Background

Ethnicity: Drew Barrymore is half Hungarian on her mother's side. She also has English, Irish, and German ancestry on her dad's side.

Drew Blythe Barrymore was born on February 22, 1975 in Culver City, California, United States, to American actor John Drew Barrymore and aspiring actress Jaid Barrymore. Barrymore is one of four children and has a half-brother, John, who is also an actor.

Barrymore's paternal great-grandparents, Maurice and Georgie Drew Barrymore, Maurice and Mae Costello (née Altschuk), and her paternal grandparents, John Barrymore and Dolores Costello, were actors.

Education

Drew's mother, also an actress, began taking her to auditions when she was an infant. The actress appeared in a television commercial for Puppy Choice dog food before her first birthday.

Barrymore made her big-screen debut at the age of five in Ken Russell's Altered States. At the age of 7, Barrymore moved to Sherman Oaks. At the same time, she landed one of her most famous roles: Playing Gertie, the adorable little sister in E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. The role pushed Barrymore into the spotlight. After working on the movie, she appeared on NBC's The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and became Saturday Night Live's youngest host.

In the wake of her sudden stardom, her mother began taking her daughter to night clubs, and it was at Studio 54 and the China Club. Barrymore developed a pre-teen fondness for drugs and alcohol. At 13, an enraged Barrymore became violent when she was unable to throw her mother out of the house. She was placed in a rehabilitation center and spent 18 months in an institution for the mentally ill.

At the age of 14, Drew committed a suicide attempt, which put her back in rehab. After a successful juvenile court petition for emancipation, she moved into her own apartment at the age of 15.

As for her education, Barrymore attended Fountain Day School in West Hollywood and Country School.

Career

Drew appeared in several television movies before making her film debut in Altered States (1980). In 1982, she became famous for her performance as the adorable Gertie in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Later that year, Barrymore, at the age of seven, became the youngest-ever host of the television show Saturday Night Live. In 1984, she appeared in the thriller Firestarter, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel, and in Irreconcilable Differences, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination for her supporting role as a child who sues her business-oriented parents for emancipation.

Barrymore's roles as a teenager took on a harder edge, perhaps motivated by the troubled reality of her adolescence. In the early 1990s, she was cast in such roles as the seductive teen in Poison Ivy (1992); the abused and violent Anita Minteer in Guncrazy (1992), for which she earned another Golden Globe nomination; and the lead in The Amy Fisher Story (1993), a television movie that was based on the true story of a teenage girl who shot her lover's wife. In 1995, Barrymore's career shifted with the formation of her own production company, Flower Films. The next year she also attracted attention for her work in Woody Allen's musical Everybody Says I Love You and Wes Craven's hit thriller Scream.

In 1998, Barrymore moved to romantic comedy, starring in The Wedding Singer as the humble waitress Julia, who is torn between her rude fiancé and the funny and considerate wedding singer (played by Adam Sandler) who befriends her. She continued as a romantic lead in Ever After (1998), a Cinderella-like story, and Never Been Kissed (1999), which she also executive produced.

Barrymore produced and starred in the popular Charlie's Angels (2000) and its sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), which were based on the 1970s television series. In 2001, she played a teacher in the sci-fi cult classic Donnie Darko (2001), which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as a troubled teenage boy who talks to an oversized rabbit-like creature. Barrymore's other films included the comic thriller Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), the environmentally themed drama Big Miracle (2012), and the romantic comedies 50 First Dates (2004), Fever Pitch (2005), Music and Lyrics (2007), He's Just Not That Into You (2009), and Going the Distance (2010).

In 2009, Barrymore made her debut as a film director with the coming-of-age tale Whip It, about a rebellious teenager who joins a Roller Derby team. She again starred with Sandler in the romantic farce Blended (2014), in which the two portrayed single parents who take their children on an African vacation. She was cast opposite Toni Collette in the sentimental drama Miss You Already (2015), about two best friends coping with illness and the complications of family life.

In addition to her big-screen roles, Barrymore starred as the reclusive socialite "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale in the television movie Grey Gardens, which was based on the 1975 documentary by Albert and David Maysles. She later starred in the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet (2017-19), playing a realtor who becomes a zombie.

Barrymore authored the memoirs Little Girl Lost (1990; with Todd Gold) and Wildflower (2015). In 2019, she became a judge on the TV series The World's Best, an international talent show. The following year, she began hosting The Drew Barrymore Show, a daytime talk show that aired on CBS.

Barrymore founded the beauty label Flower in association with retailer Walmart in 2013. She also launched a women's fashion line in fall 2017 in conjunction with Amazon.com called Dear Drew.

Achievements

• 

  Drew Barrymore has emerged as one of the most endearing and talented actresses of her generation. She achieved fame as a child actress with her role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Among her other popular works are Poison Ivy (1992), Boys on the Side (1995), Mad Love (1995), Batman Forever (1995), Scream (1996), and Ever After (1998), The Wedding Singer (1998), 50 First Dates (2004), Blended (2014) and others.
  
  In 1999, Barrymore Drew received the Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award from the Young Artist Foundation, which commemorated her outstanding achievements within the film industry as a child actress. She also received a SAG Award and a Golden Globe for her performance in Grey Gardens (2009). In 2004, Drew Barrymore received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  
  Barrymore's films compiled a worldwide box office gross that stood at over $2.3 billion. She set a record as the youngest person to host 'Saturday Night Live' on November 20, 1982. Drew was also nominated several times for the 'Primetime Emmy Award,' 'BAFTA Award,' and 'American Comedy Award.'

Works

More photos

• book

  • Find It in Everything

    (A very personal collection of images, many of them accomp...)

    2014
  • Wildflower

    (Wildflower is a portrait of Drew’s life in stories as she...)

    2015
  • Little Girl Lost

    (The child star of "E.T." describes her own nightmarish de...)

    1990

• movie

  • Charlie's Angels

    (Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu are Charlie's A...)

    2000
  • Whip It

    (After years of indulging the ambitious dreams of her Texa...)

    2009
  • Music and Lyrics

    (As their chemistry heats up at the piano and under it, Al...)

    2007
  • Riding in Cars with Boys

    (In 1965, a single mother with dreams of becoming a writer...)

    2001
  • Duplex

    (Young and vibrant New Yorkers Alex (Stiller) and Nancy (B...)

    2003
  • Blended

    (Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore star as single parents wh...)

    2014
  • Ever After: A Cinderella Story

    (An update of 'Cinderella' with Drew Barrymore as a sweet ...)

    1998
  • Babes in Toyland

    (A young girl learns that she must believe in the existenc...)

    1986
  • 50 First Dates

    (A Hawaiian island playboy has to use his imagination to w...)

    2004
  • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

    (Steven Spielberg's contemporary classic! A stranded alien...)

    1982
  • The Stand-In

    (When ordered to serve a year in rehab, actress Candy (Dre...)

    2020
  • Grey Gardens

    (The lives of two eccentric, mutually dependent women play...)

    2009
  • Fever Pitch

    (A contemporary romantic comedy about a successful woman w...)

    2005
  • Going the Distance

    (Drew Barrymore and Justin Long try to make a long-distanc...)

    2010
  • My Date with Drew

    (Aspiring filmmaker Brian Herzlinger has been in love with...)

    2004
  • Home Fries

    (Sally Jackson is pregnant, and the baby's father's wife, ...)

    1998
  • Never Been Kissed

    (A journalist enrolls in her old high school as part of he...)

    1999
  • Mad Love

    (A love story of young college-bound teens on the verge of...)

    1995
  • The Wedding Singer

    (It's 1985 and Adam Sandler is the ultimate master of cere...)

    1998

Religion

Like a lot of people, Drew Barrymore celebrates Christmas, etc., but still, it's not like she goes to church every Sunday. She also has the big cross tattooed on her leg and two more tattoos of cherubs.

Politics

Drew Barrymore is a director of The Best Place to Start, a documentary about how the youth vote could impact the 2004 presidential election. She has continued to promote it every four years during each presidential race.

Barrymore is a tried and true Democrat. She supported Obama in the 2012 presidential election.

Views

In May 2007, Drew Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme and later donated $1 million to the cause.

Barrymore is seriously committed to gay rights. She attended protest rallies against Prop 8, a California ballot measure that made gay marriage illegal. She is also a big advocate of animal rights. Once Drew refused to wear fur on a cover shoot with Vogue magazine.

Quotations: "Life is very interesting... in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths."

"Love is the hardest habit to break and the most difficult to satisfy."

"Everyone is like a butterfly, they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful graceful butterflies that everyone loves."

"It's never too late. Don't focus on what was taken away. Find something to replace it, and acknowledge the blessing you have."

"I pray to be like the ocean, with soft currents, maybe waves at times. More and more, I want the consistency rather than the highs and the lows."

"There's a tremendous difference between alone and lonely. You could be lonely in a group of people. I like being alone. I like eating by myself. I go home at night and just watch a movie or hang out with my dog. I have to exert myself and really say, oh God, I've got to see my friends 'cause I'm too content being by myself."

"I think happiness is a choice. If you feel yourself being happy and can settle into the life choices you make, then it's great. It's really, really great. I swear to God, happiness is the best makeup."

"There's something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk."

"When I lay my head on the pillow at night I can say I was a decent person today. That's when I feel beautiful."

"I think that being happy makes the biggest impact on your physical appearance."

"I am not someone who is ashamed of my past. I'm actually really proud. I know I made a lot of mistakes, but they, in turn, were my life lessons."

"A fish may love a bird, but where would they live?"

"I never regret anything. Because every little detail of your life is what made you into who you are in the end."

"The best kind of parent you can be is to lead by example."

"In a world and a life that moves so fast, photography just makes the sound go out and it makes you stop and take a pause. Photography calms me."

"I think that we all have to have that rite of passage of dating the tortured artist who seems cooler than we think we are; we aspire to be like them, and we're excited that somebody is turning us on to new music or a new lifestyle."

"My life choices are not supposed to be the gateway to somebody else's. That's my journey."

"Kisses, even to the air, are beautiful."

"It's only through listening that you learn, and I never want to stop learning."

"I love romance. I'm a sucker for it. I love it so much. It's pathetic."

Personality

Drew Barrymore was formerly a vegan. Currently, she eats a plant-based diet.

In 2003, Barrymore said that she had always considered herself bisexual.

Physical Characteristics: Drew Barrymore is 5 ft 4 in (163 cm) tall and weighs 126 pounds (57 kg). She has light brown hair and green eyes.

Barrymore is allergic to garlic, bee stings, perfume and coffee.

Interests

• photography, yoga, snorkeling

• Writers

  Edward Estlin Cummings

• Artists

  Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Malkovich, Elizabeth Peyton

• Sport & Clubs

  Boston Red Sox

• Music & Bands

  Muse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Spank Rock, Kings of Leon

Connections

In 1991, Drew Barrymore became engaged to Leland Hayward, but the engagement was called off a few months later. From 1992 to 1993, Barrymore was engaged to musician and actor Jamie Walters.

On March 20, 1994, Drew married her first husband, Jeremy Thomas. She filed for divorce from him less than two months later. In late 1994, she began dating Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson. In 2000, she became engaged to the eccentric Canadian comic Tom Green. After many false wedding rumors, the pair eloped in March 2001, but filed for divorce six months later. Following her relationship with Green, she dated Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti and actor Justin Long.

Drew Barrymore wed Will Kopelman in June 2012. The couple had their first child, daughter Olive Barrymore Kopelman, on September 26, 2012. Their second daughter, Frankie Barrymore Kopelman, was born on April 22, 2014.

The couple decided to part ways in 2016. They remained on good terms and devoted themselves to co-parenting their daughters.

Father:

John Drew Barrymore

(June 4, 1932 - November 29, 2004)

John Drew Barrymore was an American film actor and member of the Barrymore family of actors, which included his father, John Barrymore, and his father's siblings, Lionel and Ethel.

Mother:

Jaid Barrymore

(born May 8, 1946)

ex-spouse:

Jeremy Thomas

ex-spouse:

Tom Green

(born July 30, 1971)

Tom Green is a Canadian-American comedian and actor. Known for shock comedy, he found mainstream prominence via his MTV show, The Tom Green Show.

ex-spouse:

Will Kopelman

(born July 7, 1978)

Daughter:

Olive Barrymore Kopelman

(born September 26, 2012)

Daughter:

Frankie Barrymore Kopelman

(born April 22, 2014)

ex-partner:

Leland Hayward

ex-partner:

Jamie Walters

(born June 13, 1969)

Jamie Walters is an American actor and singer, best known for his roles on Beverly Hills, 90210 and The Heights and his number one single "How Do You Talk to an Angel."

ex-partner:

Eric Erlandson

(born January 9, 1963)

Eric Erlandson is an American musician, guitarist, and writer, primarily known as founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist of alternative rock band Hole from 1989 to 2002.

ex-partner:

Fabrizio Moretti

(born June 2, 1980)

Fabrizio Moretti is a Brazilian-American musician and visual artist best known as the drummer for American rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since 2001.

ex-partner:

Justin Long

(born June 2, 1978)

Justin Long is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director known for roles in such films as Jeepers Creepers (2001), Dodgeball (2004), Accepted (2006), Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) and Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

Great-grandfather:

Maurice Barrymore

(September 21, 1849 - March 25, 1905)

Maurice Barrymore was an Indian-born British stage actor.

Great-grandfather:

Maurice Costello

(February 22, 1877 - October 29, 1950)

Maurice Costello was a prominent American vaudeville actor of the late 1890s and early 1900s who later played a principal role in early American films as a leading man, supporting player, and director.

Grandfather:

John Barrymore

(February 14 or 15, 1882 - May 29, 1942)

John Barrymore was an American actor on stage, screen and radio.

grandmother:

Dolores Costello

(September 17, 1903 - March 1, 1979)

Dolores Costello was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies.

Great-grandmother:

Mae Costello

(August 13, 1882 - August 2, 1929)

Mae Costello was an American stage and film actress of the early twentieth century.

Great-grandmother:

Georgie Drew Barrymore

(July 11, 1856 - July 2, 1893)

Georgie Drew Barrymore was an American stage actress and comedian and a member of the Barrymore acting family.

Friend:

Adam Sandler

Friend:

Reese Witherspoon

Friend:

Cameron Diaz

(born August 30, 1972)

Cameron Diaz is an American retired actress who is also an author, producer, and model. She frequently appeared in comedies throughout her acting career, while also earning critical recognition in dramatic films.

References

• Drew Barrymore A biography of the young star of the movie "E.T." who survived her troubled early years and has gone on to become a successful actress and movie producer.
  1999
• Drew Barrymore: The Biography A book by Lucy Ellis and Bryony Sutherland.
  2001
• Drew Barrymore The book explores the life and career of the young actress and director who, having struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, has starred in several blockbuster movies and met the man of her dreams, comedian Tom Green.
  2001
• Drew Barrymore's Instagram
• Drew Barrymore's Facebook
• Drew Barrymore's Twitter
• Drew Barrymore's Website