Amy Adams

Biography: Amy Adams was born August 20, 1975 in a military base in Vicenza, Italy to American parents Richard and Kathryn Adams. Growing up in Colorado and Minnesota, Amy was inspired to act, and joined several local dinner theater companies. In 1998, she was spotted by a Minnesota movie producer and asked to audition for the role of Leslie Miller in the comedy movie Drop Dead Gorgeous. With a successful film under her belt, Amy moved to Los Angeles and won the role of manipulative Kathryn Merteuil in the Fox pilot Manchester Prep, a TV update of the hit movie Cruel Intentions. Just as Amy was expected to become a household name, Fox buried the pilot due to its sexual content, forcing Amy to seek further work elsewhere.

Amy managed to win guest spots on several hit TV series, including Charmed, That '70s Show and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and appeared in the NBC pilot The Peter Principle. Steady work also continued in film, with roles in small independent pictures including Psycho Beach Party, The Slaughter Rule and Pumpkin. But Amy truly hit the big-time with a leading role in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster biopic Catch Me If You Can, playing the dimwitted fiancee of infamous con artist Frank Abagnale Jr, played by Leonardo Dicaprio.

Unfortunately, Catch Me If You Can didn't manage to open many doors for Amy, leading to a jobless 2003. Things only got worse when she was fired from the regular cast of the ultimately short-lived CBS drama Dr Vegas, unwilling to cave to studio bosses who wanted to downher pay and her role on the show. With work drying up, Amy considered quitting Hollywood, only deciding against the idea when she recieved the script for a buzzed-about independent drama entitled Junebug. The film dealt with a small Southern family, with Amy playing a heavily pregnant and sweetly innocent young woman named Ashley. Amy's performance charmed audiences and critics, leading to her winning several awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 2006.

Following the nomination, Amy won over an entirely new generation of fans as Princess Giselle in the smash hit Disney blockbuster Enchanted, and appeared in the critically acclaimed Charlie Wilson's War alongside Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. In 2008, Amy starred in the period comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, lead the indie film Sunshine Cleaning, and was seen alongside Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman in the drama Doubt, for which she received her second Academy Award nomination in 2009.

In 2009, she reunites with Meryl Streep in the comedy Julie & Julia and portrays Amelia Earhart in the comedy sequel Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian.

It took a while to get there, but Amy's now officially a star.… Expand