Background

Ethnicity: Foster also has Irish roots, with ancestry that can be traced back to County Cork.

Foster was born on November 19, 1962 in Los Angeles, the youngest child of Evelyn Ella "Brandy" (née Almond) and Lucius Fisher Foster III. Her father came from a wealthy Chicago family, whose forebears included John Alden, who had arrived in North America on the Mayflower in 1620. He was a Yale University graduate and a decorated U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, and made his career as a real estate broker. He had three sons from an earlier marriage before marrying Brandy in Las Vegas in 1953. Brandy Foster was of German heritage and grew up in Rockford, Illinois. Before Jodie's birth, Brandy and Lucius had three other children: daughters Lucinda "Cindy" Foster (b. 1954) and Constance "Connie" Foster (b. 1955), and son Lucius Fisher "Buddy" Foster (b. 1957). Their marriage ended before Foster was born, and she never established a relationship with her father. Following the divorce, Brandy raised the children with her partner in Los Angeles. She worked as a publicist for film producer Arthur P. Jacobs, until focusing on managing the acting careers of Buddy and Jodie. Although Foster was officially named Alicia, her siblings began calling her "Jodie", and the name stuck.

Education

Foster was a gifted child who learned to read at the age of three. She attended a French-language prep school, the Lycée Français de Los Angeles. Her fluency in French has enabled her to act in French films, and she also dubs herself in French-language versions of most of her English-language films. She also understands Italian although does not speak it, as well as a little Spanish and German. At her graduation in 1980, she delivered the valedictory address for the school's French division.

Already a successful actor, Foster attended Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. She majored in literature, writing her thesis on Toni Morrison, and graduated magna cum laude in 1985. She returned to Yale in 1993 to address the graduating class, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1997.

Career

The future Academy Award winner began her acting career at the tender age of 3, with a role as the Coppertone Girl in a television commercial for the iconic brand of suntan lotion. Despite never having taken an acting class, she dove headlong into show business in 1968 with her first television show, Mayberry R.F.D. From there, she would continue on to a busy career as a child actress, with Brandy Foster always by her side, playing the dual role of manager and mother.

Foster's first foray onto the big screen came with roles in the Disney movies Napoleon and Samantha (1972) and One Little Indian (1973). Foster's unforgettable and controversial breakout film role came when she was only 12 years old. Taxi Driver (1976), an iconic and dark Martin Scorsese picture set in the gritty underbelly of 1970s-era New York, saw Foster playing a child prostitute who becomes the obsession of the title character, played by Robert De Niro. Taxi Driver garnered Foster an Oscar nomination, establishing her as a teenage star and leading to roles in popular films like Freaky Friday (1976) and Foxes (1980), further cementing her place as Hollywood's next darling.

In 1981, a disturbed man named John Hinckley Jr. shattered the young actress's dream of a quiet college life when he attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan, saying he did it in order to impress her. While she attended college, Hinckley became obsessed with Foster, writing her love letters and calling her on the phone. She eventually testified during Hinckley's trial and admitted to being badly shaken by the experience. Nevertheless, Foster returned to work shortly after the incident, starring in Svengali alongside Peter O'Toole, finding in acting a release from the intense and unwanted scrutiny Hinckley's actions had drawn her way.

After graduating from Yale, Foster made the transition from child star to mature actress, appearing in a series of mostly unremarkable pictures through the mid-1980s. Her next widely acclaimed role came in another intense and gritty picture, when she played rape survivor Sarah Tobias in The Accused (1988). For this performance she won both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress, establishing her as one of Hollywood's most esteemed serious actresses.

Foster made a strong impression again in 1991 with her performance as FBI agent Clarice Starling in blockbuster hit The Silence of the Lambs (1991), in which Foster's character goes head to head with the unforgettable psychopath Hannibal Lechter, played by Anthony Hopkins. For this role, Foster collected her second Academy Award and Golden Globe.

Firmly established as one of Hollywood's biggest stars and enjoying the professional and financial freedom to follow a different path, Foster turned to directing. When asked about the differences between acting and directing, she said, "Well, you have control, but you also have 175 people involved. Acting, for me, is exhausting. I'm always so energized by directing. It's more intense to direct. I can pop in and express myself, then pop out again. It's a huge passion for me." Her feature-film directorial debut, Little Man Tate (1991), won widespread plaudits from critics.

Between her occasional directorial projects, Foster continued to act in hit movies such as Maverick (1994), Contact (1997) and the box office smash Panic Room (2002). Foster's choice of scripts spans from blockbuster to indie and foreign. In The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002), she played a nun, Sister Assumpta, while also producing the film. After taking a small part in a French film, The Very Long Engagement (2004), Foster returned to big-budget Hollywood fare with Flightplan in 2005.

Foster has been very selective about her projects in recent years. She reunited with her Maverick colleague Mel Gibson in the offbeat drama The Beaver (2011). For the film, Foster served as its director and as Gibson's co-star. She also worked with Roman Polanski on his dramatic comedy Carnage (2011) around this time. Foster and John C. Reilly play a New York City couple who become involved in a dispute with another couple (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) in the film.

In recent years, Foster has continued to pursue filmmaking. She stars opposite Matt Damon in the sci-fi film Elysium (2013). Around the same time, she began working on a new directing project: Money Monster (2016), a film about a television star who becomes a Wall Street guru through insider tips.

Achievements

• 

  Jodie Foster is an award-winning American actress best known for her roles in the films Taxi Driver, The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs. She has received two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and the Cecil B DeMille Award. Foster received the Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award at the Athena Film Festival. For her impeccable contribution to the world of cinema as a woman, she has been awarded with the Crystal Award by Women in Film.
  
  In 1998, an asteroid was named after her. The asteroid was called 17744 Jodiefoster.
  
  

Works

More photos

• movie

  • The Silence of the Lambs 1991
  • The Accused 1988
  • Taxi Driver 1976
  • Mesmerized 1985
  • The Brave One 2007
  • Flightplan 2005
  • Backtrack 1992
  • Anna and the King 1999
  • Stealing Home 1988
  • Sommersby 1993
  • Carnage 2011
  • Nell 1994
  • Contact 1997
  • Five Corners 1987
  • Little Man Tate 1991
  • Inside Man 2006
  • Freaky Friday 1976
  • Nim's Island 2008
  • The Beaver 2011
  • Maverick 1994
  • Elysium 2013
  • Candleshoe 1978
  • Money Monster 2016
  • Carny 1980

Religion

Foster is an atheist but has said it is important to teach children about different religions, stating that "in my home, we ritualize all of them. We do Christmas. We do Shabbat on Fridays. We love Kwanzaa. I take pains to give my family a real religious basis, a knowledge, because it's being well educated. You need to know why all those wars were fought."

Politics

She is a staunch democrat and a very vocal supporter of the gun control.

Jodie Foster has thrown her considerable reputation behind the protests against President Donald Trump being planned at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony. Foster told demonstrators protesting against the President’s proposed travel ban on people from seven mainly Muslim countries that it is "our time to resist".

She added: “No matter where you're born and no matter who you voted for, red or blue, whether you're white, black or brown and all the colours of the identity rainbow - this is our time to resist. It's our time to show up and demand answers. It's our time to tell our elected officials to do their job. We will not tolerate chaos, ineptitude and war-mongering."

Views

Quotations: "Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from."

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

"I've always had this idea that I wanted movies to make people better not worse."

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

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

"So, yes, there's nothing I love more than listening to directors talk about their movies."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

Personality

Jodie is a lesbian.

Physical Characteristics: Her height is 5 ft 3 in (160 cm), weight - 51 kg (112.5 lbs). Foster's hair are blonde and eyes are blue. She has a husky voice.

Interests

• Her favorite actors are Paul Newman, Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, and Humphrey Bogart. Actresses – Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, and Katharine Hepburn. Her favorite movies areThe 400 Blows (1959), The Deer Hunter (1978).

• Sport & Clubs

  Jodie Foster relies on the Pilates workout sessions to keep her figure toned even in the advanced age. She has made it a point to go for her workout sessions on a daily basis. It is her Pilates sessions that have been credited for her toned arms.

Connections

In interviews, Foster rarely talks about her private life, and she has explained that she "values privacy against all else" due to having spent most of her life in the public eye. She lives in Los Angeles, and had two sons, Charles "Charlie" Foster and Christopher "Kit" Foster, while partnered with Cydney Bernard. She met Bernard on the set of Sommersby (1993) and was in a relationship with her from 1993 to 2008. In April 2014, Foster married actress and photographer Alexandra Hedison. She stated in 2011 that having children has made her take on fewer projects: "It is a big sacrifice to leave home. I want to make sure that I feel passionate about the movies I do because it is a big sacrifice... Even if you take the average movie shoot of four months – you have three weeks' prep, press duties here and abroad, dubbing and looping, magazine covers, events and premieres – that's eight months out of a year. That's a long time. If you do two movies back-to-back, you're never going to see your children."

Father:

Lucius Fisher Foster III

Lucius was an Air Force Lieutenant and later real estate broker. In 1959, he filed for a divorce from Brandy but the ex-lovers reconnected somewhat briefly and Alicia (Jodie’s birth name) was conceived. He is an estranged father to his kids as they were raised by their mother and her gay partner. In 2011 he was sentenced for 5 years in jail.

Mother:

Evelyn Ella Almond

(born September 21, 1928)

She divorced Foster in the early 1960s and got a job in the entertainment industry to be able to fend for herself and her kids. Evelyn always knew how bright her youngest daughter was and she never one day discouraged her from going after her dreams.

She stood by Jodie’s side from the onset and doubled both as her mother and her manager until the star actress needed a professional manager. Evelyn was also gay and raised her kids with her lesbian partner. All we know now is that Brandy is an aged mother suffering from dementia.

Spouse:

Alexandra Hedison

(born July 10, 1969)

Her father David Hedison was also an actor and she dated the famous Ellen DeGeneres for three years before splitting in 2004 and by 2013, started a relationship with Foster. She is an actress, director and fine art photographer.

Sister:

Cindy Foster Jones

(born October 26, 1954, Los Angeles, California, United States)

Cindy is the oldest of the three Foster girls and is also in the entertainment industry.

Sister:

Amy Foster

Amy was born to Lucius from a previous relationship before her met Evelyn.

Sister:

Connie Foster

(born October 30, 1955, Los Angeles, California, United States)

Like her sister, she is an actress (but not half as famous) and is known for her work on Chicago Story (1981-1982).

Brother:

Lucius Fisher “Buddy” Foster IV

(born July 12, 1957)

Though a grown man now; Buddy is remembered as the child actor that starred in Mayberry, R.F.D (1968 – 1971) but is more famous as a brother to the acclaimed actress. He is married now to Leah Foster and they are parents to two children. The only male Foster authored a tell-it-all novel and this irked his famous sister as she saw it as him telling the world their family secrets.

Son:

Charles Bernard Foster

(born July 20, 1998)

Charles is the first child to the award-wining Silence of the Lambs (1991) actress. Unlike a few other celebrity kids, the Bernard Foster children are not all out in the public face as their mother values her privacy. His mum however mentions how he is an amazing artist and how she is almost sure he would have a career in Hollywood when he finishes school.

Son:

Kit Bernard Foster

(born September 29, 2001)

For years, the media has speculated that several of Jodie’s male friends were probably fathers to her two boys. Word is out however from a close source that Foster will tell her kids about their father when they’re 21. Kit, according to his famous mum is likely to take the musical route.

Partner:

Cydney Bernard

Duration of Relationship: 1993 – 2008 (15 years)

(born March 30, 1953)

It is quite obvious that what Foster shared with Bernard was indeed surreal. They met in 1993 on the set Sommersby while Cydney was a production coordinator and their love story began in no time. The star actress describes her former partner as “one of the deepest loves of her life”, as her life-long soul sister, ski buddy and heroic co-parent. This was all said in January 2013 at the Cecil B. DeMille annual award and this heart-felt speech marked the first time Jodie publicly talked about being lesbian.

Collegue :

Anthony Hopkins

(born 31 December 1937)

He is a Welsh actor, director, producer, widely considered to be one of the world's greatest living actors.

References

• Foster Child: A Biography of Jodie Foster
  1998
• Jodie Foster: A Life on Screen
  1996
• Jodie Foster: The Untold Story
  2017
• The Book Of Jodie Foster
  2017
• Jodie Foster: The Most Powerful Woman in Hollywood
  1995
• Jodie Foster (Women of Achievement)
  2000