Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Reading Comprehension for November 19
Can you think of any child actors? Can you think of any who grew up and still remain famous, popular, and working actors? It's hard to do. Many child actors drop out of sight as they age. There is definitely at least one exception - Jodie Foster.
Jodie Foster was born in Los Angeles on November 19, 1962. Her father left the family just before she was born. Her given name was Alicia Christian Foster, but she was nicknamed Jodie by her siblings.
How did Jodie get into show business? Her mom worked for a film producer. She was already a stage mom and had helped Jodie's brother Buddy get work. At age three, casting directors spotted Jodie and put her in the Coppertone sun lotion ad. She became nationally known. Besides appearing in ads, Jodie proved herself to be quite intelligent as well. She could read when she was three!
By the time Jodie turned eight, she had worked in more than 40 commercials. She had also appeared in television shows such as Adam-12 and Daniel Boone. She appeared in the TV movie Menace on the Mountain and was the voice of Anna in The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan cartoon. Then came Jodie's first performance in a film. At a young age she was considered a veteran of acting. She acted in Disney's Napoleon and Samantha, where a young boy and his friend take off across the country with a lion. Jodie was also the voice of Pugsley in The Addams Family cartoon.
The roles kept coming. Jodie appeared in Rookie of the Year, One Little Indian, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and many other movies.
In 1976, she took a very controversial role in the movie Taxi Driver. She acted with Robert De Niro and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
After performing in a mob musical called Bugsy Malone in 1976, Jodie played Annabel Andrews, the girl who switches bodies with her mother, in Freaky Friday. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for this famous role.
Jodie performed in the thriller The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane. Then she went on to do international films, in which she could speak the foreign language because of her education. Next she returned to another kids' classic, Candleshoe. Did you happen to see Jodie as Casey, who started out pretending to be a rich old woman's granddaughter and then has a change of heart?
