Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. She has also earned many other honors, such as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2013 and the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2021.
Foster began her professional career as a child model and later as a teen idol in various Disney films including Napoleon and Samantha (1972), Freaky Friday (1976) and Candleshoe (1977). She acted in Martin Scorsese's comedy-drama Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and thriller Taxi Driver (1976). For playing a teen prostitute in the latter, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Other early films include Tom Sawyer (1973), Bugsy Malone (1976), The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), Carny (1980) and Foxes (1980).
After attending Yale University, Foster transitioned into mature leading roles earning two Academy Awards for Best Actress for playing a rape victim in The Accused (1988) and Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). She also received a nomination for Nell (1994). Her other notable films include Sommersby (1993), Maverick (1994), Contact (1997), Anna and the King (1999), Panic Room (2002), Flightplan (2005), Inside Man (2006), The Brave One (2007), Nim's Island (2008), Carnage (2011), Elysium (2013), The Mauritanian (2021), and Nyad (2023). The last of these earned Foster her fifth Academy Award nomination. In 2024, she starred in the HBO anthology series True Detective: Night Country.
Foster made her directorial film debut with Little Man Tate (1991) and has since directed films such as Home for the Holidays (1995), The Beaver (2011) and Money Monster (2016). She founded her own production company, Egg Pictures, in 1992. She earned two Primetime Emmy nominations for producing The Baby Dance (1999), and directing the Orange Is the New Black episode "Lesbian Request Denied" in 2014. She has also directed episodes for Tales from the Darkside in 1988, House of Cards in 2014, the Black Mirror episode "Arkangel" in 2017, and Tales from the Loop in 2020.
She hosted Saturday Night Live on November 27, 1976, becoming the youngest person to host SNL at age 14 years and 8 days until Drew Barrymore hosted six years later at the age of 7 years, 8 months and 29 days old.
She was also impersonated by Janeane Garofalo on the January 14, 1995 episode during the "Entertainment Tonight" sketch, by Helen Hunt on the December 13, 1997 episode during the "Joan Rivers' 1997 Fashion Wrap-Up" sketch and by Kate McKinnon on the October 6, 2012 episode during the "Bond 50" filmed commercial sketch.
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