Jennifer Connelly

Jennifer Connelly grew up in Brooklyn Heights, just across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, except for the four years her family spent in Woodstock, New York. Back in Brooklyn Heights, she attended St. Ann's school. Her father was in the garment industry, and a close friend of the family was an advertising executive. When Jennifer was 10, the friend suggested that her parents take her to a modeling audition. She began appearing in newspaper and magazine ads (among them, "Seventeen" magazine) and soon moved on to television commercials. A casting director saw the girl and introduced her to Sergio Leone, who was seeking a young girl to dance in his gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America (1984). After graduation, she enrolled at Yale, and then transferred two years later to Stanford. Her first film appearance after that was a British TV series "Tales of the Unexpected" (1979) in 1984. Her first movie appearance was in Dario Argento's Phenomena (1985). Has appeared in a rock video "I Drove All Night," a Roy Orbison song, co-starring Jason Priestley. Is appearing in an upcoming Miller Beer commercial. Released a single called "Monologue of Love" in Japan in the mid-1980s, in which she sings in Japanese a charming little song with semi-classical instruments arrangement. B-side is "Message Of Love," which is an interview with music in background. Trained in classical theater and improvisation, studying with the late drama coach Roy London, Howard Fine, and Harold Guskin. She did television commercials in Japan. Was "engaged" in an unconventional sense, i.e., no real plans to marry, to Bill Campbell, her co-star in The Rocketeer (1991). They were together on and off for about five years. Lives in New York. She's 5'7", speaks fluent Italian and French. Was a member of Gold's Gym in Venice for a year or two, but is no longer active. Enjoys physical activities such as swimming, gymnastics, bike riding. Is an outdoors person -- camping, hiking and walking. Is interested in Quantum Physics and philosophy. Is fairly level-headed and grounded as a person and is not overly seduced by the Hollywood fantasy. Likes horses, Pearl Jam, SoundGarden, Jesus Jones. Occasionally wears a small picture of the Dalai Lama on a necklace. Favorite colors: cobalt blue, forest green, and "very pale green/gray -- sort of like the color of the sea". Likes to draw.

Early career

Connelly became a star on her next picture, the fantasy Labyrinth (1986), playing Sarah, a teenager who wishes her baby brother into the world of goblins ruled by goblin king Jareth (David Bowie). The film disappointed at the box office, but gained a great cult following.[citation needed] Connelly starred in several obscure films, such as Etoile (1988) and Some Girls (1988). The Dennis Hopper-directed The Hot Spot (1990) was not a success, either critically or commercially. Another film, Career Opportunities, was more successful and is considered a teen cult classic. It and Hot Spot threatened to typecast her in the "sexpot" stereotype with both films emphasizing her voluptuous figure, particularly Hot Spot, which contained her first topless scene. It would be the first of seven movies in which she appeared nude. Connelly was featured on the cover of Esquire in August 1991, as part of the "Women We Love" feature.[5] She appeared alongside Jason Priestley in the Roy Orbison music video for "I Drove All Night" in 1992. Connelly began studying English at Yale, and two years later transferred to Stanford.

The big-budget Disney film The Rocketeer (1991) similarly failed to ignite Connelly's career; after its failure she took some time off from acting. The 1996 indie film Far Harbor played her against type and hinted at a much broader range than she had previously shown. Connelly began to appear in smaller but well-regarded films, such as 1997's Inventing the Abbotts and 2000's Waking the Dead. She played a collegiate lesbian in John Singleton's 1995 ensemble drama, Higher Learning. The critically favored 1998 science fiction film Dark City afforded her the chance to work with such actors as Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Ian Richardson and Kiefer Sutherland. Connelly revisited her ingenue image, although in a more understated way, for the 2000 biopic Pollock, in which she played Jackson Pollock's mistress.