SANDRA BULLOCK

'Sandra Annette Bullock' (born July 26, 1964) is an American film actress. She came to fame in the 1990s, after roles in successful films like ''Speed'' and ''While You Were Sleeping'', and has since established a career as a well-known Hollywood leading actress, with the box office comedy hit ''Miss Congeniality'' and one of her most recent film roles, in 2004's ''Crash'', receiving critical acclaim. She is the 14th richest female celebrity with an estimated fortune of $85 million ^[1].

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Entrepreneurship

Personal life

Trivia

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Bullock was born in Arlington County, Virginia to John W. Bullock, a Pentagon contractor and part-time vocal coach from Alabama, and Helga D. Meyer,^[2] a German opera singer who died of cancer on April 4 2000; Bullock's maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist from Nuremberg. Bullock lived in Nuremberg until age twelve, where she sang in the opera's childrens' choir at the ''Staatstheater Nürnberg''.^[3] She frequently traveled with her mother on her opera tours, and lived in Germany and other parts of Europe for much of her childhood. Bullock studied ballet and vocal arts as a child, taking small parts in her mother's opera productions.
Bullock attended Washington-Lee High School where she was a cheerleader, participated in high school theater productions and dated a football player.Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000) She graduated in 1982 and enrolled in East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. During this time she worked as a waitress at a restaurant.Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000) She left school during her senior year (Spring 1986), three credits short of graduating,Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000) to pursue an acting career. She went to Manhattan to try to get auditions and supported herself with a variety of odd jobs (bartender, cocktail waitress, coat checker).Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000)
Sandra Bullock later completed her coursework and was awarded a bachelor's degree from East Carolina University.^[4] She is fluent in German. When appearing on German TV shows, she prefers to speak English (the TV hosts speak German though).

Career

While in New York, Bullock took acting classes at The Neighborhood Playhouse. She appeared in several student films and later landed a role in an Off-Broadway play ''No Time Flat''.Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000) Director Alan J. Levi was impressed by Bullock's performance and offered her a part in the made-for-TV movie ''Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman'' (1989). After filming the movie, Bullock stayed in Los Angeles, California, and was cast in a series of small roles in several independent films as well as in the lead role of the short-lived NBC television version of the film ''Working Girl'' (1990). She appeared in several films such as ''Love Potion No. 9'' (1992), ''The Thing Called Love'' (1993) and ''Fire on the Amazon'' (where she agreed to appear topless if the camera did not show that much, she covered herself with duct tape which apparently was somewhat painful to take off).Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000)
One of Bullock's first notable movie appearances was in ''Demolition Man'' (1993), which led to her breakthrough performance in ''Speed'' the following year. She became a high-level movie star in the late 1990s, carrying a string of successes, including ''While You Were Sleeping'' (she replaced actress Demi Moore, who was originally scheduled to star), ''Miss Congeniality'' and ''Two Weeks Notice''. Bullock received 11 million dollars for ''Speed 2''Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000) and 17.5 million dollars for ''.Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000)
Bullock has been selected as one of ''People'' magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1996 and 1999, and has also been ranked #58 in ''Empire'' magazine's Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. She was presented with the 2002 Raul Julia Award for Excellence Washington Life"> Around Town for her efforts, as the executive producer of the sitcom ''The George Lopez Show'', in helping expand career openings for Hispanic talent in the media and entertainment industry.
In 2004, Bullock had a supporting role in the film ''Crash''. She received positive reviews for her performance, with some critics suggesting that it was the best performance of her career. Bullock later appeared in ''The Lake House'', a romantic drama also starring her ''Speed'' co-star, Keanu Reeves; it was released on June 16, 2006. Because their film characters are separated throughout the film (due to the plot revolving around time travel), Bullock and Reeves were only on set together for two weeks during filming.^[5] The same year, Bullock appeared in ''Infamous'', playing author Harper Lee. Bullock also stars in ''Premonition'' with Julian McMahon, which was released in March of 2007.^[6]
Bullock received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 24, 2005. In January 2007, Bullock was named the 14th richest woman in entertainment by ''Forbes'', with a net worth of $85 million.^[7]

Entrepreneurship

Bullock runs her own production company, Fortis Films; her sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, is president of the company and her father, John Bullock, is its CEO.^[8] She was an executive producer of '' George Lopez'', The network canned the sitcom in May, though not before it clinched a lucrative syndication deal that banked Bullock some $10 million. Bullock tried to produce a film based on F.X. Toole's short story ''Million-Dollar Baby'', but couldn't interest studios in a female boxing drama.^[9] The story was eventually made as the Oscar-winning film ''Million Dollar Baby'' (2004).Bullock's Fortis Films will produce her next movie, All About Steve. In the meantime, she tends to her Austin restaurant, Bess Bistro, and its first merchandising tie-in, a line of organic candles.

Personal life

Bullock was once engaged to actor Tate Donovan whom she met while filming ''Love Potion No. 9''. Their relationship lasted four years.Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000) She had previously dated football player Troy Aikman, blues guitarist Guy Forsythe, Steve Buscemi, Austin musician Bob Schneider (for two years)Sandra Bullock Revealed, E Channel Special (2000) and film co-stars, Ryan Gosling and Matthew McConaughey. McConaughey and Bullock met each other while filming ''A Time to Kill'' and became friends. They dated for a while. Some notable celebrity friends include Heather Burns and Hugh Grant.
Bullock married motorcycle builder and ''Monster Garage'' host Jesse James on July 16, 2005; they met when Bullock arranged for her ten-year-old godson to meet James as a Christmas present. On her husband and her marriage, Bullock has commented:
On December 20, 2000, Bullock survived the crash of a chartered business jet at Jackson Hole Airport. The aircraft hit a snowbank instead of the runway, resulting in both the nose gear and nose cone being ripped off, the right wing partially separated from the aircraft and the left wing bent back. When the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred, Bullock was staying at the Soho Grand hotel, twelve blocks from the World Trade Center. She saw the attacks from her hotel bedroom window and went to a nearby hospital to offer help. As all phone lines in New York City were down, she spent the rest of the day using her Palm Pilot to send e-mails on behalf of patients wanting to contact their families.
Bullock has twice donated $1 million to the American Red Cross, first to its Liberty Disaster Relief Fund and four years later in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis. Sandra Bullock donates $1 mil for tsunami
In October 2004, Bullock won a multimillion dollar judgment against Benny Daneshjou, the builder of her Lake Austin Texas mansion; the jury ruled the house was uninhabitable. It has since been torn down and rebuilt, and her Porsche 911 Turbo replaced by a Toyota Prius.^[10] Bullock also owns a house on Tybee Island, Georgia, which is a few miles from Savannah, Georgia. After four years of preparation, Bullock's first restaurant, Bess,^[11] opened in November 2006 in Austin, Texas.
Although she loves horses, she is allergic to them. She has a scar on her head which she received when she fell into a lake and cut her head on a rock.
On April 22, 2007, a woman was lying outside James and Bullock's Southern California home in Orange County. When Jesse James confronted the woman, she ran inside her 2004 silver Mercedes and tried to run him over 3 to 4 times. Jesse James was not hit during the many attempts to be run over. The woman is said to be an obsessed fan of Sandra Bullock. The woman, Marcia Diana Valentine, was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon. She was released after posting $25,000 bail. A court hearing was scheduled for May 22.^[12]

Trivia

★ Bullock is responsible for one of the more memorable flubs during the MTV Movie Awards: she read the wrong teleprompter line, thus asking co-presenter Adam Sandler "What was it like kissing Keanu Reeves?". Sandler, never one to pass up a joke, proceeded to quip "Oh, it was great, when he held me I felt so safe!" (to start with). Sandler ran with the joke, to the delight of the audience. It was one of the most replayed clips for the awards for years.

Filmography

Title	Year	Role	Notes
''Hangmen''	1987	Lisa Edwards
''Religion, Inc.''	1989	Debby
''	1989	Kate Mason
''Who Shot Patakango?''	1989	Devlin Moran
''The Preppie Murder''	1989	Stacy
''Lucky/Chances''	1990	Maria Santangelo
''Who Do I Gotta Kill?''	1992	Lori
''When the Party's Over''	1992	Amanda
''Love Potion No. 9''	1992	Diane Farrow
''The Vanishing''	1993	Diane Shaver
''The Thing Called Love''	1993	Linda Lue Linden
''Demolition Man''	1993	Lt. Lenina Huxley
''Fire on the Amazon''	1993	Alyssa Rothman
''Wrestling Ernest Hemingway''	1993	Elaine
''Speed''	1994	Annie
''While You Were Sleeping''	1995	Lucy Eleanor Moderatz
''The Net''	1995	Angela Bennett/Ruth Marx
''Two If by Sea''	1996	Roz
''A Time to Kill''	1996	Ellen Roark
''In Love and War''	1996	Agnes von Kurowsky
''	1997	Annie Porter
''Hope Floats''	1998	Birdee Pruitt
''Practical Magic''	1998	Sally Owens
''The Prince of Egypt'' (voice)	1998	Miriam
''Forces of Nature''	1999	Sarah Lewis
''Gun Shy''	2000	Judy Tipp
''28 Days''	2000	Gwen Cummings
''Miss Congeniality''	2000	Gracie Hart/Gracie Lou Freebush
''Murder by Numbers''	2002	Cassie Mayweather/Jessica Marie Hudson
''Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood''	2002	Siddalee 'Sidda' Walker
''Two Weeks Notice''	2002	Lucy Kelson
''Crash''	2004	Jean Cabot
''Loverboy''	2005	Mrs. Harker
''	2005	Gracie Hart
''The Lake House''	2006	Kate Forster
''Infamous''	2006	Nelle Harper Lee
''Premonition''	2007	Linda Quinn Hanson
''Kiss & Tango''[13]	2008		Pre-production
''All About Steve''[14]	2008		Pre-production
''The Proposal''[15]	2008		Pre-production
''One of the Guys''[16]	2009		Pre-production

References

1. http://www.999today.com/mediaandentertainment/news/story/5242.html
2. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/celeb/bullock.htm
3. Die Nette von nebenan
4. Alumni Database
5. Speed Demons
6. Dead or alive? Glenn Whipp
7. http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/17/richest-women-entertainment-tech-media-cz_lg_richwomen07_0118womenstars_lander.html ''Forbes.com''
8. Sandra Bullock
9. Bullock Fires Back at "Million Dollar Baby" Reports World Entertainment News Network
10. On the Move: Sandra Bullock
11. http://www.bessbistro.com/
12. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20036964,00.html
13. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003531373
14. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951828.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=Sandra+Bullock
15. http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah5538.shtml
16. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003495873

External links

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★ Chris' Famous Sandra Bullock Page

★ Sandra Bullock Central Fan Community

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