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Sandra Bullock extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Sandra Bullock
Bullock at the premiere for The Proposal in June 2009
Born	Sandra Annette Bullock July 26, 1964 (1964-07-26) (age 44) Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Other name(s)	Sandra Bullock
Occupation	Actress; producer
Years active	1979–present
Spouse(s)	Jesse G. James (2005-present)

Sandra Annette Bullock (pronounced /ˈbʊlək/; born July 26, 1964) is an American actress.¹ She came to fame in the 1990s, after roles in successful films such as Speed and While You Were Sleeping. She has since established her career as a well-known leading Hollywood actress, with films such as Miss Congeniality and 2005's Crash, which received critical acclaim. In 2007 she was ranked as the 14th richest female celebrity with an estimated fortune of $85 million.²

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Entrepreneurship 4 Personal life 5 Filmography 6 Awards 7 References 8 External links

Early life

Bullock was born in Arlington County, Virginia, the daughter of Helga D. Meyer, a German opera singer and part-time vocal coach, and John W. Bullock, a Pentagon contractor and executive from Alabama.³⁴ Bullock's maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist from Nuremberg, Germany.⁵ On her father's side, she is descended from a prominent family in early Alabama history for whom Bullock County is named. Bullock lived in Nuremberg until age twelve, where she sang in the opera's children's choir at the Staatstheater Nürnberg.⁶ She frequently traveled with her mother on her opera tours, and lived in Germany and other parts of Europe for much of her childhood. She is fluent in German and holds German citizenship via her late mother's nationality.¹ Bullock studied ballet and vocal arts as a child, taking small parts in her mother's opera productions.

Bullock attended Washington-Lee High School where she was a cheerleader, participated in high school theater productions and dated a football player.⁷ She graduated in 1982 and enrolled in East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. During this time, she worked as a waitress at a restaurant.⁷ She later left school during her senior year (Spring 1986), only three credits short of graduating, to pursue an acting career.⁷ She went on to Manhattan to pursue auditions and supported herself with a variety of odd jobs (bartender, cocktail waitress, coat checker).⁷

Bullock later completed her coursework and was awarded a bachelor's degree from East Carolina University.⁸

Career

While in New York, Bullock took acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She appeared in several student films and later landed a role in an Off-Broadway play No Time Flat.⁷ Director Alan J. Levi was impressed by Bullock's performance and offered her a part in the made-for-TV movie Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989). After filming the TV movie, Bullock stayed in Los Angeles and was cast in a series of small roles in several independent films as well as in the lead role of the short-lived NBC television version of the film Working Girl (1990). She later appeared in several films such as Love Potion No. 9 (1992), The Thing Called Love (1993) and Fire on the Amazon (where she agreed to appear topless if the camera did not show that much, she covered herself with duct tape which apparently was somewhat painful to take off).⁷

One of Bullock's first notable movie appearances was in the science-fiction/action movie Demolition Man (1993), which starred Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. This role then led to her break-through performance in Speed the following year. She became a high-level movie star in the late 1990s, carrying a string of successes, including While You Were Sleeping (replacing actress Demi Moore, who was originally scheduled to star), and Miss Congeniality. Bullock received $11 million dollars for Speed 2: Cruise Control⁷ and $17.5 million dollars for Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous.⁷

Bullock was selected as one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1996 and 1999, and was also ranked #58 in Empire magazine's Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. She was presented with the 2002 Raúl Juliá Award for Excellence⁹ for her efforts, as the executive producer of the sitcom The George Lopez Show, in helping expand career openings for Hispanic talent in the media and entertainment industry. She also made several appearances on the show as Accident Amy, an accident-prone employee at the factory Lopez's character manages. In 2002, she starred opposite Hugh Grant in the global hit Two Weeks Notice.

In 2005, Bullock had a supporting role in the film Crash. She received positive reviews for her performance, with some critics suggesting that it was the best performance of her career.^{citation needed} Bullock later appeared in The Lake House, a romantic drama also starring her Speed co-star, Keanu Reeves; it was released on June 16, 2006. Because their film characters are separated throughout the film (due to the plot revolving around time travel), Bullock and Reeves were only on set together for two weeks during filming.¹⁰ The same year, Bullock appeared in Infamous, playing author Harper Lee. Bullock also stars in Premonition with Julian McMahon, which was released in March 2007.¹¹

Entrepreneurship

Bullock runs her own production company, Fortis Films. Her sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, is president of the company and her father, John Bullock, is its CEO.¹² She was an executive producer of The George Lopez Show which garnered a lucrative syndication deal that banked Bullock some $10 million (co-produced with Robert Borden ¹³). Bullock tried to produce a film based on F.X. Toole's short story, Million-Dollar Baby, but could not interest the studios in a female boxing drama.¹⁴ The story was eventually adapted and directed by Clint Eastwood as the Oscar-winning film, Million Dollar Baby (2004). Bullock's production company, Fortis Films, will produce her next movie, All About Steve. In the meantime, she tends to her Austin restaurant, Bess Bistro,and its first merchandising tie-in, a line of Bessence organic candles.

Personal life

Bullock was once engaged to actor Tate Donovan whom she met while filming Love Potion No. 9. Their relationship lasted four years.⁷ She previously dated football player Troy Aikman, Austin musician Bob Schneider (for two years)⁷ and actors Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Gosling.^{citation needed}

Bullock married motorcycle builder and Monster Garage host Jesse James on July 16, 2005. They met when Bullock arranged for her ten-year-old godson to meet James as a Christmas present. On her husband and her marriage, Bullock has commented:

So basically through a courtship of letters ... I learned about a human being. It was not something I wanted, needed, or looked for, but because he was a stronger person than I was, spiritually and on a tolerance level, I was lucky enough that he educated me... I always thought of marriage as a death sentence, that there'd be a ball and chain, and you'd be told, "You need to stop doing these things and become a good little wife." Now people say "Oh my God you're going to have sex with one person the rest of your life!" I hope I have sex with him for the rest of my life - because I like it!¹⁵

On December 20, 2000, Bullock survived the crash of a chartered business jet at Jackson Hole Airport. The aircraft hit a snowbank instead of the runway, resulting in both the nose gear and nose cone being ripped off, the right wing partially separated from the aircraft and the left wing bent back.

Bullock has twice donated $1 million to the American Red Cross, first to its Liberty Disaster Relief Fund and four years later in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis.¹⁶

In October 2004, Bullock won a multimillion dollar judgment against Benny Daneshjou, the builder of her Lake Austin Texas mansion; the jury ruled the house was uninhabitable. It has since been torn down and rebuilt.¹⁷ Bullock also owns a house on Tybee Island, which is a few miles from Savannah, Georgia. After four years of preparation, Bullock's first restaurant Bess Bistro opened in November 2006 in Austin, Texas.

On April 22, 2007, a woman was lying outside James and Bullock's Southern California home in Orange County. When James confronted the woman, she ran inside her 2004 silver Mercedes and tried to run him over 3 to 4 times. The woman is said to be an obsessed fan of Sandra Bullock. The woman, Marcia Diana Valentine, was arrested on investigation of assault with a deadly weapon.¹⁸ In May, Bullock won a three-year restraining order against the woman. Valentine pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault and stalking.¹⁹

On April 18, 2008, while Bullock was in Massachusetts shooting the film The Proposal, she and her husband were in an SUV that was hit head on by a drunken driver. There were no injuries.²⁰

In January 2009, she and husband Jesse James were awarded temporary full-time custody of his daughter, Sunny, following her mother's (adult film star Janine Lindemulder) sentencing to 6 months in prison, for income tax evasion.²¹

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1987	Hangmen	Lisa Edwards
1989	Religion, Inc.	Debby
	Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman	Kate Mason
	Who Shot Patakango?	Devlin Moran
	The Preppie Murder	Stacy
1990	Lucky/Chances	Maria Santangelo
1992	Who Do I Gotta Kill?	Lori
	When the Party's Over	Amanda
	Love Potion No. 9	Diane Farrow
1993	The Vanishing	Diane Shaver
	The Thing Called Love	Linda Lue Linden
	Demolition Man	Lt. Lenina Huxley
	Fire on the Amazon	Alyssa Rothman
	Wrestling Ernest Hemingway	Elaine
1994	Speed	Annie Porter
1995	While You Were Sleeping	Lucy Eleanor Moderatz	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
	The Net	Angela Bennett/Ruth Marx
1996	Two If by Sea	Roz
	A Time to Kill	Ellen Roark
	In Love and War	Agnes von Kurowsky
1997	Speed 2: Cruise Control	Annie Porter
1998	Hope Floats	Birdee Pruitt	Also executive producer
	Practical Magic	Sally Owens
	The Prince of Egypt (Animated Film)	Miriam	voice
1999	Forces of Nature	Sarah Lewis
2000	Gun Shy	Judy Tipp
	28 Days	Gwen Cummings
	Miss Congeniality	Gracie Hart/Gracie Lou Freebush	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2002	Murder by Numbers	Cassie Mayweather/Jessica Marie Hudson	Also executive producer
	Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood	Siddalee 'Sidda' Walker
	Two Weeks Notice	Lucy Kelson	Also producer
2005	Loverboy	Mrs. Harker
	Farm of the Yard	Amanda the Tyrannosaurus rex	voice
	Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous	Gracie Hart	Also producer
	Crash	Jean Cabot	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2006	The Lake House	Kate Forster
	Infamous	Nelle Harper Lee
2007	Premonition	Linda Quinn Hanson
2009	The Proposal	Margaret "Maggie" Tate
	All About Steve	Mary Horowitz	completed; also producer
	The Blind Side	Leigh Anne Touhy	filming

Awards

Year	Award Show	Category	Result
1994	Razzie Awards	Worst Supporting Actress for Demolition Man	Nominated
1995	Saturn Awards	Best Actress for Speed	Won
1995	Golden Apple	Female Star of the Year	Won
1995	Blimp Award	Favorite Movie Actress for Speed	Won
1995	MTV Movie Awards	Best Female Performance for Speed	Won
1995	MTV Movie Awards	Best On-Screen Duo for Speed	Won
1995	MTV Movie Awards	Most Desirable Female for Speed	Won
1995	MTV Movie Awards	Best Kiss for Speed	Nominated
1996	American Comedy Awards	Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role) for While You Were Sleeping	Nominated
1996	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical for While You Were Sleeping	Nominated
1996	MTV Movie Awards	Best Female Performance for While You Were Sleeping	Nominated
1996	MTV Movie Awards	Most Desirable Female for While You Were Sleeping	Nominated
1996	MTV Movie Awards	Most Desirable Female for The Net	Nominated
1996	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Motion Picture Actress	Won
1997	Blockbuster Entertainment Award	Favorite Actress - Suspense for A Time To Kill	Won
1997	MTV Movie Awards	Best Female Performance for A Time To Kill	Nominated
1997	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Motion Picture Actress	Won
1998	Razzie Awards	Worst Actress for Speed 2: Cruise Control	Nominated
1998	Razzie Awards	Worst Screen Couple for Speed 2: Cruise Control	Nominated
1999	Lone Star Film & Television Award	Best Actress for Hope Floats	Won
1998	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Motion Picture Actress	Won
1999	Teen Choice Awards	Film - Choice Hissy Fit for Forces of Nature	Won
2000	Bambi Awards	Film international	Won
2000	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical for Miss Congeniality	Nominated
2001	American Comedy Awards	Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role) for Miss Congeniality	Won
2001	Satellite Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical for Miss Congeniality	Nominated
2001	Blockbuster Entertainment Award	Favorite Actress - Comedy for Miss Congeniality	Won
2001	Teen Choice Awards	Film - Choice Wipeout for Miss Congeniality	Won
2005	Teen Choice Awards	Film - Choice Movie Actress: Comedy for Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous	Won
2006	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Female Movie Star	Won
2006	Black Reel Awards	Best Ensemble for Crash	Won
2006	Critics' Choice Award	Best Acting Ensemble for Crash	Won
2006	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for Crash	Won

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sandra Bullock

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sandra Bullock

• Sandra Bullock at the Internet Movie Database
• Sandra Bullock at TV.com

Persondata
NAME	Bullock, Sandra
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bullock, Sandra Annette
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH	1964-7-26
PLACE OF BIRTH	Arlington, Virginia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH