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Jennifer Beals
Acting
Biography
Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress and a former teen model. She is known for her roles as Alexandra "Alex" Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, and as Bette Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word. She earned an NAACP Image Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for the former. She has appeared in more than 50 films.
Beals was born on the South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Jeanne (née Anderson), an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. She is multiracial; her father was African American, and her mother is Irish American. She has two brothers, Bobby and Gregory.Her father died when Beals was nine years old, and her moth…
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Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress and a former teen model. She is known for her roles as Alexandra "Alex" Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, and as Bette Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word. She earned an NAACP Image Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for the former. She has appeared in more than 50 films. Beals was born on the South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Jeanne (née Anderson), an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. She is multiracial; her father was African American, and her mother is Irish American. She has two brothers, Bobby and Gregory.Her father died when Beals was nine years old, and her mother married Edward Cohen in 1981. Beals has said her biracial heritage had some effect on her, as she "always lived sort of on the outside", with an idea "of being the other in society". She got her first job at age 13 at an ice cream store, using her height at the time (she is now nearly 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)), to convince her boss she was 16. Beals was inspired to become an actress by two events: doing a high school production of Fiddler on the Roof and seeing Balm in Gilead with Joan Allen while volunteer-ushering at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Beals graduated from the progressive Francis W. Parker School. She also was chosen to attend the elite Goodman Theatre Young People's Drama Workshop. Beals attended Yale University, receiving a B.A. in American literature in 1987; she deferred a term so she could film Flashdance. While at Yale, Beals was a resident of Morse College. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jennifer Beals, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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BODY OF WORK
Jennifer Beals's Filmography
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Joy Will Prevail
as Esther Kahn
Hello Out There
as Judith
Luckiest Girl Alive
as Lolo Vincent
After
as Karen Gibson
Hollywood: No Sex, Please!
The White Orchid
as Vivian
Before I Fall
as Mrs. Kingston
Manhattan Night
as Lisa Wren
Full Out
as Coach Valorie Kondos-Field
A Wife's Nightmare
as Liz
Cinemanovels
as Clementine
A Fuller Life
as Self - Reader (segment "Crime Reporter")
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
as Angela Fox
A Night for Dying Tigers
as Melanie
The Book of Eli
as Claudia
Queen to Play
as L’Américaine
No Poster
Starz Inside: Fashion in Film
as Self
My Name Is Sarah
as Sarah Winston
Troubled Waters
as FBI Agent Beck
The Grudge 2
as Trish Kimble
Desolation Sound
as Elizabeth Storey
Break a Leg
as Juliet
Catch That Kid
as Molly Phillips
Runaway Jury
as Vanessa Lembeck
They Shoot Divas, Don't They?
as Sloan McBride
13 Moons
as Suzi
Roger Dodger
as Sophie
Out of Line
as Officer Jenny Capitanas
Feast of All Saints
as Dolly Rose
The Anniversary Party
as Gina Taylor
Something More
as Lisa
Militia
as Julie Sanders
Body and Soul
as Gina
A House Divided
as Amanda Dickson
Without Malice
as Samantha Wilkes
Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying
as Jessica
Wishful Thinking
as Elizabeth
The Last Days of Disco
as Nina
The Spree
as Xinia Kelly
The Prophecy II
as Valerie Rosales
The Twilight of the Golds
as Suzanne Stein
Four Rooms
as Angela
Let It Be Me
as Emily Taylor
Devil in a Blue Dress
as Daphne Monet
The Search for One-eye Jimmy
as Ellen
Dead on Sight
as Rebecca Darcy
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
as Gertrude Benchley
Caro diario
as Jennifer Beals
The Thief and the Cobbler
as Princess YumYum (voice)
Night Owl
as Julia
The Big Pardon 2
as Joyce Ferranti
In the Soup
as Angelica Pena
Indecency
as Ellie Shaw
Terror Stalks the Class Reunion
as Virginia
Blood and Concrete
as Mona
The Madonna and the Dragon
as Patty Meredith
Dr. M
as Sonja Vogler
Sons
as Transvestite
Vampire's Kiss
as Rachel
The Gamble
as Lady Olivia Candioni
Split Decisions
as Barbara Uribe
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute
as Self
The Bride
as Eva
Cinderella
as Cinderella
That's Dancing!
That's Dancing!
as Self (archive footage)
Flashdance
as Alex Owens
My Bodyguard
as Clifford's Friend (uncredited)
No Poster
Murder in Cold Country
as Maya Lewis