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Anne Hathaway (actress)
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Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the 1999 television series Get Real, but her first prominent role was in Disney's family comedy The Princess Diaries (starring opposite Julie Andrews), which established her career.
She continued to appear in family films over the next three years, with lead roles in Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement in 2004.
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Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the 1999 television series Get Real, but her first prominent role was in Disney's family comedy The Princess Diaries (starring opposite Julie Andrews), which established her career.
She continued to appear in family films over the next three years, with lead roles in Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement in 2004. Hathaway would later venture away from the "G-rated" image her early acting career bestowed upon her, starring in the films Havoc and Brokeback Mountain. She later starred in The Devil Wears Prada, opposite Meryl Streep; Becoming Jane, in which she portrays Jane Austen, and Get Smart, opposite Steve Carell. In 2008 she earned widespread critical acclaim for her star turn in the film Rachel Getting Married, for which she won numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Her acting style has been compared to that of Judy Garland and Audrey Hepburn and she cites Hepburn as her favorite actress and Streep as her idol. People magazine named her one of 2001's breakthrough stars, and in 2006, she was listed as one of the world’s 50 Most Beautiful People.
Biography
Early life and career
Hathaway was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Gerald Hathaway, a lawyer, and Kate McCauley, an actress who inspired Hathaway to follow in her footsteps. The family moved to Millburn, New Jersey, when she was six years old. She has an older brother, Michael, and a younger brother, Thomas. Hathaway has mainly Irish and French ancestry, with more distant German and Native American roots.
Hathaway was raised a Catholic with what she considered "really strong values," and has stated she wanted to be a nun during her childhood. However, at the age of fifteen she decided not to become a nun after learning that her brother, Michael, is gay. Despite her Catholic upbringing, she felt that she could not be part of a religion that disapproved of her brother's sexual orientation. She has stated that she is a non-denominational Christian because she hasn't "found the religion" for her.
As a child, Hathaway was involved in a Montessori program as a preschooler and was then able to enter first grade while she was technically still a kindergartner. Hathaway graduated from Millburn High School where she participated in many school plays; her high school performance as Winifred in Once Upon a Mattress garnered her a New Jersey Rising Star Award nomination for Best Performance by a High School Actress. During this time, Hathaway was also involved in plays such as Jane Eyre and Gigi at New Jersey's Papermill Playhouse (which is located in Millburn, accross the street from Hathaway's middle school). She spent several semesters studying as an English major and Women's Studies minor at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, before transferring to New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She referred to her college enrollment as one of her best decisions, because she enjoyed being with others who were trying to "grow up." Hathaway was a member of the Barrow Group Theater Company's acting program and was the first teenager ever admitted into the program. She is a trained stage actress and has stated that she prefers performing on stage to film roles.
A soprano, Hathaway performed in 1998 and 1999 with the All-Eastern U.S. High School Honors Chorus at Carnegie Hall and has performed in plays at Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, NJ. Three days after her 1999 performance at Carnegie Hall, she was cast in the short-lived Fox television series Get Real, at the age of sixteen.
2001–04: Career development
Hathaway's first role in a motion picture was as Jean Sabin in The Other Side of Heaven, opposite Christopher Gorham. Before production of Heaven began in New Zealand, she auditioned for the lead role of Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries, directed by Garry Marshall. Hathaway auditioned for the role during a flight layover on the way to New Zealand and won the role after only one audition. Marshall claimed that he loved her immediately because she fell off her chair during the audition and believed her clumsiness would make her perfect for the role. (However, in a 2008 conversation with Steve Carell, Hathaway denied that she fell during this audition, although she openly admits to being a "klutz".) The Princess Diaries was released before The Other Side of Heaven in the hopes that its success would increase interest in Heaven. Across the world, The Princess Diaries was a commercial success, and a sequel was planned shortly after. Many critics praised Hathaway's performance in Diaries; a BBC critic noted that "Hathaway shines in the title role and generates great chemistry." The Other Side of Heaven was received weakly by critics, but it performed well for a religion-themed film.
In February 2002, Hathaway starred opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell in the City Center Encores! concert production of Carnival! in New York City, receiving positive reviews for her portrayal of Lili. Also in 2002, Hathaway began voicing the audio book releases of The Princess Diaries and has since voiced the first three books of the series. She also provided the voice of the character Haru in the English version of Hiroyuki Morita's The Cat Returns.
Hathaway continued to appear in family-oriented films over the next three years, subsequently becoming known in mainstream media as a children's role model. In 2002, she appeared in Nicholas Nickleby, opposite Charlie Hunnam and Jamie Bell, which opened to positive reviews. The Northwest Herald referred to it as "an unbelievably fun film," and the Deseret News said that the cast was "Oscar-worthy." Despite critical acclaim, the film never entered wide release and failed at the North American box office, totaling less than US$4-million in ticket sales.
Hathaway's next film role was as the titular character in Ella Enchanted (2004), the film adaptation of the novel, which opened to mostly indifferent reviews. Hathaway sang two songs in the film as well as three on the soundtrack.
In 2004, Hathaway was set to star opposite Gerard Butler in The Phantom of the Opera, but was forced to turn down the role because the production schedule of the film overlapped with that of The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which she was contractually obligated to make. Disney began production on The Princess Diaries 2 in early 2004, and it was released in August of that year. The film opened to negative reviews, but still managed to peak higher at the box office than its predecessor, commissioning $95.1-million against a $40-million budget.
2005–07: Career transition
Hathaway began appearing in more dramatic roles after The Princess Diaries 2. She said that "anybody who was a role model for children needs a reprieve," although she also noted that "it's lovely to think that my audience is growing up with me", a reference to her previous status as a children's actress. She voiced Little Red Riding Hood in Hoodwinked! (2005), which received generally positive reviews. That same year, Hathaway starred in the R-rated Havoc, in which she played a spoiled socialite. In a surprise move, Hathaway was featured in several nude and sexual scenes throughout the film. Although the content of the movie was radically different from her previous films, Hathaway denied that her role in the film was a blatant attempt to be seen as more of a mature actress, citing her belief that doing nudity in certain movies is merely a part of what her chosen form of art demands of her; and because of that belief she does not consider appearing nude in appropriate films to be morally objectionable.
After Havoc, Hathaway appeared opposite Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in the drama Brokeback Mountain, in a role that further displayed her development as a dramatic actor. Havoc was not released in theaters in the United States (but was later released in other countries) because of its weak critical reception, but Brokeback Mountain won rave reviews for its depiction of a homosexual relationship in the 1960s and received several Academy Award nominations. Hathaway would later assert that the content of Brokeback Mountain was more important than its award count and that making the film made her more aware of the kind of stories she wanted to tell as an actress.
Hathaway's next film was the 2006 comedy The Devil Wears Prada, in which she starred as an assistant to a powerful fashion magazine editor portrayed by Meryl Streep, whom Hathaway described as being "just divine." Hathaway said that working on the film made her respect the fashion industry a great deal more than she had previously, though she also claimed that her personal style is something she "still can't get right."
In an interview with Us Weekly, Hathaway spoke about her weight loss for the film, stating, "I basically stuck with fruit, vegetables and fish [to slim down for the movie]. I wouldn’t recommend that. Emily Blunt and I would clutch at each other and cry because we were so hungry."
Hathaway was initially cast in the 2007 comedy Knocked Up, but dropped out before filming began and was replaced by Katherine Heigl. Writer/director Judd Apatow stated in a May 2007 issue of The New York Times Magazine that Hathaway dropped out "because she didn't want to allow us to use real footage of a woman giving birth to create the illusion that she is giving birth." In an August 2008 interview with Marie Claire magazine, Hathaway commented that she "didn't believe that it was necessary to the story."
Hathaway was next seen in the 2007 drama Becoming Jane, in which she portrayed English writer Jane Austen. Also in 2007, Hathaway performed a selection from the musical Saturday Night for Stephen Sondheim's 75th Birthday and ASCAP Foundation Concert.
Tim Burton considered Hathaway for the part of Johanna in his 2007 film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but the role went to Jayne Wisener, a then-unknown actress, reportedly because Burton decided he wanted an unknown actress for the part.
2008–present: Recent and future projects
Hathaway's first film of 2008 was a modern adaptation of the 1960s Mel Brooks television series Get Smart, in which she starred opposite Steve Carell, Dwayne Johnson, and Alan Arkin. The film was a hit at the box office and received mostly positive reviews, prompting talk of a sequel. She also made a cameo appearance in the corresponding film Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control. In October 2008, she premiered the drama Passengers, alongside Patrick Wilson, as well as the drama Rachel Getting Married, opposite Debra Winger. Rachel Getting Married premiered at the 2008 Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and garnered her widespread critical acclaim for her performance as Kym, including nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Hathaway stated that the film appealed to her because of its real depiction of relationships and because of the strong emotional connection she felt with her character.
Hathaway most recently appeared in the comedy Bride Wars, released on January 9, 2009, in which she starred opposite Kate Hudson. Hathaway has described the film as "hideously commercial – gloriously so." She appeared with Hudson on the February/March 2009 cover of Modern Bride despite her admission that she is "not the type of girl who dreams about her wedding." Her future film projects include a Tim Burton-directed adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, the romantic comedy The Fiancé, and an adaptation of the Julie Buxbaum novel The Opposite of Love. Hathaway is also set to return to the stage in the summer of 2009, appearing as Viola in an open-air production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which will be run at the Delacorte Theater in New York's Central Park.
In January 2008, Hathaway joined beauty giant Lancôme as the face of their fragrance Magnifique. In October of that year, Hathaway hosted Saturday Night Live, with musical guest The Killers.
Personal life
Hathaway is involved with various charities, including The Creative Coalition, The Step Up Women's Network, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The Human Rights Campaign, and The Lollipop Theatre Network, an organization that screens films to critically ill children. In 2008, she was honored at Elle magazine's "Women in Hollywood" tribute, and has also been honored for her work with The Step Up Women's Network and The Human Rights Campaign.
In early 2007, Hathaway spoke of her experiences with depression during her teenage years, saying that she eventually overcame the disorder without medication.
In a fall 2008 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Hathaway noted that she had once again stopped smoking. The actress, who had begun smoking "heavily" while filming Rachel Getting Married, had "quit for a while", but had started again in the wake of her stressful summer and the end of her relationship with Raffaello Follieri. She credited the decline in her stress level to quitting smoking. She also declared her return to being a vegetarian.
As of November 2008, Hathaway is reportedly in a relationship with actor Adam Shulman.
In regard to personal strife and subsequent media attention, Hathaway's self-subscribed mantra is a quote by Oscar Wilde: "The less said about life's sores the better."
Relationship with Raffaello Follieri
In 2004, Hathaway began a relationship with Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri. During their relationship, Hathaway took part in the development of the charitable Follieri Foundation, serving as a financial donor as well as a member of the foundation's board of directors until 2007. A Manhattan-based charity founded in 2003 focusing on programs such as providing vaccinations for children in Third World nations, the organization had come under investigation in early June 2008 by the IRS, reportedly for failing to file tax papers required from non-profit organizations. Citing the fear that this and other ongoing legal issues involving Follieri would become detrimental to her acting career (as well as for her own ethical reasons), Hathaway ended her relationship with Follieri in mid-June 2008.
Follieri was arrested in June 2008 on fraud charges for allegedly fleecing investors out of millions of dollars in a scheme involving purchasing Catholic Church properties in the U.S. for redevelopment. Court papers state that Hathaway was an unwitting beneficiary of the stolen money, which had in large part paid for Follieri's opulent lifestyle of jet-setting, shopping sprees, and fine dining. It was reported that the FBI had confiscated Hathaway's private journals from Follieri's New York City apartment as part of their ongoing investigation into Follieri's activities; however, Hathaway was never implicated in any wrongdoing from the events.
In the October 2008 issue of W Magazine, Hathaway spoke for the first time of the break-up and Follieri's subsequent arrest. She related that she "spent a week in shock" after Follieri's arrest, and credited the kindness of friends for her ability to keep working during such difficult times.
Filmography
External links
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