‘ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR PASSION AND NEVER GIVE UP'

AS JENNIFER CONNELLY TURNS THIS WEEK, WE CELEBRATE HER GLITTERING HOLLYWOOD CAREER, AND DISCOVER WHY SHE’S ON A MISSION TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO SUCCEED

- SUZANNE BAUM

American actress Jennifer Connelly has had a long and dazzling career in front of the camera. The star, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2002 for her performance in A Beautiful Mind, first rose to movie fame when she was just 12 years old.

Although it wasn’t the first time Jennifer had stepped into the media spotlight. She had already built up a reputation as a successful child model, having regularly graced the pages of magazines and appeared in TV commercials.

Jennifer was born in 1970 in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. An only child, her mother Ilene, an antiques dealer, and father Gerard, a clothing manufacturer, gave her a loving childhood, attending an arts-oriented private school called Saint Ann’s.

When Jennifer was 10, her parents were advised by a family friend to take her to a modelling audition. It lead her to be signed up to the Ford Agency, where Jennifer went on to appear in numerous shoots before being spotted by a casting director who introduced her to legendary Spaghetti Western film maker Sergio Leone. It was a meeting that would change Jennifer’s life.