Jodie Foster, born in 1962 was a
child actress, appearing in many commercials and
Disney movies from the age of 2 onwards. A precocious performer, Jodie Foster first made an impact it the age of 13 with her role as a
child prostitute in
Martin Scorsese's masterpiece
Taxi Driver, earning an
Oscar nomination for
best supporting actress. Although continuing to make films when her schedule allowed it, Foster continued her education and graduated from
Yale University in 1985 after studying English literature. However despite her low-profile, an obsessed fan
John Hinkley Jnr attempted to
assassinate then United States president
Ronald Reagan in 1981, in order to 'impress' Foster, but failed on both counts.
After graduating Foster has chosen her roles carefully, and has seldom appeared in poor movies. She won the best actress Oscar in 1988 for her role in The Accused as a rape victim, and won again in 1991 for the portrayal of FBI agent Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, making her the only actress to win two best actress Oscars before the age of 30. Later that year Foster made her directorial debut with Little Man Tate, about a child genius. Since then Foster has made relatively few screen appearances, in films such as Nell, Maverick, Contact, Anna and the King and Panic Room, but has twice become a mother.