Bridget Fonda
Bridget Jane Fonda (born January 27, 1964) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-nominated American actress.
Biography
Early life
Fonda was born in Los Angeles, California, into a family of actors, including her grandfather Henry Fonda, father Peter Fonda, and aunt Jane Fonda. Her mother, Susan Jane Brewer, is an artist. She is named after Margaret Sullavan’s daughter Bridget Hayward, with whom her father was in love at one time. Her parents divorced and he re-married to Portia Rebecca Crockett (ex wife of author Thomas McGuane). Peter and Portia brought up Fonda and her brother Justin, and older stepbrother Thomas McGuane Jr (b circa 1962) in the Coldwater Canyon section of Los Angeles. She attended Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles. During this time, Bridget and Justin had little contact with their father or any of the Fonda family, recalling in an interview: “When I was a kid, the most important thing for me was my home… People would come and go, and things would change, but that place wouldn’t. I loved it. I want to have that for the rest of my life. I want to have a place”.
Career
She first became involved with the theatre when she was cast in a school production of Harvey. She refused to solicit acting tips and advice from her famous relatives, and studied method acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.
She made her film debut as an extra in the 1969 movie Easy Rider as a child in the hippie commune that Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper visit on their trek across the United States. Her second film role was also a non-speaking role in the 1982 comedy Partners. It was not until 1988 that she had her first speaking role in a feature film starring with John Hurt in Scandal, based on the Profumo affair. That year, she also appeared in both You Can’t Hurry Love and Shag.
Her first big role in a movie was when she starred as an attractive journalist in The Godfather, Part III. After gaining additional work experience on a few theater productions and small movie roles, she was cast in the lead for Barbet Schroeder’s Single White Female. A review in the New Yorker proclaimed she had “…a provocative, taunting assertiveness” and Rolling Stone said that Fonda was “a comic delight”. In 1997 Fonda was on the same flight as Quentin Tarrantino and he offered her the part of a beach babe in Jackie Brown. Fonda was also offered the role of Ally McBeal before Calista Flockhart, but turned it down to focus on her film career.
Personal life
On November 29, 2003, she married film composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman (who composed The Simpsons theme song). They have one son, Oliver, born in January 2005. She has not appeared in a film since her marriage.
Award nominations
- 1990 - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Scandal
- 1997 - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for In the Gloaming
- 2002 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television for After Amy
Filmography
Films
- The Whole Shebang (2001)
- Kiss of the Dragon (2001)
- Monkeybone (2001)
- Delivering Milo (2001)
- South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000)
- Lake Placid (1999)
- A Simple Plan (1998)
- Finding Graceland (1998)
- Break Up (1998)
- Jackie Brown (1997)
- Mr. Jealousy (1997)
- Touch (1997)
- Grace of My Heart (1996)
- City Hall (1996)
- Balto (1995)
- Rough Magic (1995)
- Camilla (1994)
- The Road to Wellville (1994)
- It Could Happen to You (1994)
- Little Buddha (1993)
- Point of No Return (1993)
- Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993)
- Army of Darkness (1992)
- Singles (1992)
- Single White Female (1992)
- Leather Jackets (1992)
- The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 (1992)
- Iron Maze (1991)
- Doc Hollywood (1991)
- Out of the Rain (1991)
- Drop Dead Fred (1991)
- The Godfather: Part III (1990)
- Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
- Strapless (1989)
- Shag (1989)
- Scandal (1989)
- Gandahar (1988)
- You Can’t Hurry Love (1988)
- Aria (1987)
Television
- The Chris Isaak Show(2001)
- Snow Queen (2002)
- After Amy (2001)
- Night Visions (2001)
- In the Gloaming (1997)
- 21 Jump Street (1989)
- Jacob Have I Loved (1989)
- The Edge (1989)