Drew Blyth Barrymore was born on February 22, 1975
in Culver City, California. She is an American film
and television actor and producer.
She is the granddaughter of stage and movie actor
John Barrymore, widely regarded as his generation's
greatest actor, and the great-niece of Lionel
Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore. Her father, John Drew
Barrymore, 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. Drew's mother is
Hungarian-born actor and model, Ildiko Jaid Mako
(born 1944).
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.
the Extra-Terrestrial. At the age of 7, on November
20, 1982, Barrymore became the youngest ever guest
host of the weekly TV program Saturday Night Live.
She performed in a skit where she revealed that she
had killed E.T..
In the wake of this sudden stardom, she endured a
notoriously troubled childhood, drinking alcoholic
beverages 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 nude for the January 1995
issue of U.S. magazine 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 onto his desk and
flashing her breasts at him (but with her back to
the camera), as part of a dance for his birthday.
She also modelled in a series of Guess? jeans
advertisements during this time.
Barrymore has continued to be a highly bankable
movie actress. She is especially adept at romantic
comedies; popular examples of her work include The
Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates. 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 highly successful Charlie's
Angels movie adaptation and its sequel.
She has also recently explored more dramatic roles
in movies such as Riding in Cars with Boys, where
she played a teenage mother in a failed marriage
with the drug-addicted father (based on the
real-life story of Beverly D'Onofrio), Confessions
of a Dangerous Mind, and the 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.
More recently, Barrymore was the subject of an
offbeat documentary, My Date with Drew (2003). In
it, an aspiring filmmaker and lifelong Drew
Barrymore fan uses his limited financial and social
resources in an attempt to gain a date with
Barrymore. Through word of mouth, the internet, and
a six-degrees-of-separation style of communication
with Barrymore and her associates, a date with
Barrymore is eventually acquired. Barrymore proved
to be a good sport on the date, bringing a video
camera to the fan as a gift and finding humor in the
events.
On February 3, 2004, she received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Barrymore was married to Welsh bartender turned bar
owner, 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 dating 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 interested in women sexually.
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