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Jennifer Beals extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Jennifer Beals
Beals in Sweden, July 1983
Born	December 19, 1963 (1963-12-19) (age 45) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Alexandre Rockwell (1986-1996) Ken Dixon (1998-present)

Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American film actress and former teen model. She is known for her roles as Alexandra "Alex" Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, and as Bette Porter on the lesbian-themed 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 movies.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

Biography

Early life

Beals was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Jeanne, an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned a grocery store.¹ Her father was African-American and her mother was Irish American.²³⁴⁵ She has two brothers, Bobby and Gregory.⁶ Her father died when Beals was ten years old and her mother re-married to Edward Cohen. Beals stated that her biracial heritage had some impact on her, as she "always lived sort-of on the outside", with an idea "of being the other in society".⁷ She graduated from the Francis W. Parker School. During high school, she dated actor Adam Baldwin. Beals 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, 1987.⁸ While at Yale, Beals was a resident of Morse College.⁹

Career

Beals had a minor role in the 1980 film My Bodyguard, then came to fame with her starring part in Flashdance. The third-highest grossing U.S. film of 1983, it was the story of 18-year-old Alex, a welder by day and exotic dancer by night, whose dream is to someday be accepted at an illustrious school of dance. Beals was cast for this key role while still a student at Yale. She was nominated for a Golden Globe and the film received an Academy Award for Best Song. After its release, it was revealed that many of Beals' elaborate dance moves were actually performed by double Marine Jahan.¹⁰

In 1984, Beals was initially offered the role of the leading lady in the iconic movie Purple Rain starring opposite Prince, but turned it down to focus on college.

A number of interesting roles came Beals' way following that breakout performance. She and singer-actor Sting were cast as the leads in 1985's The Bride, a gothic horror film loosely based on the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein. Beals was cast as Eva, quite literally a beautiful creature, brought to life by Dr. Frankenstein to be a mate for his monster.

Starring opposite Nicolas Cage, the actress portrayed a lusty and thirsty vampire who may or may not be a figment of a man's imagination in 1989's Vampire's Kiss.

In 1995, Beals and Denzel Washington co-starred in Devil in a Blue Dress, a period film based on a Walter Mosley novel featuring L.A. private detective, Easy Rawlins. Beals played a biracial woman passing for white. She has played similar roles throughout her career. That same year she appeared with Tim Roth in a segment of the four-story anthology Four Rooms directed by her then-husband, Alexandre Rockwell.

Rockwell had previously directed her in the 1992 independent film In the Soup, which was a Grand Prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival.

Recently, she had a leading role in 2006's The Grudge 2, sequel to the hit horror film of two years earlier.

In television, she made a brief cameo in the final episode of Frasier. In 2007 she appeared in the small TV drama My Name Is Sarah, in which she plays Sarah Winston, a sober woman who joins Alcoholics Anonymous to be with a man she loves.

Beals starred in Showtime Network's The L Word, where she played Bette Porter, an Ivy League educated lesbian, until the series ended in March 2009.

She also starred alongside Tim Roth in Lie To Me, as Cal Lightman's ex-wife Zoe Landau.

Personal life

Beals was married to Alexandre Rockwell from 1986 to 1996. In 1998, she married Ken Dixon, a Canadian entrepreneur.¹¹ She and Dixon had a daughter in October 2005, and Dixon has two children from a previous marriage. Beals has described herself as a "spiritual person".¹²

Beals is a close friend of Quentin Tarantino, Marlee Matlin, Jon Stewart, Rebecca Starr, and Elizabeth Berkley.

Beals was a Celebrity Grand Marshall at the 2006 San Francisco Pride Parade.¹³

On May 10, 2008, Beals presented the Davidson/Valentini Award to The L Word creator Ilene Chaiken at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, in San Francisco, CA.¹⁴

She supported Barack Obama during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

In an interview with Sharon Osbourne, she declared being "obsessed" with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and wanting the entire cast to star as guests on The L word.

Filmography

• Flashdance (1983)
• The Bride (1985)
• Faerie Tale Theatre: Cinderella (1985)
• Partita, La (The Gamble) (1988)
• Split Decisions (1988)
• Vampire's Kiss (1989)
• Sons (1989)
• Dr.M (1990)
• Tinikling ou 'La madonne et le dragon' (The Madonna and the Dragon) (1990) (TV)
• Blood and Concrete (1991)
• In the Soup (1992)
• Terror Stalks the Class Reunion (1992)
• Indecency (1992)
• Grand pardon II, Le (Day of Atonement) (1992)
• Caro diario (1993)
• The Night Owl (1993)
• Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)
• Four Rooms (1995)
• Let It Be Me (1995)
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
• The Thief and the Cobbler (1995) (Miramax version)
• Wishful Thinking (1997)
• The Twilight of the Golds (1997)
• The Prophecy II (1998)
• The Spree (1998)
• The Last Days of Disco (1998)
• The Hunger (1999) (TV)
• Without Malice (2000) (TV)
• Fear of Flying (1999)
• A House Divided (2000) (TV)
• Militia (2000)
• Out of Line (2001)
• The Anniversary Party (2001)
• After the Storm (2001) (TV)
• The Feast of All Saints (2001) (TV)
• 13 Moons (2002)
• Roger Dodger (2002)
• They Shoot Divas, Don't They? (2002) (TV)
• Runaway Jury (2003)
• Catch That Kid (2004)
• Desolation Sound (2005)
• The Grudge 2 (2006)
• Troubled Waters (2006)
• My Name Is Sarah (2007) (TV)
• Joueuse (2009)
• Lie to Me (TV) [2]
• The Book of Eli (2010)

References

External links

• Jennifer Beals website
• Jennifer Beals at the Internet Movie Database
• Jennifer Beals at Allmovie
• Bette Porter L-word Wiki
• Beals