Amy Adams

An Oscar-nominated American actress who is best known for her extraordinary work in numerous critically acclaimed films, including Junebug (2005), Doubt (2008), The Master (2012), and Arrival (2016), Adams grew up in a big family. She was the fourth of seven siblings and due to her father's career in the United States Army, she moved around a lot as a child. She was born on a military complex in Italy and continued moving with her parents and siblings from one Army base to the next throughout the early part of her childhood. When she was 8 years-old, Amy's parents finally put some permanent roots down in Castle Rock, Colorado. It was around this time that Adams first discovered her love for performing. She described her family as not having a lot of money, so to entertain themselves they would often put on skits. Amy was always cast as the lead, and quickly found that she loved acting in front of an audience. When she entered high school, Adams, who was never a good student, started training as a ballerina. She had aspirations of going pro, but by the time she graduated at 18, Adams realized that a professional ballerina career was not in the cards. After high school ended, Adams moved to Atlanta, Georgia with her mother. It was there that she renewed her childhood passion for acting by getting involved in community theater. One of her first productions during this period was a part in a local production of the musical Annie. The rush of energy she received from being on stage was enough to convince Adams that she had found her life's calling. From there, she began taking on more roles in community theater. By the mid-1990s Adams was doing dinner theater in places like Boulder, Colorado and Chanhassen, Minnesota, which allowed her to hone her craft night after night. It was also during this period that Adams worked waitressing jobs to make some extra cash, which she hated.


Then in the late 90s, when she was living in Minnesota, while she was nursing a pulled muscle, Adams went to a local audition for a new film called Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999). The film was a satire on beauty pageants, and starred Kristen Dunst and Kirstie Alley. After auditioning for the role, Adams was cast in a supporting role as an over-sexed cheerleader named Leslie Miller. While she worried about being seen in a negative light, she took the part while also performing in a local production of Brigadoon. During the shoot of Drop Dead Gorgeous, Kirstie Alley encouraged Adams to pursue film acting full time. So, Adams moved to Los Angeles where she began auditioning for whatever roles came her way. She nabbed guest spots on TV shows like That 70s Show (Fox, 1998-2006) and Smallville (The WB/The CW, 2001-2011) Adams next had a supporting role as the teenage nemesis of a movie star (played by Kimberly Davies) in Psycho Beach Party (2000), a horror parody of beach party and slasher films. She played the part as a homage to actress Ann-Margret. as well as a substantial part in the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can (2002). After a few years in L.A., however, Adams was growing frustrated and was seriously contemplating quitting acting for good. With her career prospects looking grim, Adams decided to take a chance by accepting a role in an independent comedy-drama called Junebug (2005). Adams felt an instant connection with her character, a chatty pregnant woman named Ashley Johnsten. The director, Phil Moriston, was impressed that Adams didn’t question the motives of the genuine Ashley, and her performance earned her heaps of critical praise. As a result, Adams was nominated for her first acting Oscar for Junebug. Also in 2005, Adams had supporting parts in two critically panned films—the romantic comedy The Wedding Date, starring Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney, and the ensemble coming-of-age film Standing Still. Also that year, she joined the cast of the television series The Office, for a recurring role over three episodes.

In Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), a sports comedy from Adam McKay, Adams played the romantic interest of Will Ferrell's character, a role which critic Peter Travers deemed "quite a comedown" from her part in Junebug." With her stock on the rise, Adams started getting offers to play the kind of roles she always wanted to play. The 2009 fantasy adventure film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, starring Ben Stiller, featured Adams as the aviator Amelia Earhart. It was the first motion picture to film inside the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The director Shawn Levy said the role allowed Adams to showcase her acting range; the actress believed it to be the first time she was allowed to play a confident character on screen. And over the next several years, she would win over critics and audiences alike for her sterling performances in films like Charlie Wilson's War (2007), (2007), Enchanted (2007), Doubt (2008), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008) Julie & Julia (2009), Leap Year (2010), The Fighter (2010), The Muppets (2011), The Master (2012), American Hustle (2013), Her (2013) Big Eyes (2014), Arrival (2016) and Nocturnal Animals (2016). Her work in American Hustle proved grueling for Adams, who later confirmed reports that director David O Russell had been hard on her and made her cry frequently; she said she feared bringing such a negative experience home to her daughter. American Hustle was critically acclaimed. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical and received her fifth Oscar nomination (her first in the Best Actress category) Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve and based on Ted Chiang's short story "Story of Your Life", ranks among the most acclaimed films of Adams's career. In 2013 Adams began playing the fictional Lois Lane, the love interest of Superman, in the superhero film Man of Steel (2013). It was a role she would reprise in two additional superhero films: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017, as well as the 2021 Snyder Cut). By the late 2010s, Adams's career showed no signs of slowing down. She earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for her role in Sharp Objects (HBO, 2018), which was based on a novel by Gillian Flynn, and also played Lynne Cheney, the wife of the former Vice President Dick Cheney, in Adam McKay's comedy biopic Vice (2018). Her role as Cheney earned Adams her sixth Oscar nomination, thus lending even more credence to Amy Adam's already defined status as one of the most celebrated actresses of her generation. Though the movie was critically derided, her performance in Hillbilly Elegy (2020) was singled out as one of the high points.

Adams next starred as an agoraphobic murder witness in Joe Wright's thriller The Woman in the Window, based on the novel of the same name. Filmed in 2018, the film was delayed several times due to poor test screenings and later, due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it was eventually released on Netflix in 2021.Adams then took on the supporting role of a grieving mother in Dear Evan Hansen, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. Both The Woman in the Window and Dear Evan Hansen were poorly received. She then reprised her role as Giselle in the sequel to Enchanted, titled Disenchanted, which premiered on Disney+. she also recorded six songs for its soundtrack. Critics took note of Adams' enduring charm but considered the sequel inferior to its predecessor. Adams finds little value in being a celebrity and maintains that the "more that people know about me, the less they'll believe me and my characters". She attracts little gossip or tabloid attention and strives to keep a healthy work-life balance She makes an effort to remain unaffected by her fame, believing that it would hinder her ability to play roles with honesty. Adams has spoken about suffering from insecurity and a lack of confidence from a young age and how motherhood had made her calmer. She frequently breaks into song when stressed at work. She has joined other actors in calling for equal pay for women in the film industry, but she finds that actresses are too often asked to explain the gender pay gap and feels the questions should be directed instead to producers.