Despite her fame, Jennifer Beals remains a hermit - as she often describes herself - whose striking charm and genuine personality shines through on and off screen.
The Beginnings
Born in Chicago on December 19th 1963, as the daughter of an African-American father and a Caucasian mother, Beals' wish, as a child, was to always "be a part of a story".
She worked as a model in the late 70s and it took her a number of years until she landed her first role, as an uncredited extra in My Bodyguard (1980), a film about a boy who is harrassed by a bully at the new school he joined and uses the services of the school's most-feared kid as a bodyguard.
The Breakthrough - Flashdance
Three years later, she becomes a pop-culture phenomenon in Adrian Lyne's Flashdance, in a role in which she earned celebrity as well as a Golden Globe nomination. Lyne recalls almost 25 years later what made him choose Beals to portray Alexandra Owens, welder by day and dancer by night, working hard to be accepted at the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory: "She was stunning and lovely, not conventionally beautiful, and had an unusual vulnerability."
After Flashdance, she went back to Yale to complete her education although, during summer breaks, she managed to squeeze in a couple of more movies: The Bride (1985) where she starred alongside Sting and Split Decisions with Gene Hackman (1988). Unfortunately, neither of them helped to advance her career.
With an American Literature degree in her hand, Beals set her sights on establishing herself as an actress. She therefore went to study stage acting at The Goodman School of Drama, DePaul University, in Chicago.
In the 90s, Jennifer Beals worked on independent movies, which made her hardly visible to that segment of the public hungry for what commercial success entails. Despite that, she has grown into an actress who is particularly good at coming across to audiences as a superb and fascinating performer. Her impressive resume includes a number of more than 50 films.
Careful with her career choices, whether there are roles she's being offered or she goes after, the most important thing for Beals is how engaging the story is. For instance, she made quite a lot of horror movies as she is fascinated beyond words by vampires and their mythology.
Beals landed parts in movies where she worked with reputable actors like In the Soup (1992) with Stanley Tucci and Steve Buscemi, Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) alongside Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle or Roger Dodger (2002) starring with Elizabeth Berkley and Jesse Eisenberg. The same Jesse who just earned an Oscar nomination for portraying Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.
She reunited with Washington in the post-apocalyptic tale The Book of Eli (2010), where she played Claudia, the blind girlfriend of Carnegie, the villain (played by Gary Oldman).
The L Word - a Milestone of Beals' Career
The role that made her career sky-rocket was in Showtime's The L Word as the classy complicated workaholic art expert Bette Porter, who happens to be biracial and openly gay. For six seasons, Beals was part of an extraordinary ensemble of women in a TV show that not only broke ground for the LGBT community, but demonstrated how connected we all are and the fact that "we belong to the family of humanity".
After The L Word wrapped up, she continued to work on television guest-starring in Lie to Me as the confident Assistant U.S. attorney and Cal Lightman's ex-wife, Zoe Landau.
But what is now in store for Beals is going to be the icing on the cake! Her new show created by Shawn Ryan - the mastermind behind The Shield, Lie to Me and Terriers - is called The Chicago Code , is entirely filmed in Chicago and premieres Monday, February 7th, on FOX.
It is a show that, according to Ryan, promises to be something more than just a "straight police procedural". Beals portrays the first female chief of police in Chicago, Superintendent Teresa Colvin, who vows to uproot corruption. Colvin, who is smart and driven, tries to find a sense of balance between her femininity and whatever masculine traits she might have. The Chicago Code has excellent reviews so far and it hasn't even aired yet.
The Making of an Activist
Since working on the critically acclaimed lesbian drama The L Word, Jennifer Beals became actively involved in the gay community issues. She doesn't like the term 'philantropic' when it comes to the charities that she supports, but if she feels that her presence can be helpful in any way she lends her services in a heartbeat. She spoke publicly in favor of the LGBT community at many events and participated in charity triathlons.
Known also as a talented photographer, she takes her camera with her on the set to capture the moments of working together with great people. Last year, she self-published a photographic journal of The L Word, a book documenting her time on the show which includes over 400 photos, cast interviews and commentary, call sheets, memos and bits of scripts.
The proceeds of the book go to three charity organizations. Matthew Shepard Foundation, founded by Dennis and Judy Shepard in the memory of their 21-year old son, Matthew, who was killed in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998. Beals was dedicated to supporting the organization, especially in their efforts to get the Matthew Shepard Act passed in October 2009.
She stands by her former The L Word co-star, Mia Kirshner, in supporting her organization 'I Live Here' and the work she does with refugees population. Kirshner spent a lot of time in Malawi organizing reading and art programmes for prisons.
The Pablove Foundation is the third organization that Beals supports. Their mission is to fund pediatric cancer research and improve the quality of life for children living with cancer.
Having said that, tune in for Beals. It's so gonna worth watching her crack the 'code' while wearing a uniform.
Anca Dumitru - A Romanian native, Anca has been living and working in different European countries for a long time. With over 16 years of corporate life ...
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