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is a 1974 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Robert Getchell. It stars Ellen Burstyn as a widow who travels with her preteen son across the American Southwest in search of a better life, along with Alfred Lutter as her son and Kris... |
Audrey | |
| 1974 | Smile, Jenny, You're Dead | Liberty Cole | TV |
| 1974 | Paper Moon Paper Moon (TV series) Paper Moon is a short-lived situation comedy which aired on ABC during the fall of 1974, starring Christopher Connelly and Jodie Foster in the roles of Moses Pray and his presumed daughter, Addie... |
Addie Loggins | TV series |
| 1975 | T.K. Dearing | TV | |
| 1976 | Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy... |
Iris Steensma | BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer -Best British Director, Producer or Writer in the First Film:*2006 - Red Road - Andrea Arnold**Black Sun – Gary Tarn**Pierrepoint – Christine Langan**London to Brighton – Paul Andrew Williams... BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film... (also for Bugsy Malone Bugsy Malone Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema... ) Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress The Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award given by the Kansas City Film Critics Circle to honor the best achievements in acting.-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:*... National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress The National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress is one of the annual awards given by the National Society of Film Critics.This awards was given for the first time in 1967 to Marjorie Rhodes for her role in The Family Way.... Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
| 1976 | Echoes of a Summer Echoes of a Summer -Plot:The eleven-year-old Deirdre suffers from an incureable heart trouble. For two years, her parents Eugene and Ruth have consulted heart specialists - but without any success. Now they have gone to Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia to arrange for her last days as pleasant as possible... |
Deirdre Striden | aka The Last Castle |
| 1976 | Bugsy Malone Bugsy Malone Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema... |
Tallulah | BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer -Best British Director, Producer or Writer in the First Film:*2006 - Red Road - Andrea Arnold**Black Sun – Gary Tarn**Pierrepoint – Christine Langan**London to Brighton – Paul Andrew Williams... BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film... (also for Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy... ) |
| 1976 | Rynn Jacobs | Saturn Award for Best Actress | |
| 1976 | Freaky Friday Freaky Friday (1976 film) Freaky Friday is a 1976 American comedy film starring Jodie Foster as Annabel Andrews and Barbara Harris as her mother.The film is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers, in which mother and daughter switch bodies and get a taste of each others' lives. The cause of the switch is left... |
Annabel Andrews | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1977 | Moi, fleur bleue | Isabelle Tristan (aka Fleur bleue) | aka Stop Calling Me Baby! |
| 1977 | Casotto Beach House (film) Beach House is a 1977 Italian comedy film directed by Sergio Citti. It was shown as part of a retrospective on Italian comedy at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.-Cast:* Jodie Foster - Teresina Fedeli* Mariangela Melato - Giulia... |
Teresina Fedeli | aka Beach House |
| 1977 | Candleshoe Candleshoe Candleshoe is a 1977 Walt Disney Productions live action family film and heist film based on the Michael Innes novel Christmas at Candleshoe and starring Jodie Foster, Helen Hayes in her last big screen appearance, David Niven and Leo McKern.-Plot:... |
Casey Brown | |
| 1980 | Foxes | Jeanie | Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Major Motion Picture Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist... |
| 1980 | Carny | Donna | |
| 1982 | O'Hara's Wife | Barbara O'Hara | |
| 1983 | Svengali | Zoe Alexander | |
| 1984 | Frannie Berry | ||
| 1984 | The Blood of Others The Blood of Others (film) The Blood of Others is a 1984 film directed by Claude Chabrol. It is based on the 1945 novel The Blood of Others by Simone de Beauvoir. The film was originally made as a three hour television mini-series and then recut down 40 minutes for a theatrical release-Plot:In Nazi occupied France, Jean... |
Hélène Bertrand | aka Le Sang des autres |
| 1986 | Mesmerized | Victoria Thompson | |
| 1987 | Five Corners | Linda | Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female |
| 1987 | Siesta Siesta (film) Siesta is a 1987 film directed by Mary Lambert, and starring Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne and Jodie Foster. It also stars Martin Sheen, Isabella Rossellini, Grace Jones, Julian Sands and Alexei Sayle.... |
Nancy | |
| 1988 | Stealing Home Stealing Home Stealing Home is a 1988 movie, starring Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, Jonathan Silverman, and Harold Ramis. The film is directed by Steven Kampmann and William Porter.-Plot summary:... |
Katie Chandler | |
| 1988 | Sarah Tobias | Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Actress Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress David di Donatello David di Donatello, named after Donatello's David, is a movie award assigned each year for cinematic performances and production by Ente David di Donatello, part of Accademia del Cinema Italiano. It is the Italian equivalent to the Academy Award. There are 24 categories as of 2006.- History :The... Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama (tied with Sigourney Weaver Sigourney Weaver Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana... for Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey Gorillas in the Mist is a 1988 American drama film directed by Michael Apted and starring Sigourney Weaver as naturalist Dian Fossey. It tells the true-life story of her work in Rwanda with Mountain Gorillas and was nominated for five Academy Awards.... and Shirley MacLaine Shirley MacLaine Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career... for Madame Sousatzka Madame Sousatzka Madame Sousatzka is a 1988 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It is based upon the novel of the same name by Bernice Rubens.-Plot synopsis:... ) Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1988 The 23rd Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, given in 1989, honored the best filmmaking of 1988.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Dustin Hoffman - Rain Man*Best Actress:**Jodie Foster - The Accused*Best Director:**Barry Levinson - Rain Man... National Board of Review Award for Best Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Actress The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Best Actress is one of the annual film awards given by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.-1940s:-1950s:- 1960s :- 1970s :- 1980s :- 1990s :- 2000s :-2010s:... Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :... |
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| 1990 | Catchfire Catchfire Catchfire is a 1990 action-thriller-drama film starring Jodie Foster, Dennis Hopper, and Fred Ward. Several other notable actors have cameos. The film was disowned by its director, Hopper, before release and he is therefore credited under the fictional pseudonym Alan Smithee... |
Anne Benton | aka Backtrack |
| 1991 | Clarice Starling Clarice Starling Clarice M. Starling is a fictional character and the protagonist in the novels The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal by Thomas Harris.... |
Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Actress Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :... Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress The Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress is an annual award given by the Chicago Film Critics Association.-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:... Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1991 The 26th Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, given in 1992, honored the best filmmaking of 1991.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs*Best Actress:**Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs*Best Animated Feature:... London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress The London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year in an annual award given by the London Film Critics Circle.-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:... New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honor the finest achievements in filmmaking.-1930s:-1940s:-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:... Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress |
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| 1991 | Little Man Tate Little Man Tate Little Man Tate is a 1991 motion picture drama directed by and starring Jodie Foster.It tells the story of Fred Tate, a 7-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-actualize in a social and psychological construct that largely fails to accommodate his intelligence... |
Dede Tate | |
| 1992 | Shadows and Fog Shadows and Fog Shadows and Fog is a black-and-white film directed by Woody Allen and based on his one-act play Death. It stars Allen, Mia Farrow, John Malkovich, John Cusack, Madonna, and Kenneth Mars. It was filmed on a set at Kaufman Astoria Studios, which holds the distinction of being the biggest set ever... |
Prostitute | |
| 1993 | Sommersby Sommersby Sommersby is a 1993 romantic drama film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Richard Gere, Jodie Foster, Bill Pullman and James Earl Jones.Set in the Reconstruction period following the U.S... |
Laurel Sommersby | |
| 1994 | Maverick Maverick (film) Maverick is a 1994 Western comedy film based on the 1950s television series of the same name, created by Roy Huggins. The film was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by William Goldman and features Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner, as well as several cameo appearances... |
Mrs. Annabelle Bransford | |
| 1994 | Nell Nell (film) Nell is a 1994 drama film starring Jodie Foster as a young woman who has to face other people for the first time after being raised by her mother in an isolated cabin. The film was directed by Michael Apted, and was based on Mark Handley's play Idioglossia. The original music score is composed by... |
Nell Kellty | David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress David di Donatello David di Donatello, named after Donatello's David, is a movie award assigned each year for cinematic performances and production by Ente David di Donatello, part of Accademia del Cinema Italiano. It is the Italian equivalent to the Academy Award. There are 24 categories as of 2006.- History :The... Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress The Southeastern Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given by the Southeastern Film Critics Association to honor the finest female lead acting.-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:... Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Actress Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress The Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress is an annual award given by the Chicago Film Critics Association.-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:... Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1997 | Betty (voice) | TV series, episode "Never Again" | |
| 1997 | Contact Contact (film) Contact is a 1997 American science fiction drama film adapted from the Carl Sagan novel of the same name and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Both Sagan and wife Ann Druyan wrote the story outline for the film adaptation of Contact.... |
Dr. Eleanor Arroway | Saturn Award for Best Actress Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress The Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress is an annual award given by the Chicago Film Critics Association.-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:... Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1998 | Herself | Documentary | |
| 1998 | Psycho | Woman in background | |
| 1999 | Anna and the King Anna and the King Anna and the King is a 1999 biographical drama film loosely based on Anna and the King of Siam, the story of Anna Leonowens, who was an English schoolteacher in Siam, now Thailand, in the 19th century... |
Anna Leonowens Anna Leonowens Anna Leonowens was an English travel writer, educator, and social activist. She worked in Siam from 1862 to 1868, where she taught the wives and children of Mongkut, king of Siam. She also co-founded the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design... |
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| 2002 | Sister Assumpta | ||
| 2002 | Panic Room | Meg Altman | Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress |
| 2002 | Tusker | Minnie | Animated voice over |
| 2003 | Abby Singer Abby Singer (film) Abby Singer is a darkly comic tale that chronicles the life of Curtis Clemins, who is torn between the love of his life and accomplishing his dream. Originally released in 2003, there was a different version released in 2006 and a limited DVD release in 2007. The film had some film festival... |
Herself | |
| 2004 | Elodie Gordes | Un long dimanche de fiançailles | |
| 2005 | Flightplan Flightplan Flightplan is a 2005 thriller film directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Erika Christensen, Kate Beahan, Greta Scacchi, and Sean Bean. It was released in North America on September 23, 2005... |
Kyle Pratt | Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress |
| 2005 | Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony is a multi-award–winning webshow starring the Muppet characters Statler and Waldorf which ran biweekly on Movies.com from June 2005 until September 2006. The series spawned more than 35 episodes and featured many Muppet characters — both well-known classics and... |
Herself | Guest appearance in episode 8 |
| 2006 | Inside Man Inside Man Inside Man is a 2006 crime-drama film directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster. The film's screenplay was written by Russell Gewirtz and produced by Brian Grazer... |
Madeline White | |
| 2007 | Erica Bain | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Nominated—Irish Film Award for Best International Actress Irish Film and Television Awards The Irish Film and Television Awards were first awarded in 2003. Its sole aim is to celebrate Ireland's notably talented film and television community... Nominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association The St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association is an organization of film critics operating in metropolitan St. Louis and adjoining areas of Missouri and Illinois which was founded in 2004.... |
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| 2008 | Nim's Island Nim's Island Nim's Island is a 2008 Australian adventure-fantasy film directed by Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin and starring Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, and Gerard Butler. The story is based on the book Nim's Island by Wendy Orr. A young girl, Nim, seeks help from the author of her favorite adventure... |
Alexandra Rover | |
| 2009 | Maggie Simpson Maggie Simpson Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James... (voice) |
TV series, episode: "Four Great Women and a Manicure Four Great Women and a Manicure "Four Great Women and a Manicure" is the twentieth episode of the twentieth season of The Simpsons. It was broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 10, 2009. It is the first Simpsons episode in history to have four acts instead of the usual three... " |
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| 2011 | Meredith Black | Also director | |
| 2011 | Carnage Carnage (2011 film) Carnage is a 2011 black comedy drama film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the acclaimed play God of Carnage by French playwright Yasmina Reza. The film is an international co-production of France, Germany, Poland and Spain.-Plot:... |
Penelope Longstreet | |
| 2013 | Elysium Elysium (film) Elysium is an upcoming 2013 American science fiction film written and directed by Neill Blomkamp. The film stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, and Wagner Moura. Elysium is scheduled to be released on , 2013.-Premise:... |
Nancy Lloyd | Filming |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Mesmerized | co-producer |
| 1994 | Nell Nell (film) Nell is a 1994 drama film starring Jodie Foster as a young woman who has to face other people for the first time after being raised by her mother in an isolated cabin. The film was directed by Michael Apted, and was based on Mark Handley's play Idioglossia. The original music score is composed by... |
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| 1995 | Home for the Holidays Home for the Holidays (film) Home for the Holidays is a 1995 comedy-drama film directed by Jodie Foster and produced by Peggy Rajski and Jodie Foster. The screenplay was by W. D. Richter based on the short story by Chris Radant... |
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| 1998 | (TV) executive producer | |
| 2000 | Waking the Dead Waking the Dead (film) Waking the Dead is a 2000 American drama film directed by Keith Gordon. The screenplay by Robert Dillon is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Scott Spencer.-Plot:... |
executive producer |
| 2002 | ||
| 2007 | executive producer |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Tales from the Darkside Tales from the Darkside Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series produced by George A. Romero; it originally aired from 1983 to 1988. Similar to Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, and Tales From The Crypt, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot... |
(1 episode, "Do Not Open This Box") |
| 1991 | Little Man Tate Little Man Tate Little Man Tate is a 1991 motion picture drama directed by and starring Jodie Foster.It tells the story of Fred Tate, a 7-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-actualize in a social and psychological construct that largely fails to accommodate his intelligence... |
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| 1995 | Home for the Holidays Home for the Holidays (film) Home for the Holidays is a 1995 comedy-drama film directed by Jodie Foster and produced by Peggy Rajski and Jodie Foster. The screenplay was by W. D. Richter based on the short story by Chris Radant... |
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| 2011 |