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Oscar-winning actress and former child model
She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for portraying Alicia Nash in the biographical drama A Beautiful Mind (2001).
Jennifer Connelly is an American actress who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Alicia Nash in A Beautiful Mind (2001). She began her career as a child model before making her film debut at age 13 in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), gaining widespread recognition for her starring role in the fantasy film Labyrinth (1986) alongside David Bowie. Over four decades, she delivered acclaimed performances in films including Requiem for a Dream (2000), House of Sand and Fog (2003), Blood Diamond (2006), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
Connelly began modeling at age 10 after a family friend who worked in advertising suggested she audition for the Ford Modeling Agency. She appeared in print advertisements and television commercials before transitioning to acting when her mother started taking her to auditions. At age 11, she was cast in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), performing a ballet routine despite having no formal ballet training, launching her acting career while still appearing on the covers of Seventeen magazine.
Connelly married English actor Paul Bettany on January 1, 2003, after meeting him during the filming of A Beautiful Mind. She has three children: son Kai (born 1997) from a previous relationship with photographer David Dugan, and two children with Bettany, son Stellan (born August 5, 2003) and daughter Agnes (born May 31, 2011). Standing at 5 feet 7 inches tall, Connelly studied English literature at Yale University before transferring to Stanford University to study drama, though she left college to pursue her film career full-time.
She was 15 years old when she starred in Labyrinth (1986) opposite David Bowie, one of her most iconic roles.
She was 21 years old during the filming of Career Opportunities (1991) with Frank Whaley.
She recorded two pop songs in phonetic Japanese in 1986 for the Japanese market despite not speaking the language.
She was attacked and bitten by a chimpanzee on the finger while filming Phenomena (1985) in Italy.
She trained with renowned acting coaches Roy London, Howard Fine, and Harold Guskin at Stanford University.
She was NOT in the original Top Gun (1986), though she appeared in Top Gun: Maverick (2022) as Penny Benjamin.
I wasn't really concerned with having a social life or sleeping or eating much. I was really nerdy and pretty much stayed in the law school library, which is open 24 hours.
Before I knew it, acting became what I did. It was a very peculiar way to grow up, combined with my personality.
I described feeling like a kind of walking puppet through my adolescence, without having time alone to deal with the attention my career was generating.
Born December 12 in Cairo, New York
Began modeling career at age 10 with Ford Modeling Agency
Made film debut in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America at age 13
Starred in first leading role in Dario Argento's Phenomena
Gained recognition starring in Labyrinth opposite David Bowie
Received critical acclaim for portraying a drug addict in Requiem for a Dream
Won Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA for A Beautiful Mind
Married actor Paul Bettany on January 1
Named Amnesty International Ambassador for Human Rights Education
Became first global face of Shiseido Company
Starred as Naameh in Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah
Began starring in TNT science fiction series Snowpiercer
Appeared in blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick as Penny Benjamin
Starred in Apple TV+ science fiction series Dark Matter