Jodie Foster

Foster has been married to photographer and actor Alexandra Hedison since 2014. Hedison is known for her role in The L Word and appeared in episodes of Melrose Place and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Foster has two sons, Charles and Kit, with her former partner Cydney Bernard. Foster and Bernard met on the set of Sommersby, and Foster described Bernard as her former partner and co-parent during her 2013 Cecil B. DeMille Award acceptance speech.

Foster began working as a child model and appeared in commercials before making her television acting debut in Mayberry R.F.D. in 1968. She went on to appear in television programs including Gunsmoke, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, and My Three Sons, as well as Disney films such as Napoleon and Samantha and One Little Indian.

Martin Scorsese cast Foster as Iris, a 12-year-old prostitute, in Taxi Driver (1976), with Robert De Niro playing Travis Bickle. The performance earned Foster an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and established her as a major young star. She later appeared in Freaky Friday, Foxes, and The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.

Foster enrolled at Yale University after high school and graduated magna cum laude with a literature degree in 1985. During her studies, she became the focus of John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and said he wanted to impress her. Foster testified at Hinckley’s trial and later returned to acting.

Foster won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Sarah Tobias, a sexual-assault survivor seeking justice, in The Accused (1988). The role also earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Motion Picture.

She won a second Academy Award for Best Actress for playing FBI agent Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), opposite Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Foster’s performance became one of her defining roles. Julianne Moore later played Clarice Starling in Hannibal, while Foster did not reprise the character.

Foster continued acting in films such as Nell, Maverick, Contact, Panic Room, Flightplan, Inside Man, The Brave One, Carnage, and Elysium. She received another Academy Award nomination for her performance in Nell, which she also helped produce.

Foster made her feature-film directorial debut with Little Man Tate (1991), in which she also acted. She later directed Home for the Holidays (1995), The Beaver (2011), and Money Monster (2016). In The Beaver, she directed and acted opposite Mel Gibson.

Her television directing credits include episodes of Tales from the Darkside, Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards, Black Mirror, and Tales from the Loop. Her work on Orange Is the New Black earned her an Emmy nomination, and she directed the Black Mirror episode “Arkangel.”

Foster played Nancy Hollander in The Mauritanian (2021), a film based on the memoir of a man held at Guantánamo Bay detention camp. The performance earned her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

In Nyad (2023), Foster portrayed Bonnie Stoll, the friend and coach of marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, played by Annette Bening. Foster received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the role.

Foster starred as detective Liz Danvers in the fourth season of HBO’s anthology series, True Detective: Night Country. The performance earned her Emmy and Golden Globe awards, including the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.