| BIOGRAPHY
Heir to a Hollywood dynasty, child star, prepubescent drug and
alcohol abuser, teenage sexpot, and resurrected vessel of celluloid
purity, Drew Barrymore is nothing if not the embodiment of the
rise and fall of Hollywood fortunes, self-reinvention, and the
healing powers of good PR.
The granddaughter of John Barrymore and grandniece of Ethel Barrymore
and Lionel Barrymore, Barrymore was born in Culver City, California
on February 22, 1975. From there, she didn't waste much time getting
in front of the cameras, making her first commercial at nine months
and her first television movie, Suddenly Love, at the age of two.
Two years later, she made her film debut, appearing as William
Hurt's daughter in Altered States (1980). At the advanced age
of seven, Barrymore became a true celebrity, thanks to her role
as the cherubic Gertie in Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
The huge success of that 1982 film endeared Barrymore to millions
of audience members, but following leads in two more films, Irreconcilable
Differences and Firestarter (both 1984), the young actress began
to succumb to a destructive lifestyle defined by drugs, alcohol,
and too much partying.
A child expected to behave like an adult, Barrymore began drinking
at the age of nine and started taking drugs a short while later.
Unsurprisingly, observers began writing Barrymore off as just
another failed child star when she was barely into her teens.
She made a string of (largely forgettable) movies, many of which
only reinforced her image as a has-been. However, in the middle
of her teen years, Barrymore entered rehab, cleaned herself up,
and wrote an autobiography, Little Girl Lost, which detailed her
travails with drugs and alcohol. In the early 1990s, she entered
another phase in her career, gaining notoriety for playing a series
of vampy, trampy trailer-park Lolitas.
In this capacity, she turned in memorable performances in Poison
Ivy (1992), the 1993 made-for-TV The Amy Fisher Story, and Batman
Forever (1995), all of which featured her pouting seductively
and showing more thigh than all the Rockettes combined. Barrymore's
on-screen antics were ably complemented by the off-screen reputation
she was forming at the time: first she could be seen posing nude
with then-boyfriend Jamie Walters on the cover of Interview magazine,
then modeling for a series of trashy Calvin Klein ads, flashing
David Letterman during an appearance on The Late Show as a "birthday
present" to the host, and finally posing nude for Playboy
in 1995.
In 1996, Barrymore's image underwent an abrupt and effective
transformation from slut to sweetheart. With a brief but memorable
role in Wes Craven's Scream and a lead in Woody Allen's Everyone
Says I Love You that featured her as a Kelly Girl for the '90s,
Barrymore's career received an adrenaline shot to the heart. She
began working steadily again, and she reshaped her offscreen persona
into that of a delightful and sweet-natured girl trying to mend
her ways. This new image was supported by her screen work, much
of which featured her as a chaste heroine. Her starring role as
the "real" Cinderella in Ever After (1998) was a good
example, and it had the added advantage of turning out to be a
fairly solid hit.
Barrymore's other major 1998 film, The Wedding Singer, was another
hit, further enhancing her reputation as America's new sweetheart.
The following year, the actress all but put the final nail in
the coffin of her wild-child reputation of years past, starring
as the nerdy, lovelorn twenty-something reporter who bears the
titular condition of Never Been Kissed. That movie not only marked
a notable transition in Barrymore's reputation, but an advancement
in her cinematic career as well. Expanding her role from actress
to producer, Barrymore would continue starring in and producing
such efforts as Charlie's Angels (2000), Donnie Darko (2001).
Though some may have suspected that her millenial transition
from sweetheart to skull-cracker in Charlie's Angels may have
signalled a shift towards more action oriented roles, Barrymore
once again charmed audiences with another emotional comedy, Riding
in Cars With Boys in 2001.
Though some may have suspected that her millennial transition
from sweetheart to skull-cracker in Charlie's Angels may have
signaled a shift towards more action oriented roles -- and despite
her return to the role in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
-- Barrymore once again charmed audiences with another emotional
comedy, Riding in Cars With Boys in 2001, while Confessions of
a Dangerous Mind (2002) found Drew in the role of long-suffering
girlfriend alongside Sam Rockwell's unlikely CIA operative.
Though the film did not fare particularly well critically or
otherwise, Barrymore took a nonetheless interesting turn as an
apple-pie wife turned sinister in 2003's Duplex, and held her
own against scene-chomper Ben Stiller. Barrymore teamed up with
fellow Stiller-flick alumni Owen Wilson for 2004's Date School,
and once again plays Adam Sandler's sugar sweet girlfriend in
director Peter Segal's romantic comedy Fifty-First Dates
|
FILMOGRAPHY
• 50 First Dates (2004)
• Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
• Duplex (2003)
• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
• Donnie Darko (2001)
• Freddy Got Fingered (2001)
• Riding in Cars With Boys (2001)
• Skipped Parts (2001)
• Charlie's Angels (2000)
• Titan A.E. (2000)
• Never Been Kissed (1999)
• Ever After (1998)
• Home Fries (1998)
• The Wedding Singer (1998)
• Best Men (1997)
• Wishful Thinking (1997)
• Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
• Scream (1996)
• Batman Forever (1995)
• Boys on the Side (1995)
• Mad Love (1995)
• Bad Girls (1994)
• The Evil Within (1994)
• Inside the Goldmine (1994)
• The Amy Fisher Story (1993)
• Doppelganger: The Evil Within (1993)
• No Place to Hide (1993)
• Wayne's World 2 (1993)
• Guncrazy (1992)
• Poison Ivy (1992)
• Sketch Artist (1992)
• Motorama (1991)
• Far From Home (1989)
• See You in the Morning (1989)
• A Conspiracy of Love (1987)
• Babes in Toyland (1986)
• Cat's Eye (1985)
• Firestarter (1984)
• Irreconcilable Differences (1984)
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• Altered States (1980)
• Bogie (1980) |
