Jennifer Lynn Connelly (born December 12, 1970 in Cairo, New York) is an American actress.
After beginning her career as a child model, Connelly made her film debut at the age of 13 in Once Upon a Time in America, in which she played the younger version of Elizabeth McGovern's character. But she soon transitioned to leading roles, including in the horror film Phenomena and alongside David Bowie in the cult hit Labyrinth. Despite critics being lukewarm to her early performances, more leading roles followed. And she started to win critics over with roles like The Hot Spot. Success didn't come that quickly, however; she found herself typecast in Fanservice roles. For most of the '90s and early 2000s, Connelly was heavily associated with nudity or titillation in her films, regardless of the quality of her performances. The latter were usually acclaimed, leading critics to sigh about wasted potential.
Things started to turn in her favor with a turn in the well-acclaimed Cyberpunk film Dark City. But it was with Requiem for a Dream that she started to make the switch from Ms. Fanservice to serious actress. More roles like Waking The Dead kept earning her critical acclaim, and she managed to win an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind. Nowadays she's a very respected actress with lots of accolades to her name. She's also got Marvel Comics cred due to her role in Ang Lee's Hulk where she played Betty Ross as well as voicing the AI "Karen" in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
As a fun fact, she's done three films that all feature the same exact shot: Jennifer's character stands at the end of a pier looking out to the sea. Dark City, Requiem for a Dream, and House of Sand and Fog all feature this shot.
She is married to Paul Bettany, and they have two children. Connelly also has another son from a previous relationship with photographer David Dugan.
Selected Filmography:
- Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
- Phenomena (1985)
- Labyrinth (1986)
- Some Girls (1988)
- The Hot Spot (1990)
- Career Opportunities (1991)
- The Rocketeer (1991)
- The Heart Of Justice (1992)
- Higher Learning (1995)
- Mulholland Falls (1996)
- Dark City (1998)
- Waking The Dead (2000)
- Requiem for a Dream (2000)
- Pollock (2000)
- The $treet (2000-01)
- A Beautiful Mind (2001) - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
- Hulk (2003)
- House of Sand and Fog (2003)
- Dark Water (2005)
- Little Children (2006)
- Blood Diamond (2006)
- Reservation Road (2007)
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
- Inkheart (2008)
- He's Just Not That into You (2009)
- 9 (2009)
- Creation (2009)
- Stuck in Love (2012)
- Noah (2014)
- American Pastoral (2016)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
- Only the Brave (2017)
- Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
- Snowpiercer (2020-23)
- Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Tropes associated with her:
- Ability over Appearance: Inverted. Despite having no ballet training, she was cast in Once Upon a Time in America precisely because of her resemblance to Elizabeth McGovern. Of course they liked her performance too.
- Actor Allusion: Three films feature the same specific shot where Jennifer's character stands at the end of a pier looking out to the sea: Dark City, Requiem for a Dream, and House of Sand and Fog. While filming the third, her reaction was "How many times have I done this already?"
- Actor-Shared Background: Both she and her character Marion in Requiem for a Dream had fathers who worked in the fashion industry.
- Career Resurrection: Requiem for a Dream marked the point where Jennifer transitioned from Ms. Fanservice roles to more serious, respected characters.
- Casting Gag:
- In two films she has played the devoted wife to a brilliant but insane Russell Crowe— A Beautiful Mind and Noah.
- She's played a 'Sarah Williams' in both Labyrinth and Waking The Dead.
- The Chanteuse: Having appeared in Dark City, she is the page image.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Princess Jasmine in Aladdin resembles an Arabian version of Connelly.
- Creator Backlash: She's slightly embarrassed by her performance in Labyrinth, not helped by critics ripping it to shreds when the film was first released. But this seems to have diminished with time; she participated in the 30th anniversary DVD release's new bonus features and filmed a special introduction for the Fathom Events two-night theatrical reissue in September 2016.
- Creator Couple: She and husband Paul Bettany worked together on Shelter and Creation. As of 2017, they are also both playing characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- The Danza: She plays Jenny in The Rocketeer, and Jennifer in Phenomena.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- She normally has long hair, but cut it rather drastically into a bob for the movie Crime/Fly.
- She also lost weight to play a homeless woman in Shelter.
- Dyed her normally dark brown hair blonde for Virginia.
- Fake Brit: Sort of in Noah. She uses an English-sounding accent to blend in with her cast members. Earlier, she played Emma Darwin with a passable English accent in Creation opposite husband Paul Bettany as Charles Darwin.
- Former Child Star: Averted. She has come a long way from Labyrinth and other teen roles to become the respected adult actress she is today.
- Ms. Fanservice: Many of her roles as an adult in the 1990s, particularly The Rocketeer, where she spends the final act in a low-cut 1930s evening gown.
- Non-Singing Voice: Her singing is dubbed in the theatrical release of Dark City, but her actual voice is used in the Director's Cut.
- Playing Against Type:
- He's Just Not That into You is the only time she's done a Romantic Comedy.
- Voicing the AI Karen in Spider-Man: Homecoming is also incredibly different.
- Romance on the Set: With Paul Bettany during A Beautiful Mind. They married without dating in the interim.
- Separated-at-Birth Casting:
- Once Upon a Time in America sees her playing the younger version of Elizabeth McGovern. The two look very alike.
- Stuck in Love has Lily Collins play her daughter. They look close enough to each other that it's quite believable.
- Those Two Actors:
- Jennifer Connelly acted with Josh Lucas in both A Beautiful Mind and Hulk.
- Connelly also acted with Nick Nolte in Mulholland Falls, Hulk and Noah.
- Throw It In!: Jennifer prepared for Requiem for a Dream by making her own clothes - as Marion is a dress designer. She ended up wearing most of her own wardrobe in the film.
- Typecasting: In the 90s Jennifer was cast in lots of films playing 1930s-50s era women - The Rocketeer, Mulholland Falls, The Hot Spot, Inventing The Abbots and technically Dark City.note That glossy dark hair of hers is remarkably well-suited for vintage hairstyles.
- What Could Have Been:
- Veronica in Heathers was written for her, but she turned it down, and Winona Ryder played the part.
- She auditioned for Sarah in The Accused, Charlie in Firestarter and Diane Court in Say Anything....
- A love scene was filmed for A Beautiful Mind, but cut from the final film.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Having a longtime fear of flying, she was less than thrilled to find out that she would, in fact, be flying in a plane for the final shots of Top Gun: Maverick. However, those shots were filmed with Tom Cruise personally piloting her in his own P-51 Mustang, and she credits Cruise's obvious competence and meticulous attention to detail as a pilot with helping to ease that fear considerably.