
Jennifer Beals
Born: 1963-12-19
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Biography
Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress and a former teen model. She is known for her roles as Alexandra "Alex" Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, and as Bette Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word. She earned an NAACP Image Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for the former. She has appeared in more than 50 films. Beals was born on the South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Jeanne (née Anderson), an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. She is multiracial; her father was African American, and her mother is Irish American. She has two brothers, Bobby and Gregory.Her father died when Beals was nine years old, and her mother married Edward Cohen in 1981. Beals has said her biracial heritage had some effect on her, as she "always lived sort of on the outside", with an idea "of being the other in society". She got her first job at age 13 at an ice cream store, using her height at the time (she is now nearly 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)), to convince her boss she was 16. Beals was inspired to become an actress by two events: doing a high school production of Fiddler on the Roof and seeing Balm in Gilead with Joan Allen while volunteer-ushering at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Beals graduated from the progressive Francis W. Parker School. She also was chosen to attend the elite Goodman Theatre Young People's Drama Workshop. Beals attended Yale University, receiving a B.A. in American literature in 1987; she deferred a term so she could film Flashdance. While at Yale, Beals was a resident of Morse College. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jennifer Beals, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For

After

The Book of Eli

The Bride

A Wife's Nightmare

My Bodyguard

Four Rooms

Manhattan Night

Flashdance

Without Malice

Full Out

Runaway Jury

Militia

Before I Fall

Night Owl

Sons

Queen to Play

The Madonna and the Dragon

Vampire's Kiss

13 Moons

Roger Dodger

Cinemanovels

Luckiest Girl Alive

Something More

The Grudge 2

Dr. M

Devil in a Blue Dress

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle

Indecency

Desolation Sound

Cinderella

Hollywood: No Sex, Please!

The Prophecy II

A Fuller Life

Body and Soul

Catch That Kid

In the Soup

The Thief and the Cobbler

The White Orchid

The Last Days of Disco

Troubled Waters

Let It Be Me

Dear Diary

That's Dancing!

That's Dancing!

Faerie Tale Theatre: Cinderella

Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying

Break a Leg

Blood and Concrete

Out of Line

Feast of All Saints

Hello Out There

The Big Pardon 2

My Name Is Sarah

The Twilight of the Golds

The Anniversary Party

Split Decisions

The Search for One-eye Jimmy

Wishful Thinking

The Gamble

A House Divided

A Night for Dying Tigers

Terror Stalks the Class Reunion

The Spree

Dead on Sight

The Night Before the Night Before Christmas

They Shoot Divas, Don't They?
