Jennifer Lynn Connelly is an American model and actress. She started modelling at an early age, and has appeared in numerous television, magazine, and newspaper commercials. Connelly has also made outstanding performances in TV series and movies over the years.
As of 2020 Jennifer Connelly’s net worth is estimated between $20-25 million while that of her husband is around $25 million. She earns her income from movies as well as commercials. Get acquainted with the major aspects of your favourite star below:
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Early Life And Education
Jennifer Connelly was born on 12 December 1970 in Cairo, New York, USA. Her father was Roman Catholic and her mother Jewish; the actress therefore identifies herself as an Irish Catholic Jew. While living in New York, she attended Saint Ann’s school, a private school of arts. Due to her father’s asthma the family moved to Woodstock for four years to avoid the city smog.
Jennifer continued the same school when the family eventually returned to New York. She pursued her higher education at Yale University where she studied English literature for two years. Eventually, she transferred to Stanford to study drama in 1990. Although she studied in prestigious universities, Connelly decided to leave studies and dedicate her time to a movie career. Her decision was supported by her parents.
Career
Jennifer Connelly has been a successful actress and model. She started her modelling career as a child before her debut as an actress. Let’s look at her journeys and highlight her achievements in these two careers in the subsections below:
Jennifer Connelly’s Modeling career
Jennifer Connelly was only ten years old when her father’s friend working in advertising suggested to her parents about her modeling. The parents therefore sent a photo of her to Ford Modeling Agency and soon Connelly appeared in print advertisements and later in TV commercials. Between 1986 and 1988, Connelly was on the cover of several issues of the teen magazine, “Seventeen”. She even recorded a song in Japanese for a commercial that eventually became a hit in the Japanese market.
Connelly has recorded many advertisements and is still an active model. She was the face of Revlon cosmetics in 2008, and Balenciaga fashion. Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, and Esquire put her name on the list of the most beautiful women in the world.
Jennifer Connelly’s Acting Career
At a young age, Connelly’s mother took her to an audition for a role in the epic movie Once upon a time in America, written and directed by the Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, and released in 1984. During the audition, she had to imitate a ballerina which she did without any previous ballet training and got the role which marked her debut as an actress.
The next year, she got her first lead role in Dario Argento’s movie Phenomena. She also appeared in 1986 alongside David Bowie in the movie, Labyrinth.
Jennifer Connelly’s Movie Highlights
Critics consider Requiem for a Dream as Jennifer Connelly’s breakthrough movie although she had done a number of other movies before then. The movie is based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr and was directed by Darren Aronofsky in 2000. Connelly went to extremes in preparing for her role in the movie. She isolated, painted, rented an apartment, talked to addicts and did everything else she thought her character would do, just to better equip herself with every skill to make a better performance.
Later the same year, she got a part in Keith Gordon’s movie Waking the Dead. She explained afterwards that it was the first movie where everything she did felt like her own thing.
In 2001, Connelly featured in A beautiful Mind and played alongside Russell Crowe. The movie was based on the biography of John Nash, a mathematician, and Jennifer played his wife, Alicia Nash. She actually met the real Alicia Nash in order to prepare for the role. The movie was a big success, grossing about $133 million worldwide and brought her instant acclaim. She had many nominations and won a number of awards for her role in the movie.
After some break from onscreen works, Connelly made her returned in 2005 in the thriller movie Dark Water. She played with Kate Winsle in Little Things in 2006 and with Leonardo DiCaprioin in Blood Diamonds. Both movies were nominated for numerous Academy Awards.
The next year, Jennifer Connelly played in Reservation Road with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo. In 2014, she was a cast for the movie Shelter, which was the first directed movie by her husband, Paul Bettany. She also coupled again with Russell Crowe, (her costar in A beautiful mind) in the epic biblical drama, Noah, in 2014 which once again gained positive reviews.
Jennifer Connelly’s Latest Movies
Last month the Netflix’s Snowpiercer sci-fi TV series premiered with Jennifer Connelly in a lead role. This is her latest known performance, although fans are also expecting Top Gun: Maverick, a movie she worked on sometime back before the Corona outbreak and which premiere had been postponed few times before. The movie is said to be in post production and is expected to have its premiere finally at the end of this year.
Top Gun: Maverick
The movie, Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel of the Top Gun movie released in 1986. Connelly plays alongside Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer from the original 1986’s cast. She is a single mother who owns a bar near the naval base, a daughter of a former admiral that actually is Maverick’s love interest. The movie is produced by Paramount Pictures and directed by Joseph Kosinski. It is expected to premiere by December this year, 2020.
Jennifer Connelly’s Awards
Jennifer Connelly has been nominated numerous times and has won a fair number of awards in her acting career. She bagged most of her awards from her performance in the movie A Beautiful mind. Some of the awards are: Golden Schmoes Award for Best Supporting Actress(2001), Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (2002), British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for Best Supporting Actress (2002), Critics choice movie award for best supporting actress(2002), Satellite award for best supporting actress (2002), the Golden Globe award, etc. Her latest win was the Hollywood Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress (2007) for the movie Reservation Road.
Is Jennifer Connelly Married?
Jennifer Connelly has been married to actor Paul Bettany since 2003. For five years, Jennifer Connelly dated Billy Campbell whom she met while filming the movie The Rocketeer in 1996. She also dated the photographer David Dugan. They have a son born in 1997.
While filming A Beautiful Mind, in 2001, Jennifer met the actor Paul Bettany. They started a relationship after the movie and married in 2003 in a private ceremony in Scotland. Apparently, the couple never dated because Bettany had a crush on her since the Labyrinth movie and proposed very soon after he revealed his feelings for her. The couple has a son and a daughter together, born in 2003 and 2011 respectively. Connelly thus has three children in all.
The actress speaks French and Italian. She enjoys outdoor physical activities like camping, swimming, and hiking.
Husband, Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany is a British-American actor, born in London on 27 May, 1971. He comes from a family with background in theatre, acting, and music performances. Bettany was a street performer in London before starting his acting career, first in theatres and then in movies. He finished a three year course at Drama Centre, London and played many roles in movies in his home country before coming over to Hollywood.
Bettany had voice role as J.A.R.V.I.S. in Iron Man in 2008, Iron Man 2 in 2010, The Avengers in 2012 and Iron Man 3 in 2013. He has been nominated for numerous awards for his contributions to the movie industry on different counts.
Charity Work
In 2005 Jennifer Connelly became Amnesty International Ambassador for Human rights education. She also collaborated with the nonprofit organization “Chariy: Water”. In 2012 she became Ambassador for Save the Children Fund that protects children’s rights.
Jennifer Connelly Appearence
Connelly is 5 feet and 7 inches (1.69 m) tall and weighs 54kg. The actress is 49 years old and has dark hair and green eyes. She was named many times as one of the most beautiful women in the world.
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