DREW BARRYMORE

Biography

Drew Barrymore was born on February 22, 1975, in Culver City, California. Being from a family that produced legendary actors John, Lionel, and Ethel Barrymore, it's no wonder Drew quickly found her way to the spotlight.

When she was barely 11 months old, she made her first television commercial for Puppy Choice dog food. Other TV spots soon followed for Pillsbury chocolate-chip cookies and Rice Krispies cereal. But it was clear she was destined for greater things.

She made her first movie at the age of two when she appeared as a boy in the made-for-television film Suddenly, Love (1978). Another TV movie followed with Bogie (1980), in which she played Leslie Bogart.

That same year, at the age of five, she moved to the big screen and played William Hurt's daughter in the philosophical science-fiction film Altered States. Two years later, she was cast as Gertie in the Steven Spielberg blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

fame and drugs

The success of E.T. made her quite popular, and after Irreconcilable Differences (1984), her next two projects were adaptations of Stephen King works, namely Firestarter (1984) and Cat's Eye (1985). But at the same time, Drew's personal life was taking a drastic turn.

At the age of nine, she discovered alcohol when she got drunk at a party thrown for actor Rob Lowe. A year later, she had moved up to marijuana; cocaine came soon after. During this time, she made a series of television movies: The Adventures of Con Sawyer and Hucklemary Finn (1985), Babes in Toyland (1986), and Conspiracy of Love (1987).

But by 1989, she was caught in a downward spiral. Her risqu role in the thriller Far From Home (1989) caused a lot of controversy and her heavy partying forced her mother, Jaid Barrymore, to commit her to a drug rehab clinic.

Drew wasn't ready to give up her lifestyle and she soon escaped from the clinic. With her mother's credit card, she ran back to California, but she was quickly apprehended. To make amends, she appeared in an after-school special, 15 and Getting Straight (1989), about the virtues of a drug-free life. Nevertheless, she was still heavily addicted.

sex bomb

It was so bad that, in July 1989, she attempted to commit suicide. Another stint in a rehabilitation clinic followed, but this time the treatment was successful. What she did next shocked many; she decided her mother was a bad influence (her father, John Drew Barrymore, had never been part of her life) and obtained a legal separation from her. She was only 15.

In 1990, she wrote her autobiography, Little Girl Lost, with the help of Todd Gold. It mostly dealt with her struggle with drug addiction and her life in the fast lane.

Knowing she had to get a grip on her life to re-establish her career, she appeared in the sexy thriller Poison Ivy (1992), as well as Guncrazy (1992), The Amy Fisher Story (1993), Doppelganger (1993) and Wayne's World 2 (1993).

At this point, she reinvented herself into a wild girl with roles in movies such as Bad Girls (1994), Boys on the Side (1995), Mad Love (1995), and Batman Forever (1995). She also appeared nude in the best-selling January 1995 issue of Playboy magazine.


drew calms down

By then, she was getting older and seemed to start realizing that there is more to life than publicity stunts and shock value. She set out to build a distinguished career. Her first move was as the first victim of the masked killer in Scream (1996), alongside Neve Campbell.

Her next projects were Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Best Men (1997), and Wishful Thinking (1997) with Jennifer Beals. It's at this moment that Hollywood became conscious that Drew Barrymore would make a great leading lady. She then appeared in The Wedding Singer with Adam Sandler, Ever After, and Home Fries, all 1998 features.

In 1998, she also established her own production company, Flower Films. From then on, she had more control over her projects. She acted in and produced Never Been Kissed (1999) with Leelee Sobieski and Jessica Alba, Charlie's Angels (2000), Donnie Darko (2001), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), the Ben Stiller comedy Duplex (2003), and A Confederacy of Dunces (2004). She also appeared in Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), Freddy Got Fingered (2001), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), and 50 First Dates (2004).

Her romantic life has been as rocky as her childhood. In 1994, she was married to Jeremy Thomas for a little over a month and, in 2001, she was married for five months to Canadian funnyman Tom Green. But she really seems to have a thing for musicians. She was once briefly linked to singer Jamie Walters and is currently engaged to Fabrizio Moretti, drummer of the band The Strokes