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Sandra Bullock
“I love humor. I always will fall back on humor. That’s something that I think you can’t ever get enough of and, if it’s done well, it’s great. When it’s bad, it’s horrible.
Sandra Annette Bullock was born in Washington D.C. on July 26, 1964. This part-German, part-Alabamian was raised1 in Arlington, Virginia. The oldest of two, Sandra, her baby sister and their mom used to travel to Europe often because her mom was a renowned2 opera singer. Her mother’s love of music transferred to Sandra early on and she often performed in local children’s choirs or alongside3 her own mother.
Although Sandra was constantly traveling, she made a habit4 of fitting in with every crowd she encountered5. In her years at Arlington’s Washington-Lee High School, she was even voted Most Likely To Brighten Up Your Day.
After she finished high school, Sandra attended6 East Carolina University, majoring in drama. Since Sandra knew that fame wasn’t simply handed out7, she decided to jump-start her career and with the approval of her parents, she left university before acquiring8 her degree, packed up and moved to New York.
Once she arrived in the Big Apple9, Sandra didn’t waste any time and enrolled in intensive acting classes whilst simultaneously holding a bartending10 job. Sandra was a bartender for three years while she worked hard at achieving her dream of becoming an actress. Sandra went to every casting call11 and audition12 she could.
Finally in 1988, a critic named John Simon gave Sandra’s career a push in the right direction when he made a positive comment about her acting talent in a review of No Time Flat, an off-Broadway production that Sandra starred in.
With positivity on her side, Sandra got herself an agent and began acting in television shows, taking on the role of a beautiful bionic13 woman in the 1989 show entitled14 Bionic Showdown: The Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman.
After her stint15 on television, she moved to LA and landed her first starring role in NBC’s adaptation of the movie Working Girl. Unfortunately, the show only lasted for six episodes, which meant Sandra had to resort16 to working various odd jobs17 until her next Hollywood break came around18.
Trying hard to boost19 her career, Sandra took a role in the 1992 film Love Potion No. 9. Even though the film did not reach incredible20 heights or land her other, bigger movie roles, it did introduce her to Tate Donovan who became her boyfriend for three years.
As she slowly began making her way into mainstream21, Sandra managed22 to land23 herself five film roles in 1993. Her most noticeable24 film of that year, however, was Demolition Man with co-stars25 Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. Although her part in the film was not of epic proportions, the producer, Joel Silver, introduced her to his friend and colleague, director Jan De Bont.
De Bont gave Sandra the female lead in the action movie Speed (1994) alongside Keanu Reeves. Even with opposition from fellow workers — who all thought the lead should go to a boxom26 blonde — De Bont kept Sandra which evidently proved to be a very smart move.
Speed launched Sandra’s popularity intensely27, which led her to star in movies like 1995’s While You Were Sleeping and 1996’s A Time To Kill (1996), where she began earning a seven-digit salary28.
Sandra had a little slump29 in 1996 with Two If by Sea, a romantic comedy costarring Denis Leary. She chose other bad roles in movies like In Love and War (1996). But Sandra’s worst career move was her starring role in the sequel to Speed — Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997). While the first may have been a hit, the second was a huge flop30, no matter how good Sandy looked.
To get back in the game, Sandra began her own production company called Fortis Films. Her first project was Hope Floats (1998), starring Harry Connick Jr. and Gena Rowlands. Even though Hope Floats actually sank (no pun intended31), Sandra’s career came back in full force when she starred opposite Nicole Kidman in Practical Magic.
Sandra lent32 her voice to the DreamWorks animated film The Prince of Egypt in 1998 along with Val Kilmer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny Glover, and Jeff Goldblum. In 1999, Sandra landed a role in the romantic comedy Forces of Nature, opposite Ben Affleck. Then in 2000, Sandra starred in one of her more memorable roles as a recovering33 drug addict in the comedy 28 Days, in which she starred alongside Viggo Mortensen, Azura Skye and Elizabeth Perkins.
Proving to be a master of physical comedy, Sandra starred as Miss Congeniality in 2000, and its 2005 sequel, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. In between the beauty pageant34 sequel, Sandra also starred in the 2002 thriller Murder by Numbers, proving that she can be just as serious as she is funny. Sandra can also add Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), costarring Ashley Judd and James Garner, to her movie resume, along with the romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice in which she starred alongside Hugh Grant. In 2004, Sandra appeared in a completely different role as a racist in the Academy Award-winning movie Crash. On July 16, 2005, Sandra married Monster Garage host35 Jesse James.
Sandra’s career continued to blossom36 in the coming years; she re-teamed37, much to the dismay38 of critics, with Keanu Reeves for 2006’s The Lake House. Thankfully, she chose a movie with an actor who can hold his own opposite Sandra Bullock for her latest project. Bullock stars opposite funny man Ryan Reynolds in The Proposal, a movie about a Canadian woman working in the U.S. who forces her young assistant to marry her when her visa expires.
1 raise – воспитывать
2 renowned - известный
3 alongside - рядом
4 habit - привычка
5 to encounter - встречаться, знакомиться
6 to attend - посещать
7 to hand out – раздавать (бесплатно)
8 acquiring - приобретать
9 Big Apple – название города New York
10 to bartend - работать барменом
11 casting call - просмотр актеров
12 audition - прослушивание
13 bionic – бионический, биоэлектронный
14 to entitle – давать название
15 stint – (зд.) работа
16 to resort – обращаться за помощью
17 odd jobs - нерегулярная работа, подработка
18 come around – происходить, наступать
19 boost - поддерживать, поднимать
20 incredible - невероятный
21 mainstream - основное направление (в искусстве, литературе, и т.д.)
22 to manage – суметь сделать что-либо
23 to land – добиться чего-либо, получить что-либо
24 noticeable – заметный, достойный внимания
25 co-stars – «звезда», выступающая в коллективе с другой «звездой»
26 boxom – “фигуристая”
27 intensely - значительно, в большой степени
28 salary - заработная плата, доход
29 slump - упадок, кризис
30 flop - провал
31 no pun intended – случайный каламбур, игра слов
32 to lend – отдавать, одалживать
33 to recover – поправляться от болезни, выздоравливать
34 pageant - пышный, роскошный
35 host – ведущий телепередачи
36 to blossom – цвести, расцветать
37 to re-team – вновь объединяться
38 dismay - волнение, беспокойство
39 prickly – имеющий шипы, колючки
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