Life Stories: Jodie Foster

She’s starred in iconic films from Taxi Driver to The Accused, suffered after her stalker shot the president to get her attention and stole the show when she came out as gay. Here, we celebrate one of Hollywood’s most inspirational actresses

- Michelle Davies

CHILD ACTOR BUDDY FOSTER expected the audition to be a formality. At nine years old and already the star of numerous TV adverts, he knew he was the frontrunner to become the new ‘face’ of sunscreen brand Coppertone. But on entering the casting room, he was surprised when the casting directors fell about laughing.

‘When I turned round, I saw Jodie had wandered in,’ said Buddy of his three-year-old sister. ‘She put on a show, flexing her muscles and putting on a repertoire of poses.’ To cite a Hollywood cliché, a star was born. The toddler with white blonde hair and big blue eyes stole the show and got the job. ‘Just like that, my little sister muscled me out,’ Buddy would later lament.

Incredibly, just ten years later, Jodie Foster got her first Oscar nomination. In May this year, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame to mark her 50-year career, proving she is that rarest of showbiz breeds – a child star who made the transition to successful adult actor with sanity intact.

Born Alicia Christian Foster in LA on 19 November 1962, Jodie’s precocity was evident early on: she walked at seven months and stunned onlookers by speaking in sentences at just a year old. Her background, though, was unremarkable. Her father was a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, her mother a telecoms worker. They had separated by the time she was born.

Her mother, struggling to cope alone, moved in with Jo Dominguez, a woman who helped raise Jodie, Buddy and their older sisters Connie and Cindy. The name Jodie was a tribute to her – Jo D. In his 1997 biography Foster Child, Jodie’s brother Buddy claimed his mum and ‘Aunt Jo’ were lovers despite never openly discussing their sexuality. Jodie was devastated, accusing him of breaking their mother’s heart.