Jennifer Beals

Biography

Jennifer Beals was born on December 19, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois. She is the product of a biracial union: her father, who passed away when she was 10, was African-American, and her mother is Irish. She graduated from Francis W. Parker School in Chicago, a primary school and high school that emphasized community and citizenship. During her teens, Jennifer was a fashion model and baby-sat Regis Philbin's children.

jennifer beals in flashdance

At age 17, Jennifer's looks got her noticed by the producers of the movie My Bodyguard (1980). It was her first role in a movie, but it was uncredited. Afterwards, Beals enrolled at Yale University to study American literature. While she was on a trip to Europe, her publicist contacted her and asked her to come to New York to try out for a movie that was being billed as a "female Saturday Night Fever."

Jennifer returned and won the lead role in the 1983 movie Flashdance. It was her breakout performance and provided her with instant star status. Her character, Alex Owens, immediately popularized oversized torn sweaters and set the trend for '80s teen fashion. Shortly after the movie's release, it was revealed that Jennifer did not do most of the dance numbers in the film; the news infuriated and alienated much of her fan base.

jennifer beals appears in showgirls

Subsequently, Beals returned to Yale to finish her schooling. During this time, she appeared in the film The Bride (1985). One of her classmates at Yale was David Duchovny, star of The X-Files; he lobbied the show's producers to take Beals as the female lead, but the role eventually went to Gillian Anderson. In 1986, Beals married Alexandre Rockwell, an independent filmmaker.

During the time Jennifer was married to him, she appeared in several of his films, including In The Soup (1992) and Four Rooms (1995). In 1995, she starred in the film Devil in a Blue Dress with Denzel Washington; her character in this movie was a woman of mixed race, mirroring her real-life heritage. In 1996, she divorced Rockwell and, in 1998, she won a Golden Satellite Award for her role in the TV miniseries The Twilight of the Golds.

jennifer beals in the l word

In 1998, she married Ken Dixon, a Canadian entrepreneur. She appeared in many TV projects and independent films throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as The Prophecy II (1998), Something More (1999), A House Divided (2000), and Militia (2000). Her career surged again in 2002 when she appeared in the "battle of the sexes" film Roger Dodger with her real-life friend, Showgirls star Elizabeth Berkley. Her next big role was in Runaway Jury (2003) alongside John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Rachel Weisz.

By 2004, Beals had landed another spotlight role, this time as a biracial lesbian on the raunchy and popular Showtime TV series The L Word, a role for which she continues to receive wide acclaim. In May 2005, Beals wrapped up shooting on the film Desolation Sound, set for release sometime in 2005.

Jennifer is also a close friend of director Quentin Tarantino's; she gave him refuge in her home while he was still a struggling director. In her spare time, Beals is an avid photographer. In March 2005, Jennifer announced that she is expecting her first child in November.