Jennifer Beals
ActingJennifer 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.
Known For
Filmography — Acting
After
Karen Gibson
The Book of Eli
Claudia
Runaway Jury
Vanessa Lembeck
Flashdance
Alex Owens
A Wife's Nightmare
Liz
Manhattan Night
Lisa Wren
Four Rooms
Angela
Before I Fall
Mrs. Kingston
The Grudge 2
Trish Kimble
In the Soup
Angelica Pena
Luckiest Girl Alive
Lolo Vincent
The Prophecy II
Valerie Rosales
Vampire's Kiss
Rachel
Devil in a Blue Dress
Daphne Monet
The Bride
Eva
My Bodyguard
Clifford's Friend (uncredited)
Dear Diary
Self
Catch That Kid
Molly Phillips
The Last Days of Disco
Nina
The Thief and the Cobbler
Princess YumYum (voice)
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
Gertrude Benchley
Roger Dodger
Sophie
Dr. M
Sonja Vogler
Full Out
Coach Valorie Kondos-Field
The White Orchid
Vivian
Feast of All Saints
Dolly Rose
Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying
Jessica
Sons
Transvestite
13 Moons
Suzi
A Fuller Life
Self - Reader (segment "Crime Reporter")
The Gamble
Lady Olivia Candioni
That's Dancing!
Break a Leg
Juliet
The Anniversary Party
Gina Taylor
Troubled Waters
FBI Agent Beck
The Search for One-eye Jimmy
Ellen
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
Angela Fox
Indecency
Ellie Shaw
Militia
Julie Sanders
My Name Is Sarah
Sarah Winston
A Night for Dying Tigers
Melanie
Hollywood: No Sex, Please!
Cinemanovels
Clementine
The Twilight of the Golds
Suzanne Stein
Split Decisions
Barbara Uribe
Blood and Concrete
Mona
Desolation Sound
Elizabeth Storey
The Spree
Xinia Kelly
Wishful Thinking
Elizabeth
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute
Self
Queen to Play
L’Américaine
The Big Pardon 2
Joyce Ferranti
Let It Be Me
Emily Taylor
A House Divided
Amanda Dickson
Night Owl
Julia
Dead on Sight
Rebecca Darcy
Starz Inside: Fashion in Film
Self
Without Malice
Samantha Wilkes
Something More
Lisa
Hello Out There
Judith
Terror Stalks the Class Reunion
Virginia
Cinderella
Cinderella
The Madonna and the Dragon
Patty Meredith
Body and Soul
Gina
Out of Line
Officer Jenny Capitanas
They Shoot Divas, Don't They?
Sloan McBride
Joy Will Prevail
Esther Kahn
