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Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is a film and television actress and producer. She was born in Culver City, California in the United States.
Her family
Barrymore is the granddaughter of stage actor John Barrymore, and the great-niece of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore. Her father, John Drew Barrymore, and half-brother, John Blyth, are actors who have experienced minor moments of fame. "Drew" was the maiden name of her great-grandmother, Georgiana; "Blythe" was the original surname of the dynasty founded by her great-grandfather, Maurice. Drew's mother is Hungarian-born actress and model, Ildiko Jaid Mako (born 1944).
Biography
Barrymore's career began at the age of 11 months, when she appeared in a dog food commercial. When she was bitten by her canine co-star, the producers feared litigation, though Barrymore merely laughed the incident off. She rose to fame as a child actor when she co-starred in the 1982 Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. At the age of 7, on November 20, 1982, Barrymore became the youngest ever guest host of the weekly TV program Saturday Night Live. She performed in a skit where she revealed that she had killed E.T..
In the wake of this sudden stardom, she endured a notoriously troubled childhood, drinking alcoholic beverages by the time she was 9, smoking marijuana at 10, and snorting cocaine at 12. Barrymore later described this early period of her life in her 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. Though overcoming her substance abuse problems by the time she entered adulthood, Barrymore maintained her "bad girl" image, and in fact leveraged her new found role as a sex symbol to stage a career comeback in the 1990s, playing a teenage seductress in Poison Ivy, and posing nude for the January 1995 issue of U.S. magazine Playboy. Steven Spielberg, Barrymore's godfather, gave her a quilt for her 20th birthday with a note that read "Cover yourself up". Enclosed was a copy of her Playboy appearance, with the pictures altered by his art department so that she appeared fully clothed. At that time she had also appeared nude in her last five movies. During a 1995 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Barrymore shocked the normally unflappable host by climbing onto his desk and flashing her breasts at him (but with her back to the camera), as part of a dance for his birthday. She also modelled in a series of Guess? jeans advertisements during this time.
Barrymore has continued to be a highly bankable movie actress. She is especially adept at romantic comedies; popular examples of her work include The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates. Though her playful sex appeal has undoubtedly helped her remain in the media spotlight, she has also established a substantial career behind the scenes, despite never finishing high school. She has produced several films, including the highly successful Charlie's Angels movie adaptation and its sequel. She has also recently explored more dramatic roles in movies such as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and the cult favorite Donnie Darko, of which she was also the executive producer. Barrymore has started to receive more notice both as a serious actress and a savvy Hollywood "player", though without losing her reputation as a sex symbol and (occasional) hellraiser.
Barrymore's career makes for colorful copy. In the words of Yahoo! Movies:
- Heir to a Hollywood dynasty, child star, prepubescent drug and alcohol abuser, teenage sexpot, and resurrected vessel of celluloid purity, Drew Barrymore is nothing if not the embodiment of the rise and fall of Hollywood fortunes, self-reinvention, and the healing powers of good PR.
More recently, Barrymore was the subject of an offbeat documentary, My Date With Drew (2003). In it, an aspiring filmmaker and lifelong Drew Barrymore fan uses his limited financial and social resources in an attempt to gain a date with Barrymore. Through word of mouth, the internet, and a six-degrees-of-separation style of communication with Barrymore and her associates, a date with Barrymore is eventually acquired. Barrymore proved to be a good sport on the date, bringing a video camera to the fan as a gift and finding humor in the events.
On February 3, 2004, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Barrymore was married to Welsh bartender turned bar owner, Jeremy Thomas, from March 20 to April 28, 1994, and to comedian Tom Green from July 7, 2001 to October 15, 2002 (Green filed for divorce in December 2001). She is currently dating drummer Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes. Barrymore has also publicly declared herself to be bisexual, revealing that she had slept with many women as a teenager and is still very interested in women sexually.
Trivia
- Barrymore was delivered by Dr. Paul Fleiss, father of Heidi Fleiss (interview on The Tonight Show, January 22, 2003).
- She is the godmother of Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of musicians Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love.
- She has 6 tattoos: a crescent moon on her big toe, a cross with ivy on her lower leg, a butterfly on her stomach, a daisy on her hip, and 2 angels on her lower back (one has a banner with her mother's name, Jaid, and the other has the name James--a tribute to her then-boyfriend Jamie Walters).
Filmography
- Altered States (1980)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
- Firestarter (1984)
- Irreconcilable Differences (1984)
- Cat's Eye (1985)
- See You in the Morning (1989)
- Far from Home (1989)
- Motorama (1991)
- Poison Ivy (1992)
- Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992)
- Guncrazy (1992)
- No Place to Hide (1993)
- Doppelganger (1993)
- Wayne's World 2 (1993) (Cameo)
- Inside the Goldmine (1994)
- Bad Girls (1994)
- Boys on the Side (1995)
- Mad Love (1995)
- Batman Forever (1995)
- Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
- Scream (1996)
- Wishful Thinking (1997)
- Best Men (1997)
- The Wedding Singer (1998)
- Ever After (1998)
- Home Fries (1998)
- Never Been Kissed (1999) (also executive producer)
- Skipped Parts (2000)
- Titan A.E. (2000) (voice)
- Charlie's Angels (2000) (also producer)
- Donnie Darko (2001) (also executive producer)
- Freddy Got Fingered (2001) (Cameo)
- Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
- Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) (also producer)
- Duplex (2003) (also producer)
- 50 First Dates (2004)
- Ramones Raw (2004) (documentary)
- Fever Pitch (2005) (also producer)
Upcoming
- Curious George (2006) (voice)
- Lucky You (2006)
See also
External links
- Drew Barrymore at IMDb
- Timeline of events in Drew Barrymore's life
- Drew Smiles
- The Drew Barrymore Collective
- Beautiful Drew Barrymore
- 1975 births
- American actors
- American film producers
- American models
- Barrymore family
- Batman actors
- Bisexual actors
- Child actors
- Film actors
- Hollywood Walk of Fame
- Hungarian-Americans
- People from the Greater Los Angeles Area
- Sex symbols
- Vegans
- Voice actors
- Worst Actress Razzie nominees
- Worst Supporting Actress Razzie nominees