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Friday, November 9, 2012

Jennifer Connelly: Hobby Horse - Career Opportunities

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