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Drew Blyth Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress and film producer. She is the youngest member of the Barrymore family of American actors. She began acting when she was eleven months old. Barrymore made her screen debut in Altered States in 1980. Afterwards, she starred in her breakout role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She quickly became one of Hollywood's most recognized child actresses, going on to establish herself in mainly comic roles.
Following a turbulent childhood which was marked by drug and alcohol abuse and two stints in rehab, Barrymore wrote the 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. Barrymore successfully made the transition from child star to adult actress with a number of films including the unsuccessful Poison Ivy, Bad Girls, Boys on the Side, and Everyone Says I Love You.
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Quotations
Everyone is like a butterfly, they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful graceful butterflies that everyone loves.
I aspire to be that, to be a voice of reason one day.
I believe that everything happens for a reason, but I think it's important to seek out that reason - that's how we learn.
I never regret anything. Because every little detail of your life is what made you into who you are in the end...
I think its nice when people find love, because I feel like everyone deserves it.
I think that whatever scares you is exactly where you should go because safe and comfortable means you've already done it.
Encyclopedia
Drew Blyth Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress and film producer. She is the youngest member of the Barrymore family of American actors. She began acting when she was eleven months old. Barrymore made her screen debut in Altered States in 1980. Afterwards, she starred in her breakout role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She quickly became one of Hollywood's most recognized child actresses, going on to establish herself in mainly comic roles.
Following a turbulent childhood which was marked by drug and alcohol abuse and two stints in rehab, Barrymore wrote the 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. Barrymore successfully made the transition from child star to adult actress with a number of films including the unsuccessful Poison Ivy, Bad Girls, Boys on the Side, and Everyone Says I Love You. Subsequently, she has established herself in romantic comedies such as The Wedding Singer and starred in the drama film Lucky You opposite Eric Bana.
In 1995, she and partner Nancy Juvonen formed the production company Flower Films, with its first production the 1999 Barrymore film Never Been Kissed. Flower Films has gone on to produce the Barrymore vehicle films Charlie's Angels, 50 First Dates, and Music and Lyrics, as well as the cult film Donnie Darko. Barrymore's more recent projects include He's Just Not That into You, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and Everybody's Fine. A recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Barrymore appeared on the cover of the 2007 People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful issue.
Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Since then, she has donated over $1 million dollars to the program. In 2007, she became both CoverGirl's newest model and spokeswoman for the cosmetic and the face for Gucci's newest jewelry line.
Life and career
Early life
Barrymore was born in Culver City, California, the daughter of American actor John Drew Barrymore and Ildikó Jaid Barrymore (née Makó), an aspiring actress born in a displaced persons camp in Brannenburg, West Germany to Hungarian World War II refugees. She is of Irish descent on her father's side through an ancestor, actor Maurice Costello. Her parents divorced after she was born. She has a half-brother John Blyth Barrymore, also an actor, and two half-sisters, Blyth Dolores Barrymore and Brahma (Jessica) Blyth Barrymore.
Barrymore was born into the acting profession, her great-grandparents Maurice Barrymore and Georgie Drew Barrymore, Maurice Costello and Mae Costello (née Altschuk) and her grandparents John Barrymore and Dolores Costello were all actors; John Barrymore was arguably the most acclaimed actor of his generation. She is the grand-niece of Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore and Helene Costello, the great-great-granddaughter of John Drew and actress Louisa Lane Drew, and the great grandniece of silent film actor/writer/director Sidney Drew. She is also the god-daughter of director Steven Spielberg.
Her first name, Drew, was the maiden name of her paternal great-grandmother, Georgie Drew Barrymore; her middle name, Blyth, was the original surname of the dynasty founded by her great-grandfather, Maurice Barrymore.
Rise to fame
Barrymore's career began when she auditioned for a dog food commercial at eleven months old. When she was bitten by her canine co-star, the producers were afraid she would cry, but she merely laughed, and was hired for the job. She made her film debut in Altered States (1980), in which she got a small part. A year later, she landed the role of Gertie, the younger sister of Elliott, in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which made her famous. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1984 for her role in Irreconcilable Differences, in which she starred as a young girl divorcing her parents. In a review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert states: "Barrymore is the right actress for this role precisely because she approaches it with such grave calm." He concludes with saying that "The Drew Barrymore character sees right through all of this. She doesn't care about careers, she wants to be given a happy home and her minimum daily requirement of love, and, in a way, the movie is about how Hollywood (and American success in general) tends to cut adults off from the natural functions of parents."
Rebellious era
In the wake of this sudden stardom, Barrymore endured a notoriously troubled childhood. She was already a regular at the famed Studio 54 when she was a little girl, smoking cigarettes at age nine, drinking alcohol by the time she was 11, smoking marijuana at 12, and snorting cocaine at 13. Her nightlife and constant partying became a popular subject with the media. She was in rehab at age 13. A suicide attempt at age 14 put her back in rehab, followed by a three month stay with singer David Crosby and his wife. The stay was precipitate, Crosby said, because she "needed to be around some people that were committed to sobriety." Barrymore later described this period of her life in her 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. The next year, following a successful juvenile court petition for emancipation, she moved into her own apartment and has never relapsed.
New image
In her late teens, Barrymore forged a new image as she played a manipulative teenage seductress in Poison Ivy (1992), which was a box office failure, but was popular on video and cable. That same year, at the age of 17, she posed nude for the cover of the July issue of Interview magazine with her then-fiance, actor Jamie Walters, as well as appearing nude in pictures inside the issue. In 1993, Barrymore earned a second Golden Globe nomination for the film Guncrazy. Barrymore would go on to pose nude for the January 1995 issue of Playboy. Steven Spielberg, who directed her in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial when she was a child, gave her a quilt for her twentieth birthday with a note that read, "Cover yourself up". Enclosed were copies of her Playboy pictures, with the pictures altered by his art department so that she appeared fully clothed. She would appear nude in five of her films during this period. During a 1995 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Barrymore climbed onto Dave Letterman's desk and bared her breasts to him, her back to the camera, in celebration of his birthday. She modeled in a series of Guess? jeans ads during this time. She underwent breast reduction surgery in 1992, and has said on the subject:
Return to prominence
In 1995, Barrymore starred in Boys on the Side opposite Whoopi Goldberg and Mary-Louise Parker, and had a cameo role in Joel Schumacher's film Batman Forever, in which she portrayed a glitzy Marilyn Monroe character. The following year, she made a cameo in the successful horror film Scream. Barrymore has continued to be highly bankable, and a top box office draw. She was frequently cast in romantic comedies, such as Wishful Thinking (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), Home Fries (1998).
Besides a number of appearances in films produced by her company, Flower Films, including Charlie's Angels, Barrymore had a dramatic role in the comedy/drama Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), playing a teenage mother in a failed marriage with the drug-addicted father (based on the real-life story of Beverly D'Onofrio). In 2002, Barrymore appeared in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, alongside Julia Roberts.
Flower Films
In 1995, Barrymore formed Flower Films, a production company, with business partner Nancy Juvonen. The first film produced by the company was 1999's Never Been Kissed. The second offering from the company was
Charlie's Angels (2000), a major box office success of 2000 that helped solidify the standing of both Barrymore and the company.
When the production of Richard Kelly's debut film, Donnie Darko, was threatened, Barrymore stepped forward with financing from Flower Films and took the small role of Karen Pomeroy, the title character's English teacher. Although the film was less than successful at the box office in the wake of 9/11, it reached cult film status after the DVD release, inspiring numerous websites devoted to unraveling the plot twists and meanings.
In 2003, she reprised her role as Dylan Sanders in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in Olive, the Other Reindeer and appeared with Ben Stiller in Duplex in 2003. Flower Films produced 50 First Dates with co-star Adam Sandler's Happy Madison company in 2004. Summing up Barrymore's appeal, Roger Ebert, in his review of 50 First Dates, described Barrymore as having a "smiling, coy sincerity", describing the film as "ingratiating and lovable".
50 First Dates was followed by Fever Pitch (2005), and in 2007, Music and Lyrics and Lucky You. Barrymore's more recent projects include Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Grey Gardens in 2008, and 2009's He's Just Not That into You and Everybody's Fine.
Other career highlights
One of her more recent roles has involved her becoming a recurring character in the animated comedy Family Guy as Brian Griffin's simple-minded girlfriend, Jillian. She has since appeared in four episodes. She was the subject of the 2005 documentary My Date with Drew. In it, an aspiring filmmaker and a fan of Barrymore's, uses his limited resources in an attempt to gain a date with her.
On February 3, 2004, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Barrymore has a worldwide box office gross that stands at over $2.3 billion. According to The Hollywood Reporter's annual Star Salary Top 10, she was one of the actresses with the second highest salary per movie for 2006.
On February 3, 2007, Barrymore hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) for the fifth time, making her the second female host in the show's history to do so (Candice Bergen being the first), and she still remains the youngest celebrity to host the show (Barrymore hosted in 1982 at age seven).
Barrymore became a CoverGirl Cosmetics' model and spokeswoman in 2007, and was No. 1 in Peoples annual 100 Most Beautiful People list. In 2007, she was named the new face for the Gucci jewelry line. Barrymore is signed to IMG Models New York City.
In May 2007, Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme and later donated $1 million to the cause.
Personal life
Barrymore was engaged and lived with musician/actor Jamie Walters for a period in 1992-93.
Barrymore was married to Welsh bartender turned bar owner Jeremy Thomas from March 20 to April 28, 1994. Her second marriage was to comedian Tom Green from July 7, 2001 to October 15, 2002. Green filed for divorce in December 2001. In 2002, Barrymore began dating Strokes' drummer Fabrizio Moretti, soon after they met at a concert. Their five year relationship, however, ended on January 10, 2007. She most recently dated Justin Long, however, they confirmed their split in July 2008.
In March 2007, former magazine editor Jane Pratt claimed on her Sirius Satellite Radio show that she had a romance with Barrymore in the mid-nineties. This was after Barrymore's own 2004 admission that she considered herself bisexual, commenting: "A woman and a woman together are beautiful, just as a man and a woman together are beautiful. Being with a woman is like exploring your own body, but through someone else. When I was younger I used to go with lots of women. Totally. I love it".
Barrymore was formerly a vegetarian, but has since begun to eat meat.
Filmography
See also
Further reading
Drew Barrymore. Chelsea House, 1999. ISBN 0791053067Bankston, John. Drew Barrymore. Chelsea House Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0791067726Barrymore, Drew. Little Girl Lost. Pocket Star Books, 1990. ISBN 0671689231Ellis, Lucy. Drew Barrymore: The Biography. Aurum Press, 2004. ISBN 1845130324Hill, Anne E. Drew Barrymore. Lucent Books, 2001. ISBN 1560068310
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