Jodie Foster was born on November 19, 1962 in Los Angeles, CA. Her father,
Lucias left the family when her mother and Hollywood publicist, Evelyn, was only
a few months pregnant with Jodie. Jodie's three siblings insisted on calling her
Jodie during their childhood. Jodie started her career at the age of two. For
four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the
TV series Mayberry Red R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role
of the prostitute Iris in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for
which she received an Academy Award nomination in the "Best Supporting Actress"
category, marked a breakthrough in her career. Jodie was the first choice to
play the role of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars Trilogy, but she
was unable to get out of her contract with Disney. Her mother managed her career
until she was 20 years old.
In 1980 she graduated as valedictorian from the College Lycée
Français , an exclusive prep school, and began to study English Literature at
Yale University, from where she graduated magna cum laude in 1985. Despite the
fact that she never took acting lessons, she received two Oscars before she was
thirty years of age. She received her first award for her part as Sarah Tobias in The Accused (1988) and the second
one for her performance as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs
(1991), a part that was originally offered to Michelle Pfeiffer. Jodie Foster
owns and chairs Production Company EGG PICTURES in Los Angeles which she founded
in 1990. She uses her own voice in all of the French versions of any of her
movies, because she can speak French fluently. In 1997, Jodie Foster received an
honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Yale University. She also received an Honorary
Degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Due in part to being stalked several times, Foster is intensively private about
her personal life. Having given birth to two sons, she has never revealed the
identity of the father of the boys or if the boys even share the same father.
Her first son, Charles was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on July 20, 1998.
Her second son, Kit, was born in Los Angeles on September 29, 2001. Because she
has co-habitated with a female companion, Cydney Bernard, for several years,
many suspect she is lesbian, though she personally has never made any public
statement regarding her sexual orientation. Her brother's biography identifies
her as such, but since the book is unauthorized, it is highly
suspect. Jodie shut down production company Egg Pictures in late 2001 to spend
more time with her children.
