Known For
Acting
Born
Dec 19, 1963
Place of Birth
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Credits
103 titles
Jennifer Beals
Biography
Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress and a former teen model. She is known for her roles as Alexandra "Alex" Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, and as Bette Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word. She earned an NAACP Image Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for the former. She has appeared in more than 50 films. Beals was born on the South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Jeanne (née Anderson), an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. She is multiracial; her father was African American, and her mother is Irish American. She has two brothers, Bobby and Gregory.Her father died when Beals was nine years old, and her mother married Edward Cohen in 1981. Beals has said her biracial heritage had some effect on her, as she "always lived sort of on the outside", with an idea "of being the other in society". She got her first job at age 13 at an ice cream store, using her height at the time (she is now nearly 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)), to convince her boss she was 16. Beals was inspired to become an actress by two events: doing a high school production of Fiddler on the Roof and seeing Balm in Gilead with Joan Allen while volunteer-ushering at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Beals graduated from the progressive Francis W. Parker School. She also was chosen to attend the elite Goodman Theatre Young People's Drama Workshop. Beals attended Yale University, receiving a B.A. in American literature in 1987; she deferred a term so she could film Flashdance. While at Yale, Beals was a resident of Morse College. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jennifer Beals, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Filmography
NCIS: New York
Robyn Wells
Hello Out There
Judith
Luckiest Girl Alive
Lolo Vincent
The Book of Boba Fett
Garsa Fwip
Law & Order: Organized Crime
Cassandra Webb
Sweet Thing
Producer
The L Word: Generation Q
Bette Porter
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Self
Swamp Thing
Lucilia Cable
After
Karen Gibson
Hollywood: No Sex, Please!
The White Orchid
Vivian
Before I Fall
Mrs. Kingston
Taken
Christina Hart
Manhattan Night
Lisa Wren
Full Out
Coach Valorie Kondos-Field
Proof
Dr. Carolyn Tyler
A Wife's Nightmare
Liz
The Night Shift
Dr. Syd Jennings
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self - Guest
Off Camera with Sam Jones
Self
Cinemanovels
Clementine
A Fuller Life
Self - Reader (segment "Crime Reporter")
Motive
Sophia Balfour
The Chicago Code
Teresa Colvin
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
Angela Fox
A Night for Dying Tigers
Melanie
The Book of Eli
Claudia
Queen to Play
L’Américaine
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Self - Guest
Castle
Sophia Turner
Lie to Me
Zoe Landau
Starz Inside: Fashion in Film
Self
My Name Is Sarah
Sarah Winston
Troubled Waters
FBI Agent Beck
The Grudge 2
Trish Kimble
Desolation Sound
Elizabeth Storey
Break a Leg
Juliet
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Self
Catch That Kid
Molly Phillips
Best Week Ever
The L Word
Bette Porter
Runaway Jury
Vanessa Lembeck
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self - Guest
They Shoot Divas, Don't They?
Sloan McBride
13 Moons
Suzi
Roger Dodger
Sophie
Out of Line
Officer Jenny Capitanas
Feast of All Saints
Dolly Rose
The Anniversary Party
Gina Taylor