Jennifer Connelly: Hobby Horse - Career Opportunities
Jennifer Lynn
Connelly (born December 12, 1970) is an American film actress, who began her
career as a child model. She appeared in magazine, newspaper and television
advertising, before making her motion picture debut in the 1984 crime film Once
Upon a Time in America. Connelly continued modeling and acting, starring in
films such as the 1986 Labyrinth and the 1991 Career Opportunities. She gained
critical acclaim for her work in the 1998 science fiction film Dark City and
for her portrayal of Marion Silver in the 2000 drama Requiem for a Dream.
In 2002, Connelly
won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for her supporting
role as Alicia Nash in Ron Howard's 2001 biopic A Beautiful Mind. Her later
credits include the 2003 Marvel superhero film Hulk where she played Hulk/Bruce
Banner's true love Betty Ross, the 2005 thriller Dark Water, the 2006 drama
Blood Diamond, the 2008 science fiction remake The Day the Earth Stood Still,
the 2009 romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You and the 2009 biographical
drama Creation. In 2012, she re-teamed with her Requiem for a Dream director
Darren Aronofsky and A Beautiful Mind co-star Russell Crowe for the biblical
epic Noah.
Connelly was named
Amnesty International Ambassador for Human Rights Education in 2005. She has
been the face of Balenciaga fashion advertisements, as well as for Revlon
cosmetics. In 2012 she was named the first global face of the Shiseido Company.
Magazines including Time, Vanity Fair and Esquire, as well as the Los Angeles
Times newspaper have included her on their lists of the world's most beautiful
women.
Connelly gained
public recognition with Jim Henson's 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth, in which she
played Sarah, a teenager on a quest to rescue her brother Toby from the world
of goblins. Although a disappointment at the box office,[20] the film later
became a cult classic.[21] The New York Times, while noting the importance of
her part, panned her portrayal: "Jennifer Connelly as Sarah is
unfortunately disappointing. ... She looks right, but she lacks conviction and
seems to be reading rehearsed lines that are recited without belief in her goal
or real need to accomplish it."[22] Two years later, she starred as a
ballet student in the Italian film Étoile,[23] and portrayed college student
Gabby in Michael Hoffman's Some Girls.[24]
Balancing work and
school, she studied English for two years at Yale University in 1988 and 1989,
before transferring to Stanford University in 1990 to study drama.[25] There,
she trained with Roy London, Howard Fine and Harold Guskin.[26] Encouraged by her
parents to continue with her film career,[2] Connelly left college and returned
to the movie making industry the same year.[25]
In 1990, Dennis
Hopper directed The Hot Spot, in which Connelly was cast as Gloria Harper, a
woman being blackmailed.[27] The movie was a box office failure.[6] Stephen
Schaefer wrote for USA Today, "Anyone looking for proof that little girls
do grow up fast in the movies should take a gander at curvaceous Jennifer
Connelly [...] in The Hot Spot. Not yet 20, Connelly has neatly managed the
transition from child actress to ingenue". During an interview with
Shaeffer, Connelly commented on her first nude scene: "The nudity was hard
for me and something I thought about...but it's not in a sleazy
context".[6] The same year, director Garry Marshall considered her for the
role of Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman, but ultimately felt that she was too young
for the part.[28]
Connelly's next
movie was the 1991 romantic comedy Career Opportunities, starring alongside
Frank Whaley.[29] The director was criticized for exploiting Connelly's image.
People deplored an advertisement that showed Whaley watching Connelly ride a
mechanical horse; the caption read "He's about to have the ride of his
life".[7] In an interview with Rolling Stone Connelly stated, "I
don't know about anyone else, but that wasn't something I felt all that
comfortable about. That sure as hell wasn't a subject that I was trying to
learn about from my professor". -Wikipedia
