Drew Barrymore(I)
- Producer
- Actress
- Director
Since melting audiences' hearts at the tender age of six - in Steven Spielberg's beloved sci-fi blockbuster, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Drew Barrymore has emerged as one of the most endearing and talented actresses of her generation. Born in Culver City, California to actors John Drew Barrymore and Jaid Barrymore, the clutches of fame were virtually inescapable for young Drew, her father being a member of the esteemed showbiz dynasty fronted by stage star Maurice Barrymore, his thespian wife Georgiana, and their three children: Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, and John Barrymore.
Tailgating a turbulent adolescence that saw her grapple with insobriety, substance abuse, and cutthroat media vitriol, a determined Barrymore threw herself into her career during the early-mid nineties, first with a succession of "bad girl" parts in cultish B-pictures like Poison Ivy (1992), Guncrazy (1992), Doppelganger (1993), and - fittingly - Bad Girls (1994); then well-received turns in prestige projects such as Boys on the Side (1995), Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (1996), and the game-changing Wes Craven horror hit, Scream (1996). An eclectic mix of high-profile and low-key film projects - The Wedding Singer (1998); Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998); Never Been Kissed (1999); Charlie's Angels (2000); Donnie Darko (2001); Riding in Cars with Boys (2001); Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) - followed, proving to skeptics that Barrymore was not just a formidable leading lady, but a versatile and singularly gifted performer. Headline parts in 50 First Dates (2004), Fever Pitch (2005), and Music and Lyrics (2007) came next, as did the critically-lauded television pic Grey Gardens (2009), for which she scored Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild prizes for her extraordinary embodiment of Edith Bouvier Beale.
Barrymore - whose production company, Flower Films, has spawned a bundle of lucrative features since its birth in '95 - added a further string to her bow when she spearheaded the sports dramedy Whip It (2009), her long-awaited directorial debut. Roger Ebert described the picture as having "guts, charm, and a black-and-blue sweetness", while Mary Pols of TIME hailed Barrymore as "a sensitive director who knows how and when to let an emotional moment linger on the screen".
In addition to a variety of subsequent film gigs - Going the Distance (2010); Big Miracle (2012); Blended (2014); Miss You Already (2015); The Stand In (2020) - Barrymore's star turn as zombified suburban mom Sheila Hammond - a tour de force at once ditzy and detailed - on Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet (2017) saw her step adventurously onto the small screen; an evolution she continues to embrace with her role as impassioned compère of CBS daytimer The Drew Barrymore Show (2020).
Tailgating a turbulent adolescence that saw her grapple with insobriety, substance abuse, and cutthroat media vitriol, a determined Barrymore threw herself into her career during the early-mid nineties, first with a succession of "bad girl" parts in cultish B-pictures like Poison Ivy (1992), Guncrazy (1992), Doppelganger (1993), and - fittingly - Bad Girls (1994); then well-received turns in prestige projects such as Boys on the Side (1995), Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (1996), and the game-changing Wes Craven horror hit, Scream (1996). An eclectic mix of high-profile and low-key film projects - The Wedding Singer (1998); Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998); Never Been Kissed (1999); Charlie's Angels (2000); Donnie Darko (2001); Riding in Cars with Boys (2001); Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) - followed, proving to skeptics that Barrymore was not just a formidable leading lady, but a versatile and singularly gifted performer. Headline parts in 50 First Dates (2004), Fever Pitch (2005), and Music and Lyrics (2007) came next, as did the critically-lauded television pic Grey Gardens (2009), for which she scored Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild prizes for her extraordinary embodiment of Edith Bouvier Beale.
Barrymore - whose production company, Flower Films, has spawned a bundle of lucrative features since its birth in '95 - added a further string to her bow when she spearheaded the sports dramedy Whip It (2009), her long-awaited directorial debut. Roger Ebert described the picture as having "guts, charm, and a black-and-blue sweetness", while Mary Pols of TIME hailed Barrymore as "a sensitive director who knows how and when to let an emotional moment linger on the screen".
In addition to a variety of subsequent film gigs - Going the Distance (2010); Big Miracle (2012); Blended (2014); Miss You Already (2015); The Stand In (2020) - Barrymore's star turn as zombified suburban mom Sheila Hammond - a tour de force at once ditzy and detailed - on Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet (2017) saw her step adventurously onto the small screen; an evolution she continues to embrace with her role as impassioned compère of CBS daytimer The Drew Barrymore Show (2020).