Jennifer Beals
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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
Credits
The Book of Eli (2010)
as Claudia
After (2019)
as Karen Gibson
Flashdance (1983)
as Alex Owens
Runaway Jury (2003)
as Vanessa Lembeck
Before I Fall (2017)
as Mrs. Kingston
The Grudge 2 (2006)
as Trish Kimble
Manhattan Night (2016)
as Lisa Wren
Four Rooms (1995)
as Angela
Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)
as Lolo Vincent
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
as Daphne Monet
The Prophecy II (1998)
as Valerie Rosales
Vampire's Kiss (1989)
as Rachel
The Thief and the Cobbler (1993)
as Princess YumYum (voice)
The Last Days of Disco (1998)
as Nina
A Wife's Nightmare (2014)
as Liz
Catch That Kid (2004)
as Molly Phillips
My Bodyguard (1980)
as Clifford's Friend (uncredited)
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)
as Gertrude Benchley
The Bride (1985)
as Eva
Feast of All Saints (2001)
as Dolly Rose
A Night for Dying Tigers (2010)
as Melanie
Hollywood: No Sex, Please! (2018)
Actor
Blood and Concrete (1991)
as Mona
Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying (1999)
as Jessica
The Twilight of the Golds (1996)
as Suzanne Stein
The White Orchid (2018)
as Vivian
Caro diario (1993)
as Jennifer Beals
My Name Is Sarah (2007)
as Sarah Winston
Dr. M (1990)
as Sonja Vogler
Let It Be Me (1995)
as Emily Taylor
That's Dancing! (1985)
Actor
Split Decisions (1988)
as Barbara Uribe
They Shoot Divas, Don't They? (2002)
as Sloan McBride
Troubled Waters (2006)
as FBI Agent Beck
Full Out (2015)
as Coach Valorie Kondos-Field
A Fuller Life (2013)
as Self - Reader (segment "Crime Reporter")
Roger Dodger (2002)
as Sophie
The Big Pardon 2 (1992)
as Joyce Ferranti
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute (1988)
as Self
In the Soup (1992)
as Angelica Pena
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas (2010)
as Angela Fox
A House Divided (2000)
as Amanda Dickson
Cinderella (1985)
as Cinderella
Militia (2000)
as Julie Sanders
Indecency (1992)
as Ellie Shaw
The Anniversary Party (2001)
as Gina Taylor
Queen to Play (2009)
as L’Américaine
13 Moons (2002)
as Suzi
Break a Leg (2005)
as Juliet
The Madonna and the Dragon (1990)
as Patty Meredith
Terror Stalks the Class Reunion (1992)
as Virginia
Wishful Thinking (1999)
as Elizabeth
The Spree (1998)
as Xinia Kelly
Starz Inside: Fashion in Film (2008)
as Self
Joy Will Prevail (—)
as Esther Kahn
Out of Line (2001)
as Officer Jenny Capitanas
The Search for One-eye Jimmy (1994)
as Ellen
Body and Soul (2000)
as Gina
The Gamble (1988)
as Lady Olivia Candioni
Dead on Sight (1994)
as Rebecca Darcy
Cinemanovels (2013)
as Clementine
Hello Out There (2025)
as Judith
Sons (1990)
as Transvestite
Desolation Sound (2005)
as Elizabeth Storey
Night Owl (1993)
as Julia
Something More (2000)
as Lisa
Without Malice (2000)
as Samantha Wilkes