Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster

Born 1962-11-19 (age 63) Los Angeles, California, USA
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Biography

Alicia Christian 'Jodie' Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. For her work as a producer and director, she has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. She has also earned numerous honors such as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2013, was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016 and received the Cannes Film Festival's Honorary Palme d'Or in 2021.

Foster began her professional career as a child model and later as a teen idol in various Disney films including Napoleon and Samantha (1972), Freaky Friday (1976) and Candleshoe (1977). She acted in Martin Scorsese's comedy-drama Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and reunited with him in Taxi Driver (1976) in a role for which she received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. Other early films include Tom Sawyer (1973), Bugsy Malone (1976), The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), Carny (1980) and Foxes (1980).

After attending Yale University, Foster transitioned into mature leading roles earning two Academy Awards for playing a rape victim in The Accused (1988), and Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). She also received a nomination for Nell (1994). Her other notable films include Sommersby (1993), Maverick (1994), Contact (1997), Anna and the King (1999), Panic Room (2002), Flightplan (2005), Inside Man (2006), The Brave One (2007), Nim's Island (2008), Carnage (2011), Elysium (2013), Hotel Artemis (2018), and The Mauritanian (2021).

She made her directorial film debut with Little Man Tate (1991) and has since directed films such as Home for the Holidays (1995), The Beaver (2011) and Money Monster (2016). She founded her own production company, Egg Pictures, in 1992. She earned two Primetime Emmy Awards for producing The Baby Dance (1999), and directing the Orange Is the New Black episode "Lesbian Request Denied" in 2014. She has also directed episodes for Tales from the Darkside, House of Cards, Black Mirror, and Tales from the Loop.

Foster's sexual orientation became the subject of public discussion in 1991 when publications such as OutWeek and The Village Voice, protesting against the alleged homophobia and transphobia in The Silence of the Lambs, claimed she was a lesbian. She publicly acknowledged her 14-year relationship with Cydney Bernard in 2007 in a speech at The Hollywood Reporter's "Women in Entertainment" breakfast honoring her. In 2013, she addressed her decision to come out in a speech after receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 70th Golden Globe Awards, which led many news outlets to describe her as gay. Some sources noted that she did not use the words "gay" or "lesbian" in her speech.

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Known For

Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver

1976

as Iris

Contact
Contact

1997

as Ellie Arroway

Inside Man
Inside Man

2006

as Madeleine White

Elysium
Elysium

2013

as Delacourt

A Private Life
A Private Life

2025

as Lilian Steiner

The Silence of the Lambs
The Silence of the Lambs

1991

as Clarice Starling

Panic Room
Panic Room

2002

as Meg Altman

Flightplan
Flightplan

2005

as Kyle

Maverick
Maverick

1994

as Annabelle Bransford

Carnage
Carnage

2011

as Penelope Longstreet

The Mauritanian
The Mauritanian

2021

as Nancy Hollander

Sommersby
Sommersby

1993

as Laurel Sommersby

Catchfire
Catchfire

1990

as Anne Benton

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

2012

as (archive footage)

The Brave One
The Brave One

2007

as Erica Bain

The Accused
The Accused

1988

as Sarah Tobias

The Beaver
The Beaver

2011

as Meredith Black

Breakdown: 1975
Breakdown: 1975

2025

as Narrator (voice)

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
Hotel Artemis
Hotel Artemis

2018

as Jean Thomas / Nurse