Jennifer Lynn Connelly (born December 12, 1970) is an
American film
actress and former
child model. Although she has been working in the film industry since she was a teenager and catapulted to fame on the basis of her appearances in films like
Labyrinth and
Career Opportunities, she did not receive wide exposure for her work until the 2000 drama
Requiem for a Dream, and the 2001
biopic A Beautiful Mind, for which she won an
Academy Award for
Best Supporting Actress, as well as the
BAFTA and
Golden Globe awards.
Biography
Early life
Connelly was born in the
Catskill Mountains,
New York, the daughter of Eileen, an antiques dealer, and Gerard Connelly, a clothing manufacturer who worked in the garment industry.
[Jennifer Connelly Biography (1970-)] Connelly's paternal grandparents were of
Irish and
Norwegian descent, respectively, while her maternal grandparents were
Jewish, their families having come from
Russia and
Poland.
[Stated in interview on Inside the Actors Studio, 2004] Connelly was raised in
Brooklyn Heights, near the
Brooklyn Bridge, and attended
St. Ann's School, except for four years the family spent living in
Woodstock,
New York.
[Kalogerakis, George. "Mind Games", New York (magazine), February 18, 2002. Accessed November 15, 2007. "Connelly grew up mostly in Brooklyn Heights, the daughter of a clothing-manufacturer father and antiques-dealer mother. She attended Saint Ann's and started modeling when she was 10."] One of her father's friends was an
advertising executive, who suggested that she audition at a
modeling agency.
