DREW BARRYMORE
Drew Blyth Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, film producer and film director. She is the youngest member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was eleven months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered States in 1980. Afterwards, she starred in her breakout role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She quickly became one of Hollywood's most recognized child actors, going on to establish herself in mainly comic roles.Following a turbulent childhood which was marked by drug and alcohol abuse and two stints in rehab, Barrymore wrote the 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. She successfully made the transition from child star to adult actress with a number of films including Poison Ivy, Bad Girls, Boys on the Side, and Everyone Says I Love You. Subsequently, she established herself in romantic comedies such as The Wedding Singer and Lucky You.
In 1990, she and partner Nancy Juvonen formed the production company Flower Films, with its first production the 1999 Barrymore film Never Been Kissed. Flower Films has gone on to produce the Barrymore vehicle films Charlie's Angels, 50 First Dates, and Music and Lyrics, as well as the cult film Donnie Darko. Barrymore's more recent projects include He's Just Not That into You, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and Everybody's Fine. A recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Barrymore appeared on the cover of the 2007 People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful issue.
Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Since then, she has donated over $1 million to the program. In 2007, she became both CoverGirl's newest model and spokeswoman for the cosmetic and the face for Gucci's newest jewelry line.
In 2010 she was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film for her portrayal of Little Edie in Grey Gardens.
Barrymore was born in Culver City, California, the daughter of American actor John Drew Barrymore and Ildikó Jaid Barrymore (née Makó), an aspiring actress born in a Displaced Persons camp in Brannenburg, West Germany to Hungarian World War II refugees. Barrymore is of Irish descent on her father's side through an ancestor, actor Maurice Costello. Her parents divorced after she was born. She has a half-brother John Blyth Barrymore, also an actor, and two half-sisters, Blyth Dolores Barrymore and Brahma (Jessica) Blyth Barrymore.
Barrymore was born into acting: her great-grandparents Maurice Barrymore and Georgie Drew Barrymore, Maurice Costello and Mae Costello (née Altschuk) and her grandparents John Barrymore and Dolores Costello were all actors; John Barrymore was arguably the most acclaimed actor of his generation. She is the grandniece of Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore and Helene Costello, the great-great-granddaughter of John Drew and actress Louisa Lane Drew, and the great grandniece of silent film actor/writer/director Sidney Drew. She is also the god-daughter of director Steven Spielberg, and Sophia Loren.
Her first name, Drew, was the maiden name of her paternal great-grandmother, Georgie Drew Barrymore; her middle name, Blyth, was the original surname of the dynasty founded by her great-grandfather, Maurice Barrymore.
Barrymore's career began when she auditioned for a dog food commercial at eleven months old. When she was bitten by her canine co-star, the producers were afraid she would cry, but she merely laughed, and was hired for the job. She made her film debut in Altered States (1980), in which she got a small part. A year later, she landed the role of Gertie, the younger sister of Elliott, in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which made her famous. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1984 for her role in Irreconcilable Differences, in which she starred as a young girl divorcing her parents. In a review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert states: "Barrymore is the right actress for this role precisely because she approaches it with such grave calm." He concludes with saying that "The Drew Barrymore character sees right through all of this. She doesn't care about careers, she wants to be given a happy home and her minimum daily requirement of love, and, in a way, the movie is about how Hollywood (and American success in general) tends to cut adults off from the natural functions of parents."
In 1991, at the age of 16, Barrymore became engaged to Leland Hayward, grandson of Hollywood producer Leland Hayward. However after a few months, this engagement was called off. Soon afterward, Barrymore was engaged to and lived with musician/actor Jamie Walters in 1992-93.
She was married to Welsh bartender turned bar owner Jeremy Thomas from March 20 to April 28, 1994. Her second marriage was to comedian Tom Green from July 7, 2001 to October 15, 2002. Green filed for divorce in December 2001. In 2002, Barrymore began dating Strokes' drummer Fabrizio Moretti, soon after they met at a concert. Their five year relationship, however, ended on January 10, 2007. She most recently dated Justin Long, however, they confirmed their split in July 2008. The couple reunited in 2009 and Us Weekly reported that they signed on to co-star in the upcoming film Going the Distance.
In the 1990s Barrymore was frequently described as bisexual, although she said in a 1997 interview that she had not "been with a woman in about two years". In 2004, she was quoted as saying "A woman and a woman together are beautiful, just as a man and a woman together are beautiful. Being with a woman is like exploring your own body, but through someone else. When I was younger I used to go with lots of women. Totally. I love it". In March 2007, former magazine editor Jane Pratt claimed on her Sirius Satellite Radio show that she had a romance with Barrymore in the mid-nineties.
Barrymore was formerly a vegetarian, but has since begun to eat meat.
