Anecdotes

As a child, she was attacked by a lion and carried briefly in its mouth while filming Disney's Napoleon and Samantha (1972).

Fluent in French by age 14, she spoke her own lines in the film Moi, Fleur bleue (1977), the film Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004) and the film L'épreuve du courage (2007). She learned spanish at a young age. She was also fluent in Italian by age 18.

Her sister, Connie Foster, was her stand-in during Taxi Driver (1976).

Because she speaks perfect French, she makes the dubbing over her character's voice for most of her films released in France.

Got the role of Clarice Starling in Le silence des agneaux (1991) after Michelle Pfeiffer turned the role down.

Replaced Nicole Kidman in the role of Meg Altman in La chambre forte (2002) at the last minute when Kidman injured herself.

Foster was pursued by an obsessed fan named John Hinckley Jr.. Hinckley came up with a plan to impress her by assassinating President Ronald Reagan. Shortly before 2:30 PM EST, as Reagan walked out of the hotel's T Street NW exit toward his waiting car, Hinckley emerged from the crowd of admirers and fired a .22-cal. blue steel revolver six times in three seconds, missing the President with all six shots. The first bullet hit White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head. The second hit District of Columbia police officer Thomas K. Delahanty in the back. The third overshot Reagan and hit the window of a building across the street. The fourth hit Secret Service agent Timothy J. McCarthy in the abdomen. The fifth hit the bullet-resistant glass of the window on the open side door of the president's limousine. The sixth and final bullet ricocheted off the side of the limousine and hit the president in his left underarm, grazing a rib and lodging in his lung, stopping nearly an inch from his heart. In 2016, Hinckley was released (under a number of conditions) from the psychiatric hospital in which he had been institutionalized.

Was chosen from among 18,000 applicants, of whom 200 were auditioned, for the role of Iris Steensma in Taxi Driver (1976), as screenwriter Paul Schrader wanted an unknown actress for the role.

Considers her performance in Nell (1994) as her best one.

Received her Bachelor's degree in literature, magna cum laude from Yale University in New Haven, CT. (1985)

Avoids social media such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Was reading by the time she was three years old.

Made her acting debut in a Coppertone Suntan Lotion commercial when she was 3 years old.

Her favorite actors are Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart and her favorite actresses are Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton and Katharine Hepburn.

Has said that her only regret is that she would love to live life without knowing what it's like to be famous.

Producer of Un vendredi dingue, dingue, dingue (2003) Andrew Gunn had initially hoped she would be game to play the mother, as Foster had played the daughter in the original film Un vendredi dingue, dingue, dingue! (1976). Foster declined, in part because of concerns that the casting stunt would overshadow the movie's overall merit.

During her college years, was stalked by John Hinckley Jr. who attempted to assassinate US President Ronald Reagan to impress her. (30 mars 1981)

At age 29, she became the second youngest person to win two Academy Awards, behind Luise Rainer (28). She won twice for Best Actress in a Leading Role for performances she gave at age 24 during filming of Appel à la justice (1988) in the spring of 1987 and at age 26-turning-27 during filming of Le silence des agneaux (1991) in the winter of 1989-90.

In an article published on September 5, 2006, Foster told the New York Times that she is such a "'serious N.P.R. [National Public Radio]-head', the sort of person who will sit in her garage listening to the car radio until a show is over" that she changed her character in L'épreuve du courage (2007) from a newspaper reporter to the host of a public radio show.

An asteroid, 17744 Jodiefoster, was named after her (1998).

Enjoys kickboxing, yoga, karate, aerobics, and weightlifting and collects fancy kitchenware and B&W photos.

Born Alicia Christian Foster, her three siblings insisted on calling her "Jodie" after their mother's live-in girlfriend, Josephine Dominguez Hill, who was known as "Jo D".

Was considered for the role of Alma Coin in Hunger Games: La révolte - Partie 1 (2014), but was busy filming Elysium (2013). The role ultimately went to Julianne Moore. Coincidentally, Moore replaced Foster as Clarice Starling in the sequel to Le silence des agneaux (1991), Hannibal (2001).

Sean Penn's role in Jouer avec la mort (1997) was originally written as a female character with Foster in mind to portray. In the original script, Foster would play the daughter of Michael Douglas's character. However, Douglas insisted that the female character be changed to his sister; Foster did not like the idea as she was far too young to play his sister, and she withdrew from the project.

Has a reported IQ of 132.

Decided not to reprise the role of Clarice Starling in Hannibal (2001), which eventually went to Julianne Moore.

The two people with whom she has been in her longest-term relationships both worked on The L Word (2004). Cydney Bernard, with whom Foster had her two children (they were together from 1993 to 2008) was a unit production manager on the show, and Alexandra Hedison, whom Foster married in April 2014, played the character Dylan Moreland.

Youngest host of Saturday Night Live (1975) until Drew Barrymore hosted in 1982.

Like Kim Basinger, Foster was also offered the role of Annie Reed in Sleepless in Seattle (1993), but she declined it, because as in the case with Basinger she thought the premise of the movie was ridiculous. The role instead went to Meg Ryan and the film became a massive box office success.

Can play the guitar, composes songs and is fluent in French and Italian.

Was considered for the role of Claire Standish in Breakfast Club (1985), which went to Molly Ringwald.

In July 2016, John Hinckley was released after almost 35 years of commission to St. Elizabeth's Mental Institution. His release was contingent on dozens of conditions, including mandatory residence with his elderly mother in her home in a Williamsburg, Virginia, gated community and a ban on use of social media and/or the internet to read about his own crimes or other assassins. He is also forbidden from attempting or making any contact with an array of people connected to his crimes, including his victims, their relatives, or Jodie Foster.

Her performance as Sarah Tobias in Appel à la justice (1988) is ranked #56 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Made an acceptance speech at a breakfast for Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment, where she paid tribute to her longtime companion Cydney Bernard, ending all speculations about her sexual orientation. (décembre 2007)

Born to Lucius Fisher Foster (1922-2016), from Colorado, an Air Force colonel and real estate agent, who had three sons from a previous marriage and one daughter from a subsequent marriage; and Evelyn Della "Brandy" Almond (1928-2019), a film producer, from the Bronx, New York. On her father's side, she has deep Colonial American roots in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Gave birth to her first child at age 35, a son Charles Foster on July 20, 1998, with partner Cydney Bernard.

Her Oscar-winning role as Clarice Starling from her film Le silence des agneaux (1991) was ranked #6 in the American Film Institute's "Heroes" list in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains (2003).

She has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Taxi Driver (1976) and Le silence des agneaux (1991).

At the 31st AFI Life Achievement Awards, Jodie Foster credited Robert De Niro with introducing her to the true craft of acting. During production of Taxi Driver (1976), he would insist that they'd meet for coffee and rehearse their scenes from together at a local diner. After a while, Jodie became bored of the routine until De Niro began improvising lines during their rehearsals. Jodie soon learned to follow his improv as he weaved back and forth to the original script, in essence teaching her how to effectively build a character beyond the screenplay.

Cited Voyage au bout de l'enfer (1978) as her favorite film.

Graduated as the class valedictorian from the private academy Le Lycée Français in Los Angeles, California. (juin 1980)

Turned down the role of Andie Walsh in Rose bonbon (1986), which went to Molly Ringwald.

Ranked #30 on Entertainment Weekly's 50 Smartest People in Hollywood (2007).

Her family celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah.

While filming Napoleon and Samantha (1972),Jodie Foster was attacked by one of the lions and carried briefly in its mouth. She still has the scars from the attack. When she appears naked in certain films, she is photographed from specific angles to conceal the scars.

Considers her role in Le silence des agneaux (1991) to be a counterpart to her role in Taxi Driver (1976). In Taxi Driver (1976), she is a young girl in bondage who has to be rescued. In Le silence des agneaux (1991), she rescues the captive woman. In an interesting twist, her pimp in Taxi Driver (1976) was played by Harvey Keitel, who went on to play Clarice Starling's (her character in Silence of the Lambs") mentor, Jack Crawford, in Dragon rouge (2002).

Is one of 12 actresses who won the Best Actress Oscar for a movie that also won the Best Picture Oscar (she won for Le silence des agneaux (1991)). The others are Claudette Colbert for New York - Miami (1934), Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Vivien Leigh for Autant en emporte le vent (1939), Greer Garson for Madame Miniver (1942), Louise Fletcher for Vol au-dessus d'un nid de coucou (1975), Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977), Shirley MacLaine for Tendres passions (1983), Jessica Tandy for Miss Daisy et son chauffeur (1989), Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare et Juliette (1998), Hilary Swank for La fille à un million de dollars (2004) and Frances McDormand for Nomadland (2020).

Shut down production company Egg Pictures in late 2001 to spend more time with her children.

As of 2012, she is the 10th youngest person to receive an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Parents divorced three years before she was born. She was raised by her mother Brandy and Josephine Dominguez Hill (1930-1984), Brandy's lesbian lover.