This biracial beauty was studying American literature at Yale when picked to star in the 1983 romantic blockbuster
Flashdance. Playing a straight man's fantasy — welder by day, sexy dancer by night — Beals became an instant pinup girl with her exotic beauty and signature sweatshirt-off-the-shoulder style. But her career soon faltered, and although she worked consistently in mostly low-level projects for the next two decades — notably as a femme fatale in
Devil in a Blue Dress and a slew of independent films, many directed by her ex-husband, Alexandre Rockwell — she remained indelibly linked to her seminal role. In 2004 she shattered that 20-year-old image when she signed on to
The L Word as a workaholic lesbian, a part that revitalized her career and landed her on
People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People list.
Jennifer Beals Fast Facts:
- Made her film debut as an unbilled extra in 1980's My Bodyguard.
- Performed very little of the actual dancing in her breakout 1983 hit Flashdance.
- Her baggy, off-the-shoulder sweatshirt look in Flashdance sparked a fashion rage.
- Considered for the role of Dana Scully in The X-Files, which starred fellow Yale classmate David Duchovny.
- Her ex-husband, indie filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell, directed her in four films: Sons (1989), In the Soup (1992), Four Rooms (1995) and 13 Moons (2002), which was made after they divorced.
- Gave birth to a girl in October 2005 with husband Ken Dixon. Coincidentally, she was pregnant at the same time that her L Word character's girlfriend was pregnant.
- Is an avid photographer.
- Jennifer Beals Relationships:
- Alexandre Rockwell - Ex-husband
- Alfred Beals - Father
- Bobby Beals - Brother
- Edward Cohen - Stepfather
- Gregory Beals - Brother
- Jeanne Cohen - Mother
- Ken Dixon - Husband
- Jennifer Beals Awards:
- 1984 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Nominee
- College:
- Yale University, New Haven, CT (BA in American Literature, 1987)
