| BIOGRAPHY
Although she initially gained fame for her real-life role as
Brad Pitt's girlfriend, Gwyneth Paltrow went on to build a solid
reputation as one of the leading actresses of her generation.
Repeatedly summoning comparisons to such classic presences as
Grace Kelly, the blonde, blue-eyed Paltrow has won acclaim for
her parts in a number of films, most notably Shakespeare in Love,
for which she won a Best Actress Oscar in 1999.
The daughter of actress Blythe Danner and producer/director Bruce
Paltrow, Paltrow was born in Los Angeles on September 28, 1972.
When she was 11, her family moved to Massachusetts so that her
father could direct summer stock productions -- it was there that
the actress began to receive theatrical training under her parents'
tutelage. Schooled at Manhattan's exclusive Spence School, Paltrow
went on to study anthropology at the University of California
before deciding to drop out to pursue her acting career. She got
her first screen role in the 1991 movie Shout and in the same
year she played the young Wendy in Steven Spielberg's Hook.
Two years later, Paltrow made her first significant impression
with a chilling turn as a young con artist in Flesh and Bone.
She went on to minor but memorable roles in Mrs. Parker and the
Vicious Circle (1994) and Jefferson in Paris (1995) before earning
her first true taste of fame with her part as Brad Pitt's wife
in Seven (1995). Unfortunately, she got more attention for her
status as the actor's girlfriend than for her work in the film,
becoming one of the world's most photographed arm ornaments.
However, the actress was able to come into her own the following
year with the title role in Douglas McGrath's adaptation of Emma.
She won acclaim for her work and her flawless British accent,
and the same year she could be seen in two more films: The Pallbearer,
with David Schwimmer, and Paul Thomas Anderson's Hard Eight. However,
it was not until 1998 -- having broken off her engagement with
Pitt the previous year -- that Paltrow became better-known for
her acting than for her ability to look good in designer evening
gowns. That year, she had starring roles in no less than five
films. Although both Hush and A Perfect Murder proved disappointments,
and Great Expectations received mixed reviews, Paltrow's two English
excursions, the comedy Sliding Doors and John Madden's Shakespeare
in Love, netted positive receptions. The latter film drew particular
acclaim, eventually winning seven Academy Awards, including Best
Picture and Best Actress for Paltrow.
The following year, she had the lead in another high-profile
project, Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley. Starring
opposite Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Cate Blanchett, Paltrow took
part in a film that boasted one of the most photogenic collections
of young stars that audiences had seen that year and it further
enhanced her reputation as one of the most celebrated members
of her generation to step in front of a camera. As photogenic
as she may be, however, Paltrow's healthy sense of humor would
give the delicate actress the gusto she needed to take on the
role of a 300-pound object of funnyman Jack Black's affection
in the Farrelly brothers' cheerfully offensive Shallow Hal in
2001. With roles in The Anniversary Party, Possession, and Wes
Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums that same year, Paltrow's versatility
and popularity showed no signs of waning - even if the subsequent
flight attendant comedy View From the Top didn't even climb high
enough at the box office to take a nosedive.
Of course the failure of View From the Top could not be placed
squarely on the shoulders of Gwyneth, and given the film's troubled
production history it's a small wonder that the film was released
at all. If that film had simply been a glazed-over comedy that
gave its starlet little chance to shine, Paltrow would close out
the year with a commendable and notably heavier performance in
Sylvia. A film based on the life of literary legend Sylvia Plath,
Sylvia couldn't have been more different than A View From the
Top and provided Paltrow with a role she could truly sink her
teeth into. Both her performance as well as the film itself fared
fairly well through the duration of its limited art-house run,
despite the fact that Plath's real life daughter Frieda Hughes
publicly denounced the endeavor. The film also provided Paltrow
with the opportunity to appear onscreen opposite her real-life
mother Danner, who also played her ill-fated character's mother
in the film.
In the wake of her accolades from Sylvia, Paltrow closed out
2003 by wedding Coldplay singer Chris Martin. The new family would
soon expand five months later with the birth of their first child,
a girl they bestowed with the unique moniker Apple Martin. But
family life didn't slow Paltrow's film career too much. By Autumn
she could be seen opposite Jude Law in the sci-fi actioner Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and before the close of the
year, audiences could catch her in director Guy Madden's Proof.
|
FILMOGRAPHY
• Ashtanga, NY (2004)
• Proof (2004)
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
• Sylvia (2003)
• View from the Top (2003)
• Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
• Possession (2002)
• The Anniversary Party (2001)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
• Shallow Hal (2001)
• Bounce (2000)
• Duets (2000)
• The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
• Great Expectations (1998)
• Hush (1998)
• Out of the Past (1998)
• A Perfect Murder (1998)
• Shakespeare in Love (1998)
• Sliding Doors (1998)
• Hard Eight (1997)
• Emma (1996)
• The Pallbearer (1996)
• Jefferson in Paris (1995)
• Moonlight and Valentino (1995)
• Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1995)
• Seven (1995)
• Flesh and Bone (1993)
• Malice (1993)
• Cruel Doubt (1992) |
