Foster, Jodie (Alicia Christian
Foster), 1962–, American actress and film director, b. Los Angeles,
Yale Univ. (B.A., 1985). A child model, she began acting in TV commercials
at three, appeared on various TV shows, and made her screen debut in
Disney's Napoleon and Samantha (1972). Her first important
role was as the barely adolescent prostitute of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver
(1976). While attending Yale University, she was the target of the stalker
John Hinckley Jr., who became obsessed with her after seeing Taxi
Driver; he later attempted to assassinate then-president Ronald
Reagan. She
achieved undisputed Hollywood stardom and best actress Oscars for her
portrayals of a working-class rape victim in The Accused
(1988) and an FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer in The
Silence of the Lambs (1991). Foster's other films include
Bugsy Malone (1976), Carny (1980),
Sommersby (1993), Nell (1994),
Maverick (1995), in which she costarred with Mel
Gibson, Anna and the King (1999), and Panic Room
(2002), her last major commercial hit as an actress. She received
her fifth Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress in
Nyad (2023). Foster began directing features with
Little Man Tate (1991), in which she also starred, and,
during the 2010s, directed several feature films and TV dramas, with mixed
success. She was awarded the Golden Globe's Cecil B. DeMille Award
(2013)
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