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Personal Life

Foster was born in Los Angeles, California on November 19, 1962. She has two sisters and a brother, Lucinda "Cindy" Foster (b. 1954), Constance "Connie" Foster (b. 1955), and Lucius "Buddy" Foster (b. 1957). Foster attended a French-speaking prep school, the Lycee Francais de Los Angeles, and graduated valedictorian. As a teenager, Foster frequently stayed and worked in France, and still speaks the language: she later dubbed herself in the French-language version of several of her films. She then attended Yale University at the same time as Jennifer Beals. Foster earned a B.A. in literature and graduated magna cum laude in 1985.

She has two sons: Charles Bernard Foster (b. 20 July 1998) and Christopher Bernard Foster (b. 29 September 2001).

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 she 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, but were often seen walking with Foster's children in public.

On May 15, 2008, several news outlets reported that Foster and Bernard had "called it quits."

It is rumoured that the split came after Foster had an affair with The Brave One screenwriter Cynthia Mort.

Career

Child Star

Foster made nearly fifty film and television appearances before she attended college. She began her career at age three as the Coppertone Girl in a television commercial and debuted as a television actress in a 1968 episode of Mayberry R.F.D. She made her film debut in the 1970 TV movie Menace on the Mountain. Foster made a number of Disney movies, including Napoleon and Samantha (1972), One Little Indian (1973), Freaky Friday (1976), and Candleshoe (1977). She also co-starred with Christopher Connelly in the 1974 TV series version of Paper Moon 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. She hosted Saturday Night Live at age fourteen, making her the youngest person to host at that time until Drew Barrymore hosted at the age of seven.

Foster was originally considered for the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars, but was unable to pull out of her contract with Disney.

She 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"[10] and "When I Looked at Your Face" b/w "La Vie C'est Chouette." The A-side of the former is sung in French, the A-side of the latter in English. The B-side of both is mostly spoken word and is performed in both French and English. These three recordings were included on the soundtrack to Foster's 1977 French film Moi, fleur bleue.

At age fourteen, Foster was nominated for the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress for her role as Iris, a pre-teen prostitute in Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver opposite Robert De Niro.

Adult Career

Unlike other child stars such as Shirley Temple or Tatum O'Neal, Foster successfully made the transition to adult roles, but not without initial difficulty. Several of her post-Taxi Driver works were financially unsuccessful, such as Foxes, The Hotel New Hampshire, Five Corners, and Stealing Home. She had to audition for her role in The Accused. Foster won the part and the first of her two Golden Globes and Academy Awards as Best Actress for her role as a rape survivor. She earned her second as FBI agent Clarice Starling, opposite Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, in the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs.

She 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 films until it was closed in 2001.

She began working as a producer in 1994 with the acclaimed Nell, the story of a young woman raised in an isolated place who has to return to civilization. She later commented that it was difficult being an actress and a producer for Nell.

Foster played Laural Sommersby in Sommersby and Annabelle Bransford in the 1994 film Maverick. In 1997, she starred alongside Matthew McConaughey in the sci-fi movie Contact, based on the novel by scientist Carl Sagan.

In 2002, Foster took over the lead role in David Fincher's Panic Room after Nicole Kidman was injured during initial filming, the film grossed over 30 million dollars 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 fiancailles (2004), speaking French fluently throughout. Foster returned in the 2005 film Flightplan which opened once again #1 at the U.S. box office and was a world wide hit. Foster portrayed a woman whose daughter disappears on an airplane that her character, an engineer, had helped to design.

In 2006, she appeared in Inside Man, a thriller directed by Spike Lee and co-starring Denzel Washington and Clive Owen, which opened #1 at the U.S. box office. Her latest film is The Brave One, a thriller which opened once again at #1 at the U.S. box office was filmed in New York City, both in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Commenting on her latest roles, Foster has said that she enjoys appearing in mainstream genre films that have a "real heart to them." Indeed, many of her most successful films in recent years have been thrillers.

Awards

Quotes

  • "Normal is not something to aspire to, it is something to get away from."

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  • "This is such a big deal, and my life is so simple. There are very few things - there's love, and work, and family. And I'd like to thank all my families, all the tribes that I come from and, most importantly, my mother Brandy who taught me that all my finger paintings were Picasso's and that I didn't have to be afraid. And, mostly, that cruelty might be very human, and it might be very cultural, but it's not acceptable."

-Oscar Acceptance Speech, 1989 Academy Awards, Best Actress in a Leading Role, The Accused.

  • "I'd like to dedicate this award to all the women before me that never had the chances that I've had, the survivors, the pioneers and the outcasts. My blood, my tradition. And I'd like to thank all the people in this industry who've respected my choices and have not been afraid of the power and dignity that that entitled me to."

-Oscar Acceptance Speech, 1992 Academy Awards, Best Actress in a Leading Role, The Silence of the Lambs.

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