Jennifer Beals

JENNIFER BEALS appeared in the French film “Joueuse,” which made its American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Beals was twice nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series by the NAACP Image Awards for her role in the acclaimed Showtime series “The L Word,” which wrapped its sixth and final season in 2009. Her work on “The L Word” has earned numerous accolades and appreciation from groups including the Power Up Award, the GLAAD Golden Gate Award and the Golden Satellite Award for Outstanding Actress. The L Word Book, Beals’ highly anticipated photographic journal, takes an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at the groundbreaking Showtime series and was set for release in January 2010.

Beals also joined the cast of the Fox Network series “Lie to Me,” in a recurring role as the ex-wife of series lead Tim Roth.

Among her most memorable roles, Beals starred opposite Campbell Scott in the critically acclaimed film “Roger Dodger,” winner of the 2002 Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival and Best First Film at the Venice Film Festival. She earned rave reviews for her role in VH-1’s “They Shoot Divas, Don’t They?” and was seen in the acclaimed “The Anniversary Party,” written and directed by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cummings. In 2001, Beals starred in two Showtime features: the adaptation of Anne Rice’s praised “A Feast of All Saints” and the WGA-nominated “A House Divided,” in which she starred opposite Sam Waterston and Lisa Gay Hamilton and earned a Golden Satellite nomination as Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries. For her extensive research for the film in Sparta, Georgia, where the story is based, she received an honorary Key to the City.

Originally from Chicago, Beals began her career after high school with a role in “Flashdance” that earned her a Golden Globe nomination and an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress. She then entered Yale University to study American Literature and graduated with honors. Beals went on to make an indelible impression in Carl Franklin’s drama “Devil in a Blue Dress,” opposite Denzel Washington, and in Alan Rudolph’s “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.”

She has starred in a myriad of film roles, including the lead in “Twilight of the Golds,” for which she earned a Golden Satellite Award. Her film credits include “The Grudge 2”; “My Name is Sarah”; “Runaway Jim”; “Catch That Kid”; Whit Stillman’s “The Last Days of Disco”; Alexandre Rockwell’s “In the Soup,” which won the 1992 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award at Deauville; “Four Rooms”; “Vampire’s Kiss,” with Nicolas Cage; Claude Chabrol’s “Doctor M”; Nanni Moretti’s “Caro Diario,” which won the Director’s Prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival; and Samuel Fuller’s “The Madonna and the Dragon.” On the small screen, she has appeared in the critically acclaimed ABC series “Nothing Sacred.”

Beals is a winner of the 1999 Maverick Award from the San Jose Film Festival and, in 2004, was named one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People.

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