Drew Barrymore biography 2022
Drew Barrymore biography
Drew Barrymore was born on February 22, 1975, in Culver City, California, USA.
Coming from a family that produced legendary actors John, Lionel, and Ethel Barrymore, it's no wonder Drew quickly found his way into the limelight. When Drew was 1 month old, she did her first television commercial for Puppy Choice dog food. Other T.V. spots soon followed for Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies and Rice Krispies cereal. But it was clear she was destined for more incredible things.
She made her film debut at two, appearing as a boy in the made-for-TV film Suddenly, Love (1978). Another T.V. movie followed Bogie (1980), in which she played Leslie Bogart.
That same year, at age five, she moved to the big screen, playing William Hurt's daughter in the philosophical science-fiction film the Altered States. Two years later, she was cast as Gertie in the Steven Spielberg blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
E.T. made her quite famous, and after Irreconcilable Differences (1984), her following two projects were adaptations of Stephen King's works, namely Firestarter (1984) and Cat's Eye (1985).
But at the same time, Drew's personal life drastically changed. At nine, she discovered alcohol when she got drunk at a party for actor Rob Lowe. A year later, she turned to marijuana; cocaine came soon after. During this time, she made a series of T.V. movies: The Adventures of Con Sawyer and Hucklemary Finn (1985), Babes in Toyland (1986), and Conspiracy of Love (1987).
But by 1989, she was caught in a downward spiral. Her risqué role in the thriller Far From Home (1989) caused a lot of controversies, and her partying forced her mother, Jaid Barrymore, to check her into rehab.
Drew wasn't ready to give up her lifestyle, and she fled the clinic. Using her mother's credit card, she ran back to California but was apprehended. To remedy that, she appeared in an after-school special, 15 and Getting Straight (1989), about the virtues of a drug-free life. She was still addicted. It was so bad that in July 1989, she tried to commit suicide. Another stay at a rehabilitation clinic followed, but the treatment was successful this time.
What she did next shocked many; she decided her mother was a bad influence and obtained a legal separation from her. She was only 15.
In 1990, she wrote her autobiography, Little Girl Lost, with the help of Todd Gold. It was about her struggle with drug addiction and her life in the fast lane. Knowing she needed to get her life together to re-establish her career, she appeared in the thriller Poison Ivy (1992), as well Guncrazy (1992), The Amy Fisher Story (1993), Doppelganger ( 1993), and Wayne's World 2 (1993). At this point, she reinvented herself as a wild girl with roles in films such as Bad Girls (1994), Boys on the Side (1995), Mad Love (1995), and Batman Forever (1995).
She also appeared in the best-selling January 1995 issue of Playboy magazine. By then, she was getting older and seemed to realize that there was more to life than publicity stunts and shock value.
She set out to build a career. Her first feature was as the first victim of the masked killer in Scream (1996) alongside Neve Campbell. Her following projects were Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Best Men (1997), and Wishful Thinking (1997) with Jennifer Beals.
She then appeared in The Wedding Singer with Adam Sandler, Ever After, and Home Fries, all features from 1998. In 1998 she also established her own production company, Flower Films. From then on, she had more control over her projects.
She appeared in and produced Never Been Kissed (1999) with Leelee Sobieski and Jessica Alba, Charlie's Angels (2000), Donnie Darko (2001), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), the Ben Stiller comedy Duplex (2003) and A Confederacy of Dunces (2004). She also appeared in Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), Freddy Got Fingered (2001), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), and 50 First Dates (2004).
In 1994, she was married to Jeremy Thomas for just over a month, and in 2001, she was married for five months to Canadian Tom Green. But she seems to have a thing for musicians. She was once linked to singer Jamie Walters and was engaged to Fabrizio Moretti, drummer for the band The Strokes.
last updated October 2022
