Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975 in Culver City, California) is an American film and television actress and producer.

She is the granddaughter of stage actor John Barrymore, and the great-niece of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore. Her father, John Drew, and half-brother, John Blyth, are also actors (although they haven't experienced the critical or commercial success the other Barrymores have enjoyed). "Drew" was the maiden name of her great-grandmother, Georgiana; "Blythe" was the original surname of the dynasty founded by her great-grandfather, Maurice.

Contents

1 Career 2 Trivia 3 Filmography 4 See also 5 External links

Career

Barrymore's career began at the age of 11 months, when she appeared in a dog food commercial. When she was bitten by her canine co-star, the producers feared litigation, though Barrymore merely laughed the incident off. She shot to fame as a child actor when she co-starred in the 1982 Steven Spielberg film E.T.. At the age of 7, on November 20, 1982, Barrymore became the youngest ever guest host of the weekly TV program Saturday Night Live, after Andy Kaufman was voted off the show. She performed in a skit where she revealed that she had killed E.T.

In the wake of this sudden stardom, she enjoyed a notoriously reckless and indulgent childhood, drinking by the time she was 9, smoking marijuana at 10, and snorting cocaine at 12. Barrymore later described this early period of her life in her 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. Though overcoming her substance abuse problems by the time she entered adulthood, Barrymore maintained her "bad girl" image, and in fact leveraged her new found role as a sex symbol to stage a career comeback in the 1990s, playing a teenage seductress in Poison Ivy, and posing fully nude for the January 1995 issue of Playboy. Steven Spielberg, Barrymore's godfather, gave her a quilt for her 20th birthday with a note that read "Cover yourself up". Enclosed was a copy of her Playboy appearance, with the pictures altered by his art department so that she appeared fully clothed. At that time she had also appeared nude in her last five movies. During a 1995 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Barrymore shocked the normally unflappable host by climbing atop his desk and flashing her breasts at him, as part of a dance for his birthday.

Barrymore has continued to be a highly bankable movie actress. Though her playful sex appeal has undoubtedly helped her remain in the media spotlight, she has also established a substantial career behind the scenes, despite never finishing high school. She has produced several films, including the very successful Charlie's Angels movie adaptation and its sequel. In addition to the light-hearted romantic comedies that she has typically starred in, she has also recently explored more challenging roles in movies such as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and the recent cult favorite, Donnie Darko, of which she was also the executive producer. Barrymore has started to receive more notice both as a serious actress and a savvy Hollywood "player", though without losing her reputation as a sex symbol and (occasional) hellraiser.

Barrymore's career makes for colorful copy. In the words of Yahoo! Movies:

Heir to a Hollywood dynasty, child star, prepubescent drug and alcohol abuser, teenage sexpot, and resurrected vessel of celluloid purity, Drew Barrymore is nothing if not the embodiment of the rise and fall of Hollywood fortunes, self-reinvention, and the healing powers of good PR.

On February 3, 2004, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Barrymore was married to bartender Jeremy Thomas from March 20 to April 28, 1994, and to comedian Tom Green from July 7, 2001 to October 15, 2002 (Green filed for divorce in December 2001). She is currently engaged to drummer Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes. Barrymore has also publicly declared herself to be bisexual, revealing that she had slept with many women as a teenager and is still very interested in women sexually.

Trivia

• Barrymore was delivered by Dr. Paul Fleiss, father of Heidi Fleiss (interview on The Tonight Show, January 22, 2003).
• She is the godmother of Francis Bean, the daughter of musicians Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love.

Filmography

Films Drew Barrymore has acted in include:

• 50 First Dates (2004)
• Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
• Donnie Darko (2001)
• Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
• Charlie's Angels (2000)
• Titan A.E. (2000) (voice only)
• Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999) (voice only)
• Never Been Kissed (1999)
• The Wedding Singer (1998)
• Ever After (1998)
• Home Fries (1998)
• Scream (1996)
• Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
• Batman Forever (1995)
• Boys on the Side (1995)
• Bad Girls (1994)
• Doppleganger (1993)
• No Place to Hide (1993)
• Guncrazy (1992)
• Poison Ivy (1992)
• Far from Home (1989)
• Cat's Eye (1985)
• Irreconcilable Differences (1984)
• Firestarter (1984)
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• Altered States (1980)

See also

• Barrymore family

External links

• IMDB.com entry for Drew Barrymore
• Google image search for Drew Barrymore