Sandra Annette Bullock (born July
26, 1964) is an American film actress.
Early life
Bullock was born in Arlington County, Virginia, to
John Bullock (a Pentagon contractor and part-time
vocal coach from Alabama) and Helga Mayer (a German
opera singer, who died of cancer on April 4, 2000);
her maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist from
Nuremberg. Bullock's mother took her along on her
musical tours, and as a result Bullock lived in Germany
and other parts of Europe for twelve years during
her early life; consequently, she is fluent in German.
She began studying ballet and singing as a child,
performing small parts in her mother's operas, and
later attending Washington-Lee High School, where
she was a cheerleader and was voted "Most Likely
to Brighten up Your Day" by her class.
Bullock majored in drama at East Carolina
University. She left the university during the spring
semester of her senior year in order to pursue acting
in New York City, where she found it difficult to
establish herself and worked as a waitress. Bullock
was only three credits short of graduating, and later
received an honorary degree.
Career
Bullock moved to Los Angeles, California and was cast
in a series of small roles in several independent
films as well as in the lead role in the television
version of the film Working Girl. One of Bullock's
first notable movie appearances was in Demolition
Man (1993), which led to her breakthrough performance
in Speed the following year. She became a high-level
movie star in the late 1990s, carrying a string of
successes, including While You Were Sleeping (she
replaced actress Demi Moore, who was originally scheduled
to star), Miss Congeniality and Two Weeks Notice.Bullock
tried to produce a film based on F.X. Toole's short
story “Million-Dollar Baby”, but couldn't
interest studios in a female boxing drama. It was
eventually made as the Oscar-winning film Million
Dollar Baby (2004). In 2005, Bullock had a supporting
role in the film Crash. She received positive reviews
for her performance, with some critics suggesting
that it was the best performance of her career.
Bullock runs her own production company,
"Fortis Films"; her sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado,
is vice president of the company. She has been selected
as one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful
People in the World" in 1996 and 1999. She has
also been ranked #58 in Empire Magazine's "Top
100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
Private life
Bullock married motorcycle builder and Monster Garage
host Jesse James on July 16, 2005. She had previously
dated football player Troy Aikman, blues guitarist
Guy Forsythe, Austin musician Bob Schneider and her
film co-stars, Ryan Gosling and Matthew McConaughey.
She has also been engaged to actor Tate Donovan.
When the September 11th, 2001 attacks
occurred, Bullock was staying at the Soho Grand hotel,
twelve blocks from the World Trade Center. She saw
the attacks happen from her hotel bedroom window,
and then went straight to a nearby hospital to offer
help. As all phone lines in New York City were down,
she spent the rest of the day using her Palm Pilot
to send emails on behalf of people at the hospital,
to let their families know they were OK Bullock has
twice donated a sum of $1 million to the American
Red Cross, first to its Liberty Disaster Relief Fund
and four years later, in response to the 2004 Indian
Ocean earthquake and tsunamis.
In October 2004, Bullock won a multi-million-dollar
judgment in a lawsuit against Benny Daneshjou, the
builder of her Lake Austin, Texas mansion. She had
never resided in the home, claiming it is uninhabitable;
Daneshjou denied any wrongdoing and is appealing the
judgment.
Selected filmography
2007 Premonition Linda
2006 Infamous Harper Lee
2006 The Lake House Kate Forster
2005 Crash Jean Cabot
2005 Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous Gracie
Hart
2002 Two Weeks Notice Lucy Kelson
2002 Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Siddalee
'Sidda' Walker
2002 Murder by Numbers Cassie Mayweather
2000 Miss Congeniality Gracie Hart
2000 28 Days Gwen Cummings
2000 Gun Shy Judy Tipp
1999 Forces of Nature Sarah Lewis
1998 Practical Magic Sally Owens
1998 Hope Floats Birdee Pruitt
1997 Speed 2: Cruise Control Annie
1996 In Love and War Agnes 'Aggie/Ag' von Kurowsky
1996 A Time to Kill Ellen Roark
1996 Two If by Sea Roz
1995 The Net Angela Bennett/Ruth Marx
1995 While You Were Sleeping Lucy Eleanor Moderatz
1994 Speed Annie Porter
1993 Demolition Man Lt. Lenina Huxley
1993 The Vanishing Diane Shaver
1992 Love Potion No. 9 Diane Farrow
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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