Jodie's Day

Image by Annie Lelbovitz

Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress, film director and producer.

Foster began acting in commercials at three years old, 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 same 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 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. She has also won three Bafta Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a People's Choice Award, and has received two Emmy nominations.

Foster is intensely private about certain aspects of her personal life, notably her sexual orientation, which has been the subject of speculation. In her teens, Foster was romantically involved with actor Scott Baio, her costar in Bugsy Malone and Foxes. This is the only relationship of Foster's that has been acknowledged. In July 2007, Baio told Entertainment Weekly that he and Foster would make out on set.

Foster has two sons: Charles Foster (b. July 20, 1998) and Christopher "Kit" Foster (b. September 29, 2001).[53] Foster gave birth to both children, but has not revealed the identity of the children's father(s).[54]

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 herself denied that she is a member in an interview on Italian TV network RAI.

But now I really don't want to work unless I really, really care about a project.
Jodie Foster

But the reason I became, why I wanted to be in the business was because there was Midnight Cowboy.
Jodie Foster

By the first week of shooting, you know exactly where your film is heading based on the psychology of your director.
Jodie Foster

Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable.
Jodie Foster

I am the luckiest filmmaker I know.
Jodie Foster

I didn't have any ambition to produce big mainstream popcorn movies.
Jodie Foster

I don't know if I see myself as really an action hero, but I like doing physical movies and I like doing movies where the writing is very lean.
Jodie Foster

I don't know why people think child actresses in particular are screwed up. I see kids everywhere who are totally bored. I've never been bored a day in my life.
Jodie Foster

I fantasize about having a manual job where I can come home at night, read a book and not feel responsible for what will happen the next day.
Jodie Foster

I guess I've played a lot of victims, but that's what a lot of the history of women is about.
Jodie Foster

I had to take my makeup off at work every night. I wasn't allowed to do it at home because my mom said that when your work day is done, you're done with work.
Jodie Foster

I have, in some ways, saved characters that have been marginalized by society by playing them - and having them still have dignity and still survive, still get through it.
Jodie Foster

I love European movies and I kind of grew up on European films.
Jodie Foster

I love more than anything looking at a movie scene by scene and seeing the intention behind it.
Jodie Foster

I prefer to commit 100 per cent to a movie and make fewer films, because it takes over your life.
Jodie Foster

I spent a lot of time not in school, so I didn't have deep relationships with kids my own age.
Jodie Foster

I think 'destiny' is just a fancy word for a psychological pattern.
Jodie Foster

I think an artist's responsibility is more complex than people realize.
Jodie Foster

I think Anna and the King is a look at Asia from the Asian perspective, reflecting the Asian experience, which is very rare.
Jodie Foster

I think anybody over 30 plays parents because it happens in your thirties and so that's kind of a natural progression. But I'm definitely drawn to it. It's probably the most intense, passionate thing that happens to you as you get older.
Jodie Foster