Jennifer Beals
Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963, height 5' 8½" (1,74 m)) is an American actress and a former teen model. She is known for her roles as Alexandra "Alex" Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, and as Bette Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word. She earned an NAACP Image Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for the former. She has appeared in more than 50 films.
Beals was born on the South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Jeanne (née Anderson), an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. She is multiracial; her father was African American, and her mother is Irish American. She has two brothers, Bobby and Gregory.Her father died when Beals was nine years old, and her mother married Edward Cohen in 1981. Beals has said her biracial heritage had some effect on her, as she "always lived sort of on the outside", with an idea "of being the other in society". She got her first job at age 13 at an ice cream store, using her height at the time (she is now nearly 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)), to convince her boss she was 16.
Beals was inspired to become an actress by two events: doing a high school production of Fiddler on the Roof and seeing Balm in Gilead with Joan Allen while volunteer-ushering at the Steppenwolf Theatre.
Beals graduated from the progressive Francis W. Parker School. She also was chosen to attend the elite Goodman Theatre Young People's Drama Workshop. Beals attended Yale University, receiving a B.A. in American literature in 1987; she deferred a term so she could film Flashdance. While at Yale, Beals was a resident of Morse College.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Jennifer Beals, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Beals was born on the South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Jeanne (née Anderson), an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. She is multiracial; her father was African American, and her mother is Irish American. She has two brothers, Bobby and Gregory.Her father died when Beals was nine years old, and her mother married Edward Cohen in 1981. Beals has said her biracial heritage had some effect on her, as she "always lived sort of on the outside", with an idea "of being the other in society". She got her first job at age 13 at an ice cream store, using her height at the time (she is now nearly 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)), to convince her boss she was 16.
Beals was inspired to become an actress by two events: doing a high school production of Fiddler on the Roof and seeing Balm in Gilead with Joan Allen while volunteer-ushering at the Steppenwolf Theatre.
Beals graduated from the progressive Francis W. Parker School. She also was chosen to attend the elite Goodman Theatre Young People's Drama Workshop. Beals attended Yale University, receiving a B.A. in American literature in 1987; she deferred a term so she could film Flashdance. While at Yale, Beals was a resident of Morse College.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Jennifer Beals, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Luckiest Girl Alive
The Book of Boba Fett
Law & Order: Organized Crime
Sweet Thing
The L Word: Generation Q
Swamp Thing
After
The White Orchid
Before I Fall
Taken
Manhattan Night
Full Out
Proof
A Wife's Nightmare
The Night Shift
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Off Camera with Sam Jones
Cinemanovels
A Fuller Life
Motive
The Chicago Code
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
A Night for Dying Tigers
The Book of Eli
Queen to Play
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Castle
Lie to Me
My Name Is Sarah
Troubled Waters
The Grudge 2
Desolation Sound
Break a Leg
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Catch That Kid
Best Week Ever
The L Word
Runaway Jury
They Shoot Divas, Don't They?
13 Moons
Roger Dodger
Out of Line
Feast of All Saints
The Anniversary Party
Something More
Militia
Body and Soul
A House Divided
Without Malice
Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying
Wishful Thinking
The Last Days of Disco
The Prophecy II
Nothing Sacred
The View
The Hunger
The Twilight of the Golds
E! True Hollywood Story
The Daily Show
Four Rooms
Let It Be Me
Devil in a Blue Dress
The Outer Limits
The Search for One-eye Jimmy
Dead on Sight
Pulp Fiction
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
Caro diario
The Thief and the Cobbler
Frasier
Night Owl
The Big Pardon 2
In the Soup
Indecency
2000 Malibu Road
Terror Stalks the Class Reunion
Blood and Concrete
Law & Order
The Madonna and the Dragon
Dr. M
Sons
The Gamble
Vampire's Kiss
Split Decisions
The Bride
Cinderella
That's Dancing!
Flashdance
Faerie Tale Theatre
My Bodyguard