|location= Los Angeles, California
|birthname= Alicia Christian Foster
|height= 5 ft. 3 in. http://www.celebheights.com/s/Jodie-Foster-117.html
|imdb= 0000149
}}
'''Jodie Foster''' (born November 19 1962) is a two-time Academy Award–winning American actress, director, and producer.
Early life
'''Alicia Christian Foster''' was born to Lucius Foster and Brandy Almond in Los Angeles, California. She attended an exclusive prep school, the Lycée Français de Los Angeles, before going to Yale University where she earned a B.A. in literature and graduated ''magna cum laude'' in 1985. While at Yale, Foster, like fellow 1985 Yale graduate Jennifer Beals of ''Flashdance'' fame, led a fairly normal life, considering her celebrity status. She often would spend time with friends at the local dive bar Anchor, and she occasionally partied in the haunts of one of the secret societies, Manuscript Society (a scene recounting such an event is noted in Tom Perrotta's novel ''Joe College'').
Early career
But she had made nearly fifty film and television appearances before she attended college, which makes her relatively placid sojourn there remarkable. 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.'' Her first film appearance came 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 classic ''
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane''. As a teenager, Foster made several appearances on the French pop circuit as a singer. Commenting on her years as a child actress, which she describes as an "actor’s career", Foster has said that "it was very clear to me at a young age that I had to fight for my life and that if I didn’t, my life would get gobbled up and taken away from me".
At age 14, Jodie received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a preteen prostitute in Martin Scorsese's film, ''
Taxi Driver'' opposite Robert De Niro. De Niro's character in ''
Taxi Driver'' intended to assassinate a presidential candidate. Parenthetically, in 1981, John Hinckley, Jr. shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three other people. He claimed his motive was to impress Foster. His obsession with Foster came after repeated viewings of the film, and he stalked her while she attended Yale University. This has been an incident of intense discomfort
