Category: Oscar Profile

Born May 28, 1985 in London, England, Carey (Hannah) Mulligan is the second child and only daughter of hotel manager Stephen Mulligan and his wife, university lecturer Nano (nee Booth). The family moved to Germany when she was three when her father was transferred there. Her early education was at the international school in Dusseldorf…

Born June 20, 1931 in Lowell, Massachusetts, Olympia Dukakis was the daughter of Greek immigrants. She was a first cousin of 1988 Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis (born 1933). Dukakis majored in physical therapy at Boston University, graduating with a BA. She practiced as a therapist during the polio epidemic, later returning to Boston University where…

Born June 23, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois, Frances McDormand was the adopted daughter of Canadian-born parents, Noreen Eloise (Nickleson), a nurse from Ontario, and The Rev. Vernon Weir McDormand, a Disciples of Christ minister from Nova Scotia, who raised her in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. She began her stage career after graduating from Yale in…

Born December 31, 1937 in Margam, Port Talbot, Wales to Muriel and Richard Hopkins, a baker, (Philip) Anthony Hopkins was encouraged to become an actor by Richard Burton, who was also born in Port Talbot and whom Hopkins met at the age of 15. Hopkins made his professional stage debut in 1960 at the Palace…

Born January 18, 1955 in Lynwood, California, Kevin Costner was the third child of Sharon and Bill Costner. His mother was a welfare worker, his father an electrician. He was raised in various parts of Southern California as his father’s career progressed within Southern California Edison. He was active in sports in high school and…

Born April 23, 1928 in Santa Monica, California, Shirley Temple was the third child and only daughter of homemaker Grace and bank employee George Temple. When she was three, her determined stage mother enrolled her in Meglin’s Dance School where she honed her singing, dancing, and acting skills. At the same time, Mrs. Temple began…

Born December 3, 1985 in Allentown, Pennsylvania to occupational therapist Ann and pharmacist Jack, Amanda Seyfried began modeling at 11 and ventured into acting at 15 with roles in the TV soap operas, As the World Turns from 1999-2001 and All My Children in 2003. She made her film debut in Mean Girls in 2004,…

Born September 15, 1907 in Alberta Canada to Mormon parents, Fay Wray was one of six children who moved to Salt Lake City, Utah with their parents in 1912, relocating to Los Angeles in 1919 where the aspiring actress attended famed Hollywood High. Wray made her film debut at 16 in the 1923 short, Gasoline…

Born June 5, 1902 in Oakland, California to James and Frances Plunkett, Walter Plunkett studied law at the University of California but was more interested in acting. He moved to New York in 1923, where he worked as an actor as well as a costume and set designer for the stage. He moved to Hollywood…

Born June 22, 1949 in Summit, New Jersey to Mary, a commercial artist, and William Streep, Jr., a pharmaceutical executive, Mary Louise (Meryl) Streep’s early performing ambitions tended toward opera. Raised in New Jersey, she received her BA cum laude from Vasser in 1971, and her MBA from Yale Drama School in 1975. Streep’s first…

Born November 19, 1962 in Los Angeles, California to Evelyn and Lucius Foster III, Alicia Christian (Jodie) Foster was the couple’s fourth child. Foster’s parents divorced before she was born, and she never established a relationship with her father who also had three children from an earlier marriage. Foster began her career in a TV…

Born January 10, 1939 in Bronx, New York to Josephine and Salvatore Mineo, a casket maker from Sicily, Salvatore (Sal) Mineo, Jr. was one of four children. A troubled child, he was thrown out of parochial school, and by the age of eight, had joined a tough Bronx gang. His mother enrolled him in dancing…

Born April 20, 1941 in Los Angeles, California, (Charles Samuel Eldridge Patrick) Ryan O’Neal (III) was the son of writer Charles O’Neal (The 7th Victim) and his actress wife, Barbara O’Neal (Three Came Home). Before becoming an actor, O’Neal was a Golden Gloves boxer between 1956 and 1959, winning eighteen bouts, thirteen of which were…