Jennifer Connelly

Jennifer Lynn Connelly (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She began her career as a child model before making her acting debut in the 1984 crime film Once Upon a Time in America. After having worked as a model for several years, she began to concentrate on acting, starring in a variety of films including the horror film Phenomena (1985), the musical fantasy film Labyrinth (1986), the romantic comedy Career Opportunities (1991), and the period superhero film The Rocketeer (1991). She received praise for her performance in the science fiction film Dark City (1998) and playing a drug addict in Darren Aronofsky's drama film Requiem for a Dream (2000). In 2002, Connelly won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Alicia Nash in Ron Howard's biopic A Beautiful Mind (2001). Her subsequent films include the superhero film Hulk (2003), the horror film Dark Water (2005), the psychological drama Little Children (2006), the drama film Blood Diamond (2006), the science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), the romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You (2009), and the biopic Creation (2009). In the subsequent decades, she took on supporting roles in Aronofsky's biblical epic film Noah (2014) and in the action films Alita: Battle Angel (2019) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022). She starred in the TNT dystopian television series Snowpiercer from 2020 to 2022. Connelly was named Amnesty International Ambassador for Human Rights Education in 2005. She has been the face of Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton fashion advertisements, as well as for Revlon cosmetics. In 2012, she was named the first global face of the Shiseido Company. Magazines, including Time, Vanity Fair, and Esquire, as well as the Los Angeles Times newspaper, have included her on their lists of the world's most beautiful women. Early life Jennifer Lynn Connelly was born on December 12, 1970, in Cairo, New York, in the Catskill Mountains, the only child of Ilene, an antique dealer, and Gerard Karl Connelly, a clothing manufacturer. Her father was a Catholic of Irish and Norwegian descent. Her mother was Jewish and was educated at a yeshiva; Connelly's maternal ancestors were Jewish emigrants from Poland and Russia. Connelly was raised primarily in Brooklyn Heights, near the Brooklyn Bridge, where she attended Saint Ann's, a private school specializing in the arts.