Jodie Foster#Personal life

Alicia Christian Foster{{cite web | title=Jodie Foster | website=Peoplemag | date=May 6, 2020 | url=https://people.com/tag/jodie-foster/ | access-date=January 25, 2024}} was born on November 19, 1962, in Los Angeles, California, the youngest child of Evelyn Ella "Brandy" (née Almond; 1928–2019){{cite magazine|magazine= Variety|url=https://variety.com/2019/film/obituaries-people-news/jodie-foster-mom-manager-evelyn-dead-dies-1203218279/|title=Evelyn Foster, Mother and Manager of Jodie Foster, Dies at 90| date=May 16, 2019| access-date= November 7, 2019|archive-date=December 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215161707/https://variety.com/2019/film/obituaries-people-news/jodie-foster-mom-manager-evelyn-dead-dies-1203218279/|url-status=live}} and Lucius Fisher Foster III, a wealthy businessman.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=182–183}} She is of German,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/jodie-foster-makes-it-work-19910321|title=Jodie Foster Makes It Work|date=March 21, 1991|magazine=Rolling Stone|first=Gerri|last=Hirshey|access-date=September 26, 2015|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927165836/http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/jodie-foster-makes-it-work-19910321|url-status=live}} Irish, and English heritage.{{cite web|first=Saoirse|last=Ronan|author-link=Saoirse Ronan|title=The Legend: Jodie Foster|work= Interview|date= February 24, 2016|access-date=February 27, 2016|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/jodie-foster#page3|archive-date=February 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160228093220/http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/jodie-foster#page3|url-status=live}} On her father's side, she is descended from John Alden, who arrived in North America on the Mayflower in 1620.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=182–183}}{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19761009&id=FvQjAAAAIBAJ&pg=5161,3750261|title=The Mother Behind Child Star Jodie Foster|date=October 9, 1976|work=The Spokesman–Review|first=Lloyd|last= Shearer|access-date=February 4, 2015|archive-date=June 19, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210619160618/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19761009&id=FvQjAAAAIBAJ&pg=5161%2C3750261|url-status=live | via= Google News}}

Her parents' marriage ended before she was born, and she never established a relationship with her father.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=182–183}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/06/magazine/child-of-the-movies.html|title=Child of the Movies|date=January 6, 1991|newspaper= The New York Times |first=Jonathan|last=van Meter|access-date=February 4, 2015|archive-date=February 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204190231/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/06/magazine/child-of-the-movies.html|url-status=live}}[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jodie-foster-reluctant-star-07-12-1999/ "Jodie Foster, Reluctant Star."] 60 Minutes II. 1999. Retrieved April 24, 2007. She has three older full siblings: Lucinda, Constance ("Connie"), and Lucius ("Buddy"); as well as three half-brothers from her father's earlier marriage. Following the divorce, Brandy raised the children with her female partner in Los Angeles.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=182–183}}{{cite web |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/dec/16/gayrights.world |title=The Observer profile: Jodie Foster |date=December 16, 2007 |work=The Guardian |first=Vanessa |last=Thorpe |access-date=May 14, 2015 |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150518092421/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/dec/16/gayrights.world |url-status=live }} She worked as a publicist for film producer Arthur P. Jacobs until focusing on managing the acting careers of Buddy and Jodie.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=182–183}} Although Foster was officially named Alicia, her siblings began calling her "Jodie", and the name stuck.{{cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/interview-jodie-foster-actress-in-the-beaver-1-1692491|title=Interview: Jodie Foster, actress in The Beaver|date=June 15, 2011|work=The Scotsman|access-date=September 26, 2015|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927112006/http://www.scotsman.com/news/interview-jodie-foster-actress-in-the-beaver-1-1692491|url-status=live}}

Foster was a gifted child who learned to read at age three.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=182–183}} She attended the Lycée Français de Los Angeles, a French-language prep school. Her fluency in French has enabled her to act in French films. She also dubs herself in French-language versions of most of her English-language films.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=182–183}}Rebichon, Michel (October 3, 2007),[http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/cinema/jodie-foster-hollywood-fait-confiance-a-mes-choix_816626.html "Jodie Foster: Hollywood fait confiance à mes choix"], L'Express. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105225903/http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/cinema/jodie-foster-hollywood-fait-confiance-a-mes-choix_816626.html |date=November 5, 2013 }}. At her graduation in 1980, she delivered the valedictorian address for the school's French division.

She subsequently studied at Yale University,{{cite web|first= Roger|last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/jodie-foster-goes-to-college|title=Jodie Foster goes to college|date= April 13, 1980|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|via=rogerebert.com|access-date= May 14, 2015|archive-date=May 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518094417/http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/jodie-foster-goes-to-college|url-status=live}} where she majored in African-American literature. She wrote her thesis on Toni Morrison under the guidance of Henry Louis Gates Jr. and graduated magna cum laude in 1985.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=182–183}}{{cite web|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/1318|title=Foster '84: The Speech of a Lifetime|date=January 17, 2013| work=Yale Alumni Magazine|first= Mark Alden|last=Branch|access-date=May 14, 2015|archive-date=May 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518083009/https://yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/1318|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19840401&id=6ldWAAAAIBAJ&pg=3235,253107|title=Jodie Foster on school, acting and being 'fat'|date=April 1, 1984|work=The Spokesman-Review|first=Richard|last=Freedman|access-date=May 14, 2015|archive-date=June 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619160640/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19840401&id=6ldWAAAAIBAJ&pg=3235%2C253107|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://news.yale.edu/2018/04/25/jodie-foster-85-impostor-syndrome-dumb-luck-and-making-meaning|title=Jodie Foster '85 on 'impostor syndrome,' dumb luck and making meaning|date=April 25, 2018|work=Yale News|first=Kendall|last=Teare|access-date=August 3, 2018|archive-date=April 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406204814/https://news.yale.edu/2018/04/25/jodie-foster-85-impostor-syndrome-dumb-luck-and-making-meaning|url-status=live}} She returned to Yale in 1993 to address the graduating class and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1997.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/25/nyregion/commencements-at-yale-honors-for-an-acting-chief.html|title= COMMENCEMENTS; At Yale, Honors for an Acting Chief |date=May 25, 1993|work= The New York Times|access-date=May 14, 2015 |archive-date=May 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519034052/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/25/nyregion/commencements-at-yale-honors-for-an-acting-chief.html|url-status=live}}[http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/ybc/v25.n33.comm.05.html Yale Bulletin and Calendar Commencement 1997] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021040157/http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/ybc/v25.n33.comm.05.html |date=October 21, 2012 }} June 2–23, 1997 Volume 25, Number 33 News Stories In 2018, she was awarded the Yale Undergraduate Lifetime Achievement Award.{{Cite web|last=Teare|first=Kendall|date=April 25, 2018|title=Jodie Foster '85 on 'impostor syndrome,' dumb luck and making meaning|url=https://news.yale.edu/2018/04/25/jodie-foster-85-impostor-syndrome-dumb-luck-and-making-meaning|access-date=April 28, 2021|website=YaleNews|language=en|archive-date=April 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406204814/https://news.yale.edu/2018/04/25/jodie-foster-85-impostor-syndrome-dumb-luck-and-making-meaning|url-status=live}}

File:Paper Moon TV series Foster Connelly 1974.jpg in a publicity photo for Paper Moon (1974), one of her first starring roles]]

Foster's career began with an appearance in a Coppertone television advertisement in 1965, when she was three years old.{{rp|style=ama|p= 73}}{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=183–184}} Her mother had intended only for Jodie's older brother Buddy to audition, but had taken Jodie with them to the casting call, where she was noticed by the casting agents.{{rp|style=ama|p= 73}} The television spot led to more advertising work and in 1968 to a minor appearance in the sitcom Mayberry R.F.D., in which her brother starred.{{rp|style=ama|p= 74}} In the following years, Foster continued working in advertising and appeared in over 50 television shows, including

Gunsmoke, The Doris Day Show, My Three Sons, Bonanza, and Kung Fu; she and her brother became the breadwinners of the family during this time.{{rp|style=ama|p= 73}} She had recurring roles in The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969–1971) and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1973), voiced Pugsley Addams in The Addams Family animated series (1973–1975), and starred opposite Christopher Connelly in the short-lived Paper Moon (1974), adapted from the hit film.{{rp|style=ama|p= 73}}

Foster also appeared in films, mostly for Disney.{{rp|style=ama|p= 73}} After a role in the television film Menace on the Mountain (1970), she made her feature film debut in Napoleon and Samantha (1972), playing a girl who befriends a boy, played by Johnny Whitaker, and his pet lion. She was accidentally grabbed by the lion on set, which left her with scars on her back.{{cite web|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/new-again-jodie-foster/|title=Jodie Foster|date=January 1977|first=Andy|last=Warhol|work=Interview Magazine |access-date=February 4, 2015|archive-date=February 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205014824/http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/new-again-jodie-foster/|url-status=live}} Her other early film work includes the Raquel Welch vehicle Kansas City Bomber (1972), the Western One Little Indian (1973), the Mark Twain adaptation Tom Sawyer (1973), and Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), in which she appeared in a supporting role as a "Ripple-drinking street kid".{{rp|style=ama|p= 73}}

Foster said she loved acting as a child and values her early work for the experience it gave her: "Some people get quick breaks and declare, 'I'll never do commercials! That's so lowbrow!' I want to tell them, 'Well, I'm real glad you've got a pretty face, because I worked for 20 years doing that stuff and I feel it's really invaluable; it really taught me a lot.'"{{cite web|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1987-09-08/features/8703120401_1_kelly-mcgillis-movies-victim/2|title=Jodie Foster Steps Back Into The Spotlight|date=September 8, 1987|work=The Sun-Sentinel|first=Dan|last=Yakir|access-date=September 27, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929103730/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1987-09-08/features/8703120401_1_kelly-mcgillis-movies-victim/2|url-status=dead}}

Foster's mother was concerned that her daughter's career would end by the time she grew out of playing children and decided that Foster should also begin acting in films for adult audiences.{{sfn|Hollinger|2006|p=141}} After the minor supporting role in Alice, Scorsese cast her in the role of a child prostitute in Taxi Driver (1976).{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=184–185}} To be able to do the film, Foster had to undergo psychiatric assessment and was accompanied by a social worker on set.{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=67969|title=Taxi Driver|publisher=American Film Institute|access-date=September 10, 2015|archive-date=September 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905071234/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=67969|url-status=live}}{{sfn|Rausch|2010|pp=30–31}}{{sfn|Cullen|2013|p=185}} Her older sister Connie acted as her stand-in in sexually suggestive scenes.{{sfn|Rausch|2010|pp=30–31}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/22/magazine/22wtwt-sisters-on-a-movie-set.html|title=Sisters on a Movie Set, New York, 1975|work=The New York Times|date=May 22, 2011|access-date=September 10, 2015|archive-date=October 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015050404/http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/22/magazine/22wtwt-sisters-on-a-movie-set.html|url-status=live}} Foster later commented on the role, saying that she hated "the idea that everybody thinks if a kid's going to be an actress it means that she has to play Shirley Temple or someone's little sister."{{cite web|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/new-again-jodie-foster/|title=New Again: Jodie Foster|work=Interview|date=May 7, 2014|access-date=September 10, 2015|archive-date=September 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905105720/http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/new-again-jodie-foster|url-status=live}} During the filming, Foster developed a bond with co-star Robert De Niro, who saw "serious potential" in her and dedicated time rehearsing scenes with her.{{sfn|Rausch|2010|p=34}}

Foster called Taxi Driver a life-changing experience and said it was "the first time anyone asked me to create a character that wasn't myself. It was the first time I realized that acting wasn't this hobby you just sort of did, but that there was actually some craft." Taxi Driver won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, where Foster impressed journalists when she acted as a French interpreter at the press conference.{{Cite book | last = Ebert | first = Roger | title = Scorsese by Ebert | year = 2008 | publisher = University of Chicago Press | isbn = 978-0-226-18202-5 | ref = none | url = https://archive.org/details/scorsesebyebert00eber |page=14}} Taxi Driver was a critical and commercial success, and earned her a supporting actress Academy Award nomination, as well as two BAFTAs, a David di Donatello and a National Society of Film Critics award. The film is considered one of the best in history by the American Film Institute and Sight & Sound,{{cite journal | url= http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time | title= The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time | issue= September 2012 | date= August 1, 2012 | journal= Sight & Sound | publisher= British Film Institute | access-date= June 6, 2013 | editor-link= Ian Christie (film scholar) | editor-first= Ian | editor-last= Christie | archive-date= March 1, 2017 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170301135739/http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time }} and has been preserved in the National Film Registry.{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing|website=Library of Congress|access-date=September 25, 2015|archive-date=October 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031213743/https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|url-status=live}}

Foster also acted in another film nominated for the Palme d'Or in 1976, Bugsy Malone, a British musical that parodied films about Prohibition Era gangsters by having all roles played by children. Foster appeared in a major supporting role as a star of a speakeasy show.{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/818675/|title=Bugsy Malone (1976)|access-date=September 25, 2015|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927200341/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/818675/|url-status=live}} Director Alan Parker was impressed by her, saying that "she takes such an intelligent interest in the way the film is being made that if I had been run over by a bus I think she was probably the only person on the set able to take over as director."{{sfn|Hollinger|2006|p=155}} She gained several positive notices for her performance, with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times writing: "at thirteen she was already getting the roles that grown-up actresses complained weren't being written for women anymore".{{cite web|first=Roger|last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bugsy-malone-1976|title=Bugsy Malone|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|date=January 1, 1976|access-date=September 25, 2015|via=rogerebert.com|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927000208/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bugsy-malone-1976|url-status=live}} Variety called her "outstanding",{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/1975/film/reviews/bugsy-malone-1200423753/|title=Bugsy Malone|date=December 31, 1975|access-date=September 25, 2015|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927215730/http://variety.com/1975/film/reviews/bugsy-malone-1200423753/|url-status=live}} and Vincent Canby of The New York Times called her "the star of the show".{{cite news|first=Vincent|last=Canby|author-link=Vincent Canby|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9404E1DA1538E63BBC4E52DFBF66838D669EDE|title="Bugsy Malone" puts youth in 20s gang movies|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 16, 1976|access-date=September 25, 2015|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927214646/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9404E1DA1538E63BBC4E52DFBF66838D669EDE|url-status=live}} Foster's two BAFTAs were awarded jointly for her performances in Taxi Driver and Bugsy Malone.{{cite web|url=http://www.bafta.org/heritage/features/100-bafta-moments-15-days-to-go|title=100 BAFTA Moments: 14-Year-Old Jodie Foster Wins the Supporting Actress Award in 1977|date=January 24, 2015|access-date=September 25, 2015|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927110604/http://www.bafta.org/heritage/features/100-bafta-moments-15-days-to-go|url-status=live}}

Her third film release in 1976 was the independent drama Echoes of a Summer, which had been filmed two years earlier.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950CEEDC1E3AEF33A25756C1A9639C946790D6CF|title=Film: 'Echoes' Wavers: Jodie Foster Is Superb as a Dying Child|work=The New York Times|date=May 15, 1976|access-date=September 25, 2015|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927205940/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950CEEDC1E3AEF33A25756C1A9639C946790D6CF|url-status=live}} The New York Times named Foster's performance as a terminally ill girl the film's "main strength" and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune wrote that she "is not a good child actress; she's just a good actress", although both reviewers panned the film.{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1976/04/28/page/44/article/tempo-entertainment|title='Echoes' a Traumatic Film for Cast and Audience|date=April 28, 1976|access-date=September 25, 2015|archive-date=September 28, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928222156/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1976/04/28/page/44/article/tempo-entertainment/|url-status=live}} Foster's fourth film of 1976 was the Canadian-French thriller The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, in which she starred opposite Martin Sheen.{{sfn|Erb|2010|p=96}}{{sfn|Cullen|2013|pp=188–189}} The film combined aspects of thriller and horror genres, and showed Foster as a mysterious young girl living on her own in a small town. The performance earned her a Saturn Award.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|p=188}} In November, Foster hosted Saturday Night Live, becoming the youngest person to do so until Drew Barrymore hosted at age 7 in 1982. Her final film of the year was the Disney comedy Freaky Friday, "her first true star vehicle".{{sfn|Cullen|2013|p=188}}{{sfn|Erb|2010|p=87}} She played a tomboy teen who accidentally changes bodies with her mother, and she later said the film marked a "transitional period" when she began to grow out of child roles.{{sfn|Erb|2010|p=87}} It received mainly positive reviews,{{sfn|Erb|2010|p=86}} and was a box-office success,{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=freakyfriday.htm|publisher=Box Office Mojo|title=Freaky Friday, Box Office Information|access-date=January 23, 2012|archive-date=January 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113064959/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=freakyfriday.htm|url-status=live}} gaining Foster a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.{{cite web|url=http://www.hfpa.org/browse/?param=/member/29265|publisher=Hollywood Foreign Press Association|title=Jodie Foster|work=OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS |access-date=September 26, 2015|archive-date=September 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926192500/http://www.hfpa.org/browse/?param=%2Fmember%2F29265|url-status=live}}

As Foster grew, her mother wanted photos to reflect Foster's ability to take on adult roles, so she arranged for Emilio Lari to do a partially nude photoshoot. The photoshoot was taken at a rented estate in Los Angeles, with Foster's mother and Lari's wife on set. Estimates of the year of the photoshoot range between 1975 and 1979, when Foster was between 13 and 16.{{Cite web |title=Original photograph of Jodie Foster by photographer Emilio Lari, circa 1978 by Jodie Foster (subject); Emilio Lari (photographer) - 1978 - from Royal Books, Inc. (SKU: 149383) |url=https://biblio.sg/art-photograph/original-photograph-jodie-foster-photographer-emilio/d/1338787176 |access-date=August 20, 2022 |website=Biblio |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Invaluable Auctions |title=Emilio Lari (1939) Jodie Foster, 1975 Stampa cibachrome vintage. |url=https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/emilio-lari-1939-57-c-3d648d08bb}}{{Cite book |last=Foster and Wagener |title=Foster Child |publisher=Heinemann |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-434-00265-8 |pages=131–132 |language=English}} After her breakthrough year, Foster spent nine months living in France, where she starred in Moi, fleur bleue (1977) and recorded several songs for its soundtrack.{{sfn|Snodgrass|2008|p=285}} Her other films released in 1977 were the Italian comedy Casotto and the Disney heist film Candleshoe, which was filmed in England and co-starred David Niven and Helen Hayes.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|p=188}}{{sfn|Erb|2010|p=87}} After its release, Foster did not appear in any new releases until 1980, the year she turned 18.

In 1980, she gained positive notices for her performances in the independent films Foxes and Carny (1980),{{Cite book | last = Gallagher | first = John | title = Film Directors on Directing | year = 1989 | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | isbn = 0-275-93272-9 | url = https://archive.org/details/filmdirectorsond00gall |pages=160–168}}{{rp|style=ama|p= 73–74}}{{sfn|Cullen|2013|p=189}} before becoming a full-time student at Yale in 1981.{{rp|style=ama|p= 73–74}}{{Cite episode|title=Episode 1, Jodie Foster|series=Inside the Actors Studio|season=12|network=Bravo|date=September 25, 2005}} Stated by Foster in this interview. She later said that going to college changed her thoughts about acting, which she had previously thought was an unintelligent profession. She realized that "what I really wanted to do was to act and there was nothing stupid about it."

Although Foster prioritized college during these years, she continued making films on her summer vacations. These were O'Hara's Wife (1982), the television film Svengali (1983), the John Irving adaptation The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), The Blood of Others (1984), and the period drama Mesmerized (1986), which she also co-produced.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|p=192}} None of them gained large audiences or critical appreciation.{{sfn|Hollinger|2006|p=143}}{{rp|style=ama|p= 73–74}} On December 19, 1983, Foster was detained by U.S. customs agents at Logan International Airport for possessing a gram of cocaine. She was charged with a misdemeanor and placed on one year's probation.

File:Jodie Foster (1989).jpg for The Accused (1988). Her performance as a rape survivor marked her breakthrough into adult roles.]]

After graduating from Yale in 1985, Foster struggled to find further acting work. In 1987, her first film after college, the neo-noir Siesta (1987), was rated a failure,{{Sfn|Cullen|2013|p=194}}{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=siesta.htm|title=Siesta (1987)|work=Box Office Mojo|access-date=September 27, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929013450/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=siesta.htm|url-status=live}} but her next project, the independent film Five Corners (1987), was better received. A moderate critical success, it earned Foster an Independent Spirit Award for her performance as a woman whose sexual assaulter returns to stalk her.{{sfn|Cullen|2013|p=193}}{{rp|style=ama|p= 73–74}}{{cite web|url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/SA_SubForm_etc/2016_SA_NomsWinners_July2015.pdf|title=Independent Spirit Awards 2015 – Thirty Years of Nominees & Awards|work=Independent Spirit Awards|access-date=September 27, 2015|archive-date=September 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908031257/https://s3.amazonaws.com/SA_SubForm_etc/2016_SA_NomsWinners_July2015.pdf|url-status=live}}

The following year, Foster made her debut as a director with the episode "Do Not Open This Box" for the horror anthology series Tales from the Darkside,{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2013/09/jodie-foster-will-direct-house-of-cards-episode.html|title=Jodie Foster Is Directing an Episode of House of Cards|date=September 3, 2013|publisher=Vulture.com|first=Josef|last=Adalian|access-date=September 27, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929044715/http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/jodie-foster-will-direct-house-of-cards-episode.html|url-status=live}} and starred in the romantic drama Stealing Home (1988) opposite Mark Harmon. The film was a critical and commercial failure,[https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=stealinghome.htm "Stealing Home"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712053837/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=stealinghome.htm |date=July 12, 2018 }}. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 17, 2007. with Roger Ebert "wondering if any movie could possibly be that bad".{{cite web|first=Roger|last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/stealing-home-1988|title=Stealing Home|work=Chicago Sun-Times|date=August 26, 1988|access-date=September 27, 2015|via=rogerebert.com|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927124958/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/stealing-home-1988|url-status=live}}

Foster's breakthrough into adult roles came with her performance as a rape survivor in The Accused (1988).{{sfn|Cullen|2013|p=194}}{{sfn|Hollinger|2006|p=143}}{{rp|style=ama|p= 73–74}} Based on the real criminal case involving Cheryl Araujo, the film focuses on the aftermath of a gang rape and its survivor's fight for justice in the face of victim blaming. Before making it, Foster was having doubts about whether to continue her career and planned to start graduate studies, but decided to give acting "one last try" in The Accused. She had to audition twice for the role and was cast only after several more established actors turned it down, as the film's producers were wary of her due to her previous failures and because she was still remembered as a "chubby teenager".{{rp|style=ama|p= 74}}{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=45}}{{sfn|Cullen|2013|p=194}} Due to the subject matter, the filming was a difficult experience for the cast and crew, especially the shooting of the rape scene, which took five days. Foster was unhappy with her performance and feared that it would end her career.{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=46}} Instead, The Accused received positive reviews, with Foster's performance receiving widespread acclaim{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=45}} and earning her Academy, Golden Globe and National Board of Review awards, as well as a nomination for a BAFTA Award.

Foster's first film release after the success of The Accused was the thriller The Silence of the Lambs (1991). She portrayed FBI trainee Clarice Starling, who is sent to interview incarcerated serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in order to hunt another serial killer, Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb (Ted Levine). Foster later named the role one of her favorites.{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=46}} She had read the novel it was based on after its publication in 1988 and had attempted to purchase its film rights,{{Cite book | last = Martin| first = Ray | title = Ray Martin's Favourites | year = 2011 | publisher = Victory Books| isbn = 978-0-522-86088-7| page=179}} as it featured "a real female heroine" and its plot was not "about steroids and brawn, [but] about using your mind and using your insufficiencies to combat the villain." Despite her enthusiasm, director Jonathan Demme did not initially want to cast her, but the producers overruled him.{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/-silence-of-the-lambs-director-admits-he-didn-t-wa/375073|title='Silence of the Lambs' director admits he didn't want to cast Jodie Foster|date=April 2, 2015|work=NME|first=Nick|last=Levine|access-date=September 28, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929025511/http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/-silence-of-the-lambs-director-admits-he-didn-t-wa/375073|url-status=live}} Demme's view of Foster changed during the production, and he later credited her for helping him define the character.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/lambs-ar3.html|title=How to Film a Gory Story with Restraint|date=February 19, 1991|work=The New York Times|first=Janet|last=Maslin|author-link=Janet Maslin|access-date=September 28, 2015|archive-date=January 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117080955/http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/lambs-ar3.html|url-status=live}}

Released in February 1991, The Silence of the Lambs became one of the biggest hits of the year, grossing close to $273 million,[https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=silenceofthelambs.htm "Silence of the Lambs"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330044135/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=silenceofthelambs.htm |date=March 30, 2019 }}. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 16, 2009.[https://boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=jodiefoster.htm "Jodie Foster"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924110040/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=jodiefoster.htm |date=September 24, 2018 }}. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 16, 2009. with a positive critical reception. Foster received largely positive reviews{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=46}} and won Academy, Golden Globe, and BAFTA awards for her portrayal of Starling; Silence won five Academy Awards overall,{{cite news|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1992/memorable-moments|title=64th Academy Awards Memorable Moments|work=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=August 26, 2014|access-date=September 28, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929044018/http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1992/memorable-moments|url-status=live}} becoming one of the few films to win in all main categories. In contrast, some reviewers criticized the film as misogynist for its focus on brutal murders of women, and homo-/transphobic due to its portrayal of "Buffalo Bill" as bisexual and transgender. Much of the criticism was directed at Foster, who the critics claimed was herself a lesbian.{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|pp=46–47}} Despite the controversy, the film is considered a modern classic: Starling and Lecter are included on the American Film Institute's top ten of the greatest film heroes and villains, and the film is preserved in the National Film Registry. Later in 1991, Foster also starred in the unsuccessful low-budget thriller Catchfire, which had been filmed before Silence, but was released after it in an attempt to profit from its success.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/3701/Backtrack/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930010144/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/3701/Backtrack/overview|archive-date=September 30, 2015|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Erickson, Hal |title=Backtrack (1991)|author-link=Hal Erickson (author)|date=2015|access-date=September 28, 2015}}

In October 1991, Foster released her first feature film as a director, Little Man Tate, a drama about a child prodigy who struggles to come to terms with being different.{{Cite book | last = Foster | first = Gwendolyn Audrey | title = Women Film Directors: An International Bio-critical Dictionary | year = 1995 | publisher = Greenwood Press | isbn = 0-313-28972-7 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/womenfilmdirecto0000fost |page=136}} The main role was played by previously unknown actor Adam Hann-Byrd, and Foster co-starred as his working-class single mother. She had found the script in the "slush pile" at Orion Pictures,{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=49}} and explained that for her debut film she "wanted a piece that was not autobiographical, but that had to do with the 10 philosophies I've accumulated in the past 25 years. Every single one of them, if they weren't in the script from the beginning, they're there now." Some reviewers felt that the film did not live up to the high expectations, and regarded it as "less adventurous than many films in which [she] had starred",{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|pp=49–51}} but others praised it, like Roger Ebert, who called it "the kind of film you enjoy watching".Roger Ebert (October 18, 1991). [http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/little-man-tate-1991"Little Man Tate"], Chicago Sun-Times Regardless, it was a moderate box office success.{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=littlemantate.htm|title=Little Man Tate (1991)|publisher=Box Office Mojo|access-date=September 28, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929005146/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=littlemantate.htm|url-status=live}} Foster's final film appearance of the year came in a small role as a sex worker in Shadows and Fog (1991), directed by Woody Allen, with whom she had wanted to collaborate since the 1970s.

File:Jodie Foster 1995.jpg, 1995]]

Foster next starred in the period film Sommersby (1993), portraying a woman who begins to suspect that her husband (Richard Gere) who returns home from the Civil War is an impostor. She then replaced Meg Ryan in the Western comedy Maverick (1994), playing a con artist opposite Mel Gibson and James Garner.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2013/film/awards/jodie-foster-she-lives-her-life-at-the-movies-1118064344/|title=Jodie Foster: She lives her life at the movies|date=January 11, 2013|work=Variety|first=Stephen|last=Schaefer|access-date=September 28, 2015|archive-date=October 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006121812/http://variety.com/2013/film/awards/jodie-foster-she-lives-her-life-at-the-movies-1118064344/|url-status=live}} According to film scholar Karen Hollinger, both films featured her in more "conventionally feminine" roles.{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=51}} Both Sommersby and Maverick were commercially successful.{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sommersby.htm|title=Sommersby (1993)|publisher=Box Office Mojo|access-date=September 28, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929070003/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sommersby.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=maverick.htm |title=Maverick (1994) |publisher=Box Office Mojo |access-date=March 7, 2010 |archive-date=February 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100218085852/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=maverick.htm |url-status=live }}

Foster had founded her own production company, Egg Pictures, a subsidiary of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment in 1992, and released its first production, Nell, in December 1994.{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=53}}{{rp|style=ama|p= 74}}{{efn|She was to produce up to six films, each with the budget of $10–25 million, in the following three years.{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=53}}}} It was directed by Michael Apted and starred Foster in the titular role as a woman who grew up isolated in the Appalachian Mountains and speaks her own invented language.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/12/movies/a-life-on-the-set-and-that-says-it-all.html|title=A Life on the Set, And That Says It All|work=The New York Times|date=December 12, 1994|access-date=September 28, 2015|archive-date=September 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930075248/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/12/movies/a-life-on-the-set-and-that-says-it-all.html|url-status=live}} The film was based on Mark Handley's play Idioglossia, which interested Foster for its theme of "otherness", and because she "loved this idea of a woman who defies categorization, a creature who is labeled and categorized by people based on their own problems and their own prejudices and what they bring to the table."{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/on-the-road-with-jodie-foster|title=On the Road with Jodie Foster|publisher=Rogerebert.com|date=December 25, 1994|access-date=September 28, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929164259/http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/on-the-road-with-jodie-foster|url-status=live}} Despite mixed reviews, it was a commercial success,{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nell.htm |title=Nell (1994) |publisher=Box Office Mojo |access-date=March 7, 2010 |archive-date=February 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100208213705/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nell.htm |url-status=live }}{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=54}} and earned Foster a Screen Actors Guild Award and nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her acting performance.

The second film that Foster directed and produced for Egg Pictures was Home for the Holidays, released in late 1995. A black comedy "set around a nightmarish Thanksgiving", it starred Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr.{{cite web |url=http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/magazines/elle/905J-000-006'.html |title=Jodie Foster's Holiday Spirit |work=Elle |date=December 1995 |access-date=September 29, 2015 |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307093003/http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/magazines/elle/905J-000-006'.html |url-status=live }} The film received a mixed critical response and was a commercial failure.{{sfn|Hollinger|2006|p=162}}{{rp|style=ama|p= 74}} In 1996, Foster received two honorary awards: the Crystal Award, awarded annually for women in the entertainment industry,{{cite web |url=http://www.wif.org/awards-restrospective |title=Awards Retrospective |publisher=Women in Film |access-date=September 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806194208/http://www.wif.org/awards-restrospective |archive-date=August 6, 2014 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.wif.org/awards-restrospective |title=Awards Retrospective |access-date=September 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806194208/http://www.wif.org/awards-restrospective |archive-date=August 6, 2014 }} and the Berlinale Camera at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival.{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1996/03_preistr_ger_1996/03_Preistraeger_1996.html |title=Prizes & Honours 1996 |access-date=January 1, 2012 |publisher=Berlin International Film Festival |archive-date=June 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630185658/https://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1996/03_preistr_ger_1996/03_Preistraeger_1996.html |url-status=live }} She voiced a character in an episode of Frasier in 1996 and in an episode of The X-Files in early 1997.

After Nell (1994), Foster appeared in no new film releases until Contact (1997), a science fiction film based on a novel by Carl Sagan and directed by Robert Zemeckis. She starred as a scientist searching for extraterrestrial life in the SETI project.{{cite magazine |title=Cover Story: Making Contact |first=Benjamin |last=Svetkey |url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,288672,00.html |date=July 18, 1997 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=April 17, 2007 |archive-date=May 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519124505/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,288672,00.html |url-status=dead }} The film was a commercial success{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=contact.htm |title=Contact (1997) |publisher=Box Office Mojo |date=October 26, 1997 |access-date=March 7, 2010 |archive-date=March 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317202636/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=contact.htm |url-status=live }} and earned Foster a Saturn Award and a nomination for a Golden Globe.{{efn|She was in talks to star in David Fincher's thriller The Game, but its production company, Polygram, dropped her from the project after disagreements over her role.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.ew.com/article/1996/06/28/jodie-foster-sues-polygram|title=Jodie Foster Sues PolyGram|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|first=Anne|last=Thompson |date=June 28, 1996|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=September 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930032143/http://www.ew.com/article/1996/06/28/jodie-foster-sues-polygram|url-status=live}} Foster sued the company, saying that she had an oral agreement with them to star in the film and had as a result taken "herself off the market" and lost out on other film projects.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-07-fi-12596-story.html|title=Jodie Foster Sues, Says PolyGram Broke Agreement|first=James|last=Bates|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 7, 1996|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=September 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930154841/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-06-07/business/fi-12596_1_jodie-foster|url-status=live}} The case was later settled out of court.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-10-08-fi-51569-story.html|title=Jodie Foster Settles Lawsuit Against PolyGram and Will Continue With Company|first=James|last=Bates|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 8, 1996|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=September 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930223444/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-10-08/business/fi-51569_1_jodie-foster|url-status=live}}}} Foster next produced Jane Anderson's television film The Baby Dance (1998) for Showtime.{{cite web |title='The Baby Dance' is Jodie Foster's kind of movie |first=Scott D. |last=Pierce |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/647649/The-Baby-Dance-is-Jodie-Fosters-kind-of-movie.html |date=August 20, 1998 |work=Deseret News |access-date=September 29, 2015 |archive-date=September 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930212024/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/647649/The-Baby-Dance-is-Jodie-Fosters-kind-of-movie.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |title=The Parent Trip |first=Gail |last=Shister |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZGMEAAAAMBAJ&q=baby+dance+jodie+foster&pg=PA43 |date=September 1, 1998 |work=The Advocate |access-date=September 29, 2015 }} Its story deals with a wealthy California couple who struggle with infertility and decide to adopt from a poor family in Louisiana. On her decision to produce for television, Foster stated that it was easier to take financial risks in that medium than in feature films. In 1998, she also moved her production company from PolyGram to Paramount Pictures.{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=53}} Also in 1998, asteroid 17744 Jodiefoster was named in her honor.{{sfn|Snodgrass|2008|p=287}}

Foster's last film of the 1990s was the period drama Anna and the King (1999), in which she starred opposite Chow Yun-Fat. It was based on a fictionalized biography of British teacher Anna Leonowens, who taught the children of King Mongkut of Siam, and whose story became well known as the musical The King and I. Foster was paid $15 million to portray Leonowens, making her one of the highest-paid female actors in Hollywood.{{rp|style=ama|p= 74}} The film was subject to controversy when the Thai government deemed it historically inaccurate and insulting to the royal family and banned its distribution in the country.{{cite news|first=Keith B.|last=Richburg|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-01/17/021r-011700-idx.html|title=Not Playing: 'Anna and the King'|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 17, 2000|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=October 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001084227/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-01/17/021r-011700-idx.html|url-status=live}} It was a moderate commercial success,[https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=annaandtheking.htm "Anna and the King"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404044822/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=annaandtheking.htm |date=April 4, 2019 }}. Box Office Mojo. but received mixed to negative reviews.{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1093611-anna_and_the_king/|title=Anna and the King|date=December 17, 1999 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=October 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007024418/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1093611-anna_and_the_king/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/anna-and-the-king|title=Anna and the King|publisher=Metacritic|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193326/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/anna-and-the-king|url-status=live}} Ebert panned the film, saying the role required Foster "to play beneath [her] intelligence"{{cite web|first=Roger|last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/anna-and-the-king-1999|title=Anna and the King|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|via=rogerebert.com|date=December 17, 1999|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=June 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619160635/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/anna-and-the-king-1999|url-status=live}} and The New York Times called it a "misstep" for her and accused her of only being "interested ... in sanctifying herself as an old-fashioned heroine than in taking on dramatically risky roles".{{cite news |title=Anna and the King: What? No Singing? Is a Puzzlement! |first=Stephen |last=Holden |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B00E0DD1430F934A25751C1A96F958260 |date=December 17, 1999 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 29, 2015 |archive-date=July 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729052934/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B00E0DD1430F934A25751C1A96F958260 |url-status=live }}

Foster's first project of the new decade was Keith Gordon's film Waking the Dead (2000), which she produced.{{cite web |first=Jonathan |last=Rosenbaum |title=The Woman Who Isn't There [WAKING THE DEAD] |url=http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2000/03/the-woman-who-isn-t-there/ |work=The Chicago Reader |date=March 24, 2000 |access-date=September 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001094222/http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2000/03/the-woman-who-isn-t-there/ |archive-date=October 1, 2015 }} She declined to reprise her role as Clarice Starling in Hannibal (2001), with the part going instead to Julianne Moore, and concentrated on a new directorial project, Flora Plum.{{cite magazine|first=Kristen|last=Baldwin|title="Hannibal" shouldn't be made without Jodie Foster|url=https://www.ew.com/article/2000/01/17/hannibal-shouldnt-be-made-without-jodie-foster|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=January 17, 2000|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=October 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001045938/http://www.ew.com/article/2000/01/17/hannibal-shouldnt-be-made-without-jodie-foster|url-status=live}} It was to focus on a 1930s circus and star Claire Danes and Russell Crowe, but had to be shelved after Crowe was injured on set and could not complete filming on schedule; Foster unsuccessfully attempted to revive the project several times in the following years.{{cite web |first=Benedict |last=Carver |title=Foster to helm 'Flora Plum' pic |url=https://variety.com/1999/film/news/foster-to-helm-flora-plum-pic-1117490119/ |work=Variety |date=January 19, 1999 |access-date=September 29, 2015 |archive-date=October 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001091642/http://variety.com/1999/film/news/foster-to-helm-flora-plum-pic-1117490119/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web|first=Benedict|last=Carver|title=Crowe-Foster Project on Shelf For Now|url=http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2000-09-08/news/0009080314_1_flora-plum-mendel-crowe|work=The Orlando Sentinel|date=September 8, 2000|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=October 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001133931/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2000-09-08/news/0009080314_1_flora-plum-mendel-crowe|url-status=dead}} Controversially, she also expressed interest in directing and starring in a biographical film of Nazi film director Leni Riefenstahl, who did not like the idea.{{cite web|title=Foster defends Nazi filmmaker biopic|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/oct/09/news1|work=The Guardian|date=October 9, 2000|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=October 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001081403/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/oct/09/news1|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine|first=Judith|last=Thurman|title=Where There's a Will|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/19/where-theres-a-will|magazine=The New Yorker|date=March 19, 2007|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=July 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722201257/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/19/where-theres-a-will|url-status=live}} In addition to these setbacks, Foster shut down Egg Pictures in 2001, saying that producing was "just a really thankless, bad job".{{sfn|Hollinger|2012|p=53}} The company's last production, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2002. It received good reviews,{{sfn|Hollinger|2006|p=162}} and had a limited theatrical release in the summer.{{cite web | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dangerouslivesofaltarboys.htm | title=The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) | publisher=Box Office Mojo | access-date=July 15, 2010 | archive-date=April 25, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425081604/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dangerouslivesofaltarboys.htm | url-status=live }}

File:The Brave One (2007) Movie Banner.jpg

After the cancellation of Flora Plum, Foster took on the main role in David Fincher's thriller Panic Room after its intended star, Nicole Kidman, had to drop out due to an injury on set.{{cite magazine |first1=Sandra P. |last1=Angulo |first2=Justine |last2=Elias |title="Panic" Attack |url=https://ew.com/article/2001/01/26/nicole-kidman-drops-out-panic-room/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=January 26, 2001 |access-date=March 1, 2009 |archive-date=March 21, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321093639/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,96904,00.html |url-status=live }} Before filming resumed, Foster was given only a week to prepare for the role of a woman who hides in a panic room with her daughter when burglars invade their home.{{cite book | last=Swallow | first=James | year=2007 | chapter=House Arrest | title=Dark Eye: The Films of David Fincher | publisher=Reynolds & Hearn | isbn=978-1-905287-30-7 | page=153}} It grossed over $30 million on its North American opening weekend in March 2002, becoming the most successful film opening of Foster's career {{as of|2015|lc=y}}.{{cite web | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=panicroom.htm | title=Panic Room (2002) | publisher=Box Office Mojo | access-date=July 15, 2010 | archive-date=December 30, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091230074816/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=panicroom.htm | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?id=jodiefoster.htm | title=Jodie Foster | publisher=Box Office Mojo | access-date=September 29, 2015 | archive-date=September 28, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928184615/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?id=jodiefoster.htm | url-status=live }} In addition to being a box office success, the film also received largely positive reviews.{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/panic_room/ | title=Panic Room Movie Reviews, Pictures | date=March 29, 2002 | publisher=Rotten Tomatoes | access-date=July 15, 2010 | archive-date=August 31, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831131153/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/panic_room/ | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/panicroom | title=Panic Room reviews | publisher=Metacritic | access-date=July 15, 2010 | archive-date=October 10, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010085640/http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/panicroom | url-status=live }}

After a minor appearance in the French period drama A Very Long Engagement (2004), Foster starred in three more thrillers. The first was Flightplan (2005), in which she played a woman whose daughter vanishes during an overnight flight. It became a global box office success,{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=flightplan.htm |title=Flightplan (2005) |publisher=Box Office Mojo |access-date=March 7, 2010 |archive-date=March 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324035941/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=flightplan.htm |url-status=live }} but received mixed reviews.{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flightplan/ | title=Flightplan | date=September 23, 2005 | publisher=Rotten Tomatoes | access-date=September 30, 2015 | archive-date=March 5, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305070514/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flightplan/ | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/flightplan | title=Flightplan Reviews | publisher=Metacritic | access-date=September 30, 2015 | archive-date=September 20, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920233434/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/flightplan | url-status=live }} It was followed by Spike Lee's critically and commercially successful Inside Man (2006), about a bank heist on Wall Street, which co-starred Denzel Washington and Clive Owen.{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=insideman.htm |title=Inside Man (2006) |publisher=Box Office Mojo |access-date=March 7, 2010 |archive-date=March 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304124727/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=insideman.htm |url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inside_man/ | title=Inside Man | date=March 24, 2006 | publisher=Rotten Tomatoes | access-date=September 30, 2015 | archive-date=September 30, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930054352/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inside_man | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/inside-man | title=Inside Man Reviews | publisher=Metacritic | access-date=September 30, 2015 | archive-date=June 6, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150606163111/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/inside-man | url-status=live }} The third thriller, The Brave One (2007), prompted some comparisons to Taxi Driver, as Foster played a New Yorker who becomes a vigilante after her fiancé is murdered.{{cite news|first=Manohla|last=Dargis|title=Forever Jodie, Forever a Pro|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/movies/09darg.html|work=The New York Times|date=September 9, 2007|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=September 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926093424/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/movies/09darg.html|url-status=live}} It was not a success,{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=braveone.htm|title=The Brave One (2007)|publisher=Box Office Mojo|access-date=March 7, 2010|archive-date=July 15, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715093810/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=braveone.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brave_one/ | title=The Brave One | date=September 14, 2007 | publisher=Rotten Tomatoes | access-date=September 30, 2015 | archive-date=September 17, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150917214610/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brave_one | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-brave-one | title=The Brave One Reviews | publisher=Metacritic | access-date=September 30, 2015 | archive-date=April 13, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413233512/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-brave-one | url-status=live }} but earned Foster her sixth Golden Globe nomination. Her last film role of the decade was in the children's adventure film Nim's Island (2008), in which she portrayed an agoraphobic writer opposite Gerard Butler and Abigail Breslin. It was the first comedy in which she had starred since Maverick (1994), and was a commercial success but a critical failure.{{cite web | url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nims_island/ | title=Nim's Island | date=April 4, 2008 | publisher=Rotten Tomatoes | access-date=September 30, 2015 | archive-date=September 25, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925041800/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nims_island/ | url-status=live }}[https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nimsisland.htm "Nim's Island"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125020444/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nimsisland.htm |date=January 25, 2019 }}. Box Office Mojo. In 2009, she provided the voice for Maggie in a tetralogy episode of The Simpsons titled "Four Great Women and a Manicure".{{cite magazine|url=http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/09/exclusive-jodie.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905024818/http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/09/exclusive-jodie.html |archive-date=September 5, 2008 |title=Exclusive: Jodie Foster, Anne Hathaway to guest on 'The Simpsons' |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=September 4, 2008 |date=September 3, 2008 |author=Snierson, Dan }}

File:Mel Gibson Jodie Foster Cannes 2011.jpg at the premiere of The Beaver at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival]]

In the 2010s, Foster focused on directing and took fewer acting roles.{{cite news |first=Eric |last=Kohn |title=Jodie Foster on The Beaver and Making Personal Films |url=https://www.indiewire.com/article/interview_jodie_foster_on_the_beaver_and_making_personal_films |work=Indiewire |date=March 17, 2011 |access-date=July 18, 2009 |archive-date=March 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110320020804/http://www.indiewire.com/article/interview_jodie_foster_on_the_beaver_and_making_personal_films |url-status=live }} In February 2011, she hosted the 36th César Awards in France, and the next month released her third feature film direction, The Beaver (2011), about a depressed man who develops an alternative personality based on a beaver hand puppet.{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Barker |title=Variety Reviews: The Beaver |url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117944836/ |work=Variety |date=March 16, 2011 |access-date=February 18, 2013 |archive-date=February 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130220194515/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117944836/ |url-status=live }} It starred Maverick co-star Mel Gibson and featured herself, Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence in supporting roles as his family.{{cite news |first=Sharon |last=Hewitt |title=Mel Gibson to star in Beaver |url=https://www.variety.com/VR1118005842.html |work=Variety |date=July 9, 2009 |access-date=July 18, 2009 |archive-date=July 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090716034701/http://www.variety.com/VR1118005842.html |url-status=live }} Foster called its production "probably the biggest struggle of my professional career", partly due to the film's heavy subject matter but also due to the controversy that Gibson generated when he was accused of domestic violence and making antisemitic, racist, and sexist statements.{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Cieply |title=When Art Imitates an Actor's Troubled Life |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/movies/jodie-foster-talks-about-the-beaver-and-mel-gibson.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 17, 2011 |access-date=February 18, 2013 |archive-date=December 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121226123101/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/movies/jodie-foster-talks-about-the-beaver-and-mel-gibson.html |url-status=live }} The film received mixed reviews,{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_beaver_2010/ | title=The Beaver Movie Reviews | date=May 6, 2011 | publisher=Rotten Tomatoes | access-date=May 17, 2011 | archive-date=May 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511160008/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_beaver_2010 | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-beaver | title=The Beaver | publisher=Metacritic | access-date=May 17, 2011 | archive-date=May 17, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517003248/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-beaver | url-status=live }} and failed the box office, largely due to this controversy.Cieply, Michael (June 5, 2011), [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/business/media/06participant.html "Uneven Growth for Film Studio With a Message"]. The New York Times. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820170138/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/business/media/06participant.html |date=August 20, 2017 }}. Retrieved June 6, 2011.{{cite news | last=Kaufman | first=Amy | url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/05/audiences-reject-mel-gibson-as-the-beaver-flops.html | title=Audiences reject Mel Gibson as 'The Beaver' flops | work=Los Angeles Times | date=May 8, 2011 | access-date=February 18, 2013 | archive-date=May 13, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513035753/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/05/audiences-reject-mel-gibson-as-the-beaver-flops.html | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=beaver.htm | title=The Beaver | publisher=Box Office Mojo | access-date=September 30, 2015 | archive-date=September 5, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905220408/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=beaver.htm | url-status=live }} In 2011, Foster also appeared as part of an ensemble cast with John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz in Roman Polanski's comedy Carnage, in which the attempts of middle-class parents to settle an incident between their sons descends into chaos. It premiered to mainly positive reviews and earned Foster a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress.[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/carnage "Carnage"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830074628/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/carnage |date=August 30, 2017 }}. Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved December 16, 2011.

In 2013, Foster received the honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 70th Golden Globe Awards.{{cite web|url=http://www.goldenglobes.org/cecil-b-demille-award/|title=Cecil B. Demille Award|publisher=HFPA|access-date=February 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307012744/http://www.goldenglobes.org/cecil-b-demille-award/|archive-date=March 7, 2013}} Her next film role was Secretary of Defense Delacourt opposite Matt Damon in the dystopian film Elysium (2013), which was a box office success.{{cite web | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=elysium.htm | title=Elysium (2013) | publisher=Box Office Mojo | access-date=September 29, 2015 | archive-date=September 24, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924042853/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=Elysium.htm | url-status=live }} She also returned to television directing for the first time since the 1980s, directing the episodes "Lesbian Request Denied" (2013) and "Thirsty Bird" (2014) for Orange Is the New Black, and the episode "Chapter 22" (2014) for House of Cards.{{cite web |last = Anderson |first = Diane |url = http://www.advocate.com/print-issue/current-issue/2013/07/10/why-you-should-watch-orange-new-black?page=full |title = Why You Should Watch 'Orange Is the New Black' |date = July 10, 2013 |publisher = Advocate.com |access-date = July 12, 2013 |archive-date = February 11, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210211225301/https://www.advocate.com/print-issue/current-issue/2013/07/10/why-you-should-watch-orange-new-black?page=full |url-status = live }} "Lesbian Request Denied" brought her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination, and the two 2014 episodes earned her two nominations for a Directors Guild of America Award.{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/25/showbiz/primetime-emmy-awards-winners-2014/|title=Primetime Emmy Awards 2014: The Winners List|date=August 26, 2014 |publisher=CNN|access-date=September 30, 2015|archive-date=September 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140928201216/http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/25/showbiz/primetime-emmy-awards-winners-2014|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11347082/Jodie-Foster-nominated-for-two-Directors-Guild-awards.html|title=Jodie Foster Nominated for Two Directors Guild Awards|first=Martin|last=Chilton|work=The Telegraph|date=January 15, 2015 |access-date=September 30, 2015|archive-date=October 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005214852/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11347082/Jodie-Foster-nominated-for-two-Directors-Guild-awards.html|url-status=live}} She also narrated the episode "Women in Space" (2014) for Makers: Women Who Make America, a PBS documentary series about women's struggle for equal rights in the United States. In 2015, Foster received the Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award at the Athena Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://athenafilmfestival.com/jodie-foster-receive-laura-ziskin-liftetime-achievement-award/|title=Jodie Foster To Receive Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award|work=The Telegraph|date=January 7, 2015|access-date=September 30, 2015|archive-date=October 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001101833/http://athenafilmfestival.com/jodie-foster-receive-laura-ziskin-liftetime-achievement-award/|url-status=live}}

The fourth film Foster directed, the hostage drama Money Monster, premiered out-of-competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2016. It starred George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and despite mixed reviews,{{cite web|title=Money Monster (2016)|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/money_monster/|website=Rotten Tomatoes|date=May 13, 2016 |access-date=November 29, 2020|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124212659/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/money_monster|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Money Monster Reviews|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/money-monster|website=Metacritic|access-date=April 14, 2018|archive-date=June 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602032101/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/money-monster|url-status=live}} was a moderate commercial success.{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=moneymonster.htm |title=Money Monster (2016) |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=September 17, 2016 |archive-date=September 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912185304/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=moneymonster.htm |url-status=live }} The next year, Foster continued her work in television by directing an episode, "Arkangel", for the British sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror (2011–).

As the decade drew to a close, Foster continued to mix acting with directing. She starred together with Sterling Brown in the dystopian film Hotel Artemis (2018). Although the film was a commercial and critical disappointment, Foster's performance as Nurse Jean Thomas, who runs a hospital for criminals, received positive notices.{{cite web | work = Empire | author-link = Jonathan Pile | first = Jonathan | last = Pile | access-date = August 23, 2018 | date = June 11, 2018 | title = Hotel Artemis Review: Hotel Artemis Review | url = https://www.empireonline.com/movies/hotel-artemis/review/ | archive-date = July 17, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180717203140/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/hotel-artemis/review/ | url-status = live }}{{cite web | work = Screen Rant | author-link = Sandy Schaefer | first = Sandy | last = Schaefer | access-date = August 23, 2018 | date = June 8, 2018 | title = Hotel Artemis Review: Jodie Foster's Hospital is Worth a Visit | url = https://screenrant.com/hotel-artemis-movie-reviews/ | archive-date = July 20, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180720055507/https://screenrant.com/hotel-artemis-movie-reviews/ | url-status = live }}{{cite web | work = Vulture | author-link = Emily Yoshida | first = Emily | last = Yoshida | access-date = August 23, 2018 | date = June 12, 2018 | title = Hotel Artemis Is an Inventive, If Meandering Genre Hangout | url = https://www.vulture.com/2018/06/hotel-artemis-review.html }}{{cite web | work = Chicago Sun-Times | author-link = Richard Roeper | first = Richard | last = Roeper | access-date = August 23, 2018 | date = June 7, 2018 | title = At the bloody 'Hotel Artemis,' amazing actors do the obvious | url = https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/at-the-bloody-hotel-artemis-amazing-actors-do-the-obvious/ | archive-date = July 28, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180728191700/https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/at-the-bloody-hotel-artemis-amazing-actors-do-the-obvious/ | url-status = live }} Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "not enough can be said about the performance of Foster in this film. She brings to the role a quality of having seen the absolute worst in people, but also the suggestion that, as a result, she accepts them on their own terms and knows how to handle any situation."{{cite web | first = Mick | last = LaSalle | author-link = Mick LaSalle | date = June 7, 2018 | title = Sterling K. Brown and Jodie Foster in terrific sci-fi 'Hotel Artemis' | url = https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Sterling-K-Brown-and-Jodie-Foster-in-terrific-12972831.php | newspaper = San Francisco Chronicle | publisher = Hearst Communications | location = San Francisco, California | access-date = August 23, 2018 | archive-date = June 6, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180606232002/https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Sterling-K-Brown-and-Jodie-Foster-in-terrific-12972831.php | url-status = live }} Rick Bentley from Tampa Bay Times declared Foster's performance one of her "best and most memorable."{{cite web|first=Rick|last=Bentley|author-link=Rick Bentley|date=June 7, 2018|title=Jodie Foster makes 'Hotel Artemis' first-class experience|url=https://www.tampabay.com/features/movies/Jodie-Foster-makes-Hotel-Artemis-first-class-experience_168849683|newspaper=Tampa Bay Times|location=St. Petersburg, Florida|access-date=August 23, 2018|archive-date=June 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616044702/http://www.tampabay.com/features/movies/Jodie-Foster-makes-Hotel-Artemis-first-class-experience_168849683|url-status=live}} The same year, Foster co-produced and narrated Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018), a documentary on one of the first female film directors.

Foster directed the finale of the 2020 science fiction drama Tales from the Loop. Her next project was the legal drama The Mauritanian (2021), in which she starred as the lawyer of a prisoner (Tahar Rahim) at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Foster won a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for her performance.{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/2021-golden-globes-nominations-list-nominees-1234896457/ |title=Golden Globes 2021: The Complete Nominations List |last1=Oganesyan |first1=Natalie |last2=Moreau |first2=Jordan |date=February 3, 2021 |website=Variety |access-date=February 3, 2021 |archive-date=February 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203182501/https://variety.com/2021/film/news/2021-golden-globes-nominations-list-nominees-1234896457/ |url-status=live }} At the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, Foster received the Honorary Palme d'Or for lifetime achievement.{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/jodie-foster-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-911318fc626ca37f780abf313b70230b|title=With fluent French, Jodie Foster at home again in Cannes|first=Jake|last=Coyle|date=July 7, 2021|access-date=July 11, 2021|publisher=API News}}

In 2023, Foster appeared in the Netflix biopic Nyad as Bonnie Stoll.{{Cite web |last=D'Addario |first=Daniel |date=November 1, 2023 |title=Jodie Foster's Triumphant 'Nyad' Performance Proves She's Out on Her Own Terms |url=https://variety.com/2023/film/columns/jodie-foster-nyad-1235775204/ |access-date=November 10, 2023 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} Her performance earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68069049|title=Oscar nominations 2024: The full List of nominees|website=BBC|date=January 23, 2024|access-date=January 23, 2024}} She next starred in the fourth season of True Detective, subtitled Night Country.{{cite web |last1=Pulliam-Moore |first1=Charles |title=True Detective's fourth season is going to the Arctic with Jodie Foster as the lead |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/26/23143346/jodie-foster-true-detective-season-4-hbo |website=The Verge |date=May 26, 2022 |access-date=May 27, 2022}} It won her a Primetime Emmy Award.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2024-09-15/jodie-foster-emmys-2024-true-detective-night-country|title=Jodie Foster wins her first-ever Emmy for 'True Detective: Night Country'|work=Los Angeles Times|date= September 15, 2024|access-date= September 15, 2024}}

File:Jodie Foster with the LG Electronics Kompressor Vacuum on 25th Spirit Awards Blue Carpet held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on March 5, 2010 in LA (cropped).jpg

Foster met the producer Cydney Bernard, who was then a production coordinator, on the set of Sommersby (1993).{{Cite web|title=Cydney Bernard: Who Is Jodie Foster's Former Partner?|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cydney-bernard-jodie-foster_n_2472685|last=|first=|date=January 15, 2013|website=HuffPost|language=en|access-date=February 19, 2021|archive-date=April 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419234255/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cydney-bernard-jodie-foster_n_2472685|url-status=live}} They were in a relationship from 1993 until 2008 and had two sons together: actor Charles ("Charlie"), born in 1998, and scientist Christopher ("Kit"), born in 2001.{{Cite web |author=A. B. C. News|title=Golden Globes winner Jodie Foster is a mom of 2: What to know about her kids |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Family/jodie-foster-kids/story?id=113725903#:~:text=Christopher%20'Kit'%20Bernard%20Foster,-Actress%20Jodie%20Foster&text=Kit%20Foster%20was%20born%20Sept,Kit%20Foster%20is%20a%20scientist. |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=ABC News |language=en}} Foster is their biological mother; the biological father's identity has not been made public.{{cite news|date=April 23, 2014|title=Jodie Foster Marries Photographer Alexandra Hedison|magazine=Vanity Fair|first=Josh|last=Duboff|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/04/jodie-foster-marries-alexandra-hedison|access-date=April 20, 2020|archive-date=September 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926190655/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/04/jodie-foster-marries-alexandra-hedison|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Jodie Foster: 'I wasn't very good at playing the girlfriend'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jul/13/jodie-foster-cope-with-anything-hotel-artemis-mel-gibson|last=Freeman|first=Hadley|date=July 13, 2018|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=February 19, 2021|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216054547/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jul/13/jodie-foster-cope-with-anything-hotel-artemis-mel-gibson|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|title=Jodie Foster gives birth to a son|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/jodie-foster-gives-birth-to-a-son/article4154187/|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=October 5, 2001|access-date=May 7, 2020|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802130441/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/jodie-foster-gives-birth-to-a-son/article4154187/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |date=October 3, 2001 |title=Jodie Foster Has Another Son - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jodie-foster-has-another-son/ |access-date=January 9, 2024 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}} In 2014, Foster married the actress and photographer Alexandra Hedison after a year of dating.{{cite web|title=Actress Jodie Foster marries girlfriend|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27136270|date=April 24, 2014|work=BBC News|access-date=June 21, 2018|archive-date=October 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007111659/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27136270|url-status=live}}

Foster's sexual orientation became the subject of public discussion in 1991 when publications such as OutWeek and The Village Voice, protesting against the alleged homophobia and transphobia in The Silence of the Lambs, claimed she was a lesbian.{{sfn|Hollinger|2006|pp=145–146}} She publicly acknowledged her 14-year relationship with Bernard in 2007 in a speech at The Hollywood Reporter{{'}}s "Women in Entertainment" breakfast honoring her. In 2013, she addressed her decision to come out in a speech after receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 70th Golden Globe Awards, which led many news outlets to describe her as gay.{{cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2013/01/13/Actress-director-Jodie-Foster-comes-out-as-gay-at-Globes/UPI-22611358133629/|title=Actress-director Jodie Foster publicly comes out as gay at Globes|date=January 13, 2013|access-date=January 14, 2013|work=United Press International|archive-date=February 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206221919/https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2013/01/13/Actress-director-Jodie-Foster-comes-out-as-gay-at-Globes/UPI-22611358133629/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://seattletimes.com/html/entertainment/2020128429_apusgoldenglobesjodiefoster.html|title=Foster reveals she's gay, suggests she's retiring|first=Christy|last=Lemire|date=January 14, 2013|access-date=April 26, 2014|agency=Associated Press|archive-date=October 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028062754/http://seattletimes.com/html/entertainment/2020128429_apusgoldenglobesjodiefoster.html|url-status=live}} Some sources noted that she did not use the words "gay" or "lesbian" in her speech.

On December 19, 1983, Foster was detained by U.S. customs agents at Logan International Airport for possessing a gram of cocaine."[https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/12/20/Jodie-Foster-fined-for-cocaine/1373440744400 Jodie Foster fined for cocaine]". United Press International. December 20, 1983."[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/29/us/around-the-nation-jodie-foster-charged-in-cocaine-case.html Jodie Foster Charged In Cocaine Case]". The New York Times. December 29, 1983. She was charged with a misdemeanor and placed on one year's probation."[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/437074409 Probation and court costs for Foster in cocaine case]". The Boston Globe. January 31, 1984.

{{Main|Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan}}

File:Jodie Foster - Valley News (1981).jpg

During her freshman year at Yale in 1980–81, Foster was stalked by John Hinckley Jr., who had developed an obsession with her after watching Taxi Driver multiple times.{{rp|style=ama|p= 74}} He moved to New Haven and tried to contact her by letter and telephone. On March 30, 1981, Hinckley attempted to assassinate United States president Ronald Reagan, wounding him and three other people, claiming that his motive was to impress Foster. The incident drew intense media attention, and Foster was accompanied by bodyguards while on campus.{{rp|style=ama|p= 74}} Judge Barrington D. Parker confirmed that Foster was innocent in the case and had been "unwittingly ensnared in a third party's alleged attempt to assassinate an American President". Her videotaped testimony was played at Hinckley's trial. While at Yale, Foster also had other stalkers, including a man who planned to kill her but changed his mind after seeing her perform in a college play.{{rp|style=ama|p= 74}}

Foster has seldom publicly commented on Hinckley. She wrote an essay, "Why Me?", published in 1982 by Esquire on the condition that "there be no cover lines, no publicity and no photos". In 1991, she canceled an interview on NBC's The Today Show when she discovered that Hinckley would be mentioned in the introduction and the producers would not change it. She discussed Hinckley in a 1999 interview with Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes II, explaining that she does not "like to dwell on it too much ... I never wanted to be the actress who was remembered for that event. Because it didn't have anything to do with me. I was kind of a hapless bystander. But ... what a scarring, strange moment in history for me, to be 17 years old, 18 years old, and to be caught up in a drama like that." She said the incident had a major impact on her career choices, but also acknowledged that her experience was minimal compared to the suffering of Reagan's press secretary, James Brady, who was permanently disabled in the shooting and died from his injuries 33 years later, and his loved ones: "Whatever bad moments that I had certainly could never compare to that family."

{{main articles|Jodie Foster filmography|List of awards and nominations received by Jodie Foster}}

Foster has received two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, the Cannes Film Festival's Honorary Palme d'Or, four Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She also earned the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2013.

Foster has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the following films:

• 49th Academy Awards, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, nomination, Taxi Driver (1976)
• 61st Academy Awards, Best Actress in a Leading Role, The Accused (1988)
• 64th Academy Awards, Best Actress in a Leading Role, The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• 67th Academy Awards, Best Actress in a Leading Role, nomination, Nell (1994)
• 96th Academy Awards, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, nomination, Nyad (2023)

People magazine named her the most beautiful woman in the world in 1992,{{Cite web|title=PEOPLE's Beautiful Issue! A Look Back at All the Covers|url=https://people.com/celebrity/peoples-most-beautiful-a-look-back-at-the-covers/|website=PEOPLE.com|first=Cara Lynn|last=Shultz|author2=Kate Hogan|access-date=September 28, 2020|archive-date=April 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427162522/https://people.com/celebrity/peoples-most-beautiful-a-look-back-at-the-covers/|url-status=live}} and in 2003, she was voted Number 23 in Channel 4's countdown of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time.{{cite news|last=Muir|first=Hugh|date=May 6, 2003|title=Pacino, godfather of movie stars|newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/may/06/filmnews.arts|via=www.theguardian.com|access-date=September 28, 2020|archive-date=December 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229040917/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/may/06/filmnews.arts|url-status=live}} Entertainment Weekly named her 57th on their list of 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in 1996.{{Cite web|title=Entertainment Weekly Magazine's – 'The 100 Greatest Movie Stars of all Time'|first=Vernon|last=Scott|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/10/29/Entertainment-Weekly-Magazines-The-100-Greatest-Movie-Stars-of-all-Time/8571846565200/|website=UPI|date=October 29, 1996|access-date=September 28, 2020|archive-date=October 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020094009/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/10/29/Entertainment-Weekly-Magazines-The-100-Greatest-Movie-Stars-of-all-Time/8571846565200/|url-status=live}} In 2016, she was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star located at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.{{cite web|title=Hollywood Walk of Fame – Jodie Foster|url=https://walkoffame.com/jodie-foster/|access-date=September 28, 2020|website=walkoffame.com|date=October 25, 2019|publisher=Hollywood Chamber of Commerce|archive-date=October 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025224552/https://walkoffame.com/jodie-foster/|url-status=live}}

• List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Youngest nominees for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• List of LGBTQ Academy Award winners and nominees – Best Actress in a Leading Role winners and nominees
• List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories

Explanatory footnotes

{{notelist}}

Citations

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite web

|title=Jodie Foster's Golden Globes speech

|type=transcript

|date=January 13, 2013

|website=ABC News

|url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/01/full-transcript-jodie-fosters-golden-globes-speech/

|access-date=January 14, 2013 |url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114203923/http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/01/full-transcript-jodie-fosters-golden-globes-speech/

|archive-date=January 14, 2013

}}

{{Cite book

| last = Brickman | first = Barbara Jane

| year = 2012

| title = New American Teenagers: The Lost Generation of Youth in 1970s Film

| publisher = Continuum

| isbn = 978-1-4411-7658-5

}}

{{cite book

|author1=Ewing, Charles Patrick

|author2=McCann, Joseph T.

|year=2006

|title=Minds on Trial: Great cases in law and psychology

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|pages=91–102

|isbn=978-0-19-518176-0

}}

{{cite magazine

|last=Fischoff |first=Stuart

|date=January 23, 2013

|title=Jodie Foster: To come out lesbian or let sleeping rumors lie

|magazine=Psychology Today

|url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-media-zone/201301/jodie-foster-come-out-lesbian-or-let-sleeping-rumors-lie

|access-date=April 25, 2014 }}

{{cite web

| first=Greg | last=Hernandez

| date=May 9, 2014

| title=Ellen Page defends Jodie Foster's much maligned coming out speech

| website=gaystarnews.com

| url=http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/ellen-page-defends-jodie-foster%E2%80%99s-much-maligned-coming-out-speech090514

| access-date=May 12, 2014 | url-status=live

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512221025/http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/ellen-page-defends-jodie-foster%E2%80%99s-much-maligned-coming-out-speech090514

| archive-date=May 12, 2014

}}

{{cite news

|title = Chronicle

|date = October 5, 1991

|newspaper = The New York Times

|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/05/style/chronicle-512691.html

|access-date = February 9, 2017 |url-status=live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171206005813/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/05/style/chronicle-512691.html

|archive-date = December 6, 2017

}}

{{Cite book

| last = Sonneborn | first = Liz

| title = A to Z of American Women in the Performing Arts

| year = 2002

| publisher = Facts on File

| isbn = 0-8160-4398-1

| pages = 73–74

| url = https://archive.org/details/tozofamericanwom0000sonn

}}

{{Cite book

| last = Thomson | first = David

| year = 2014

| title = The New Biographical Dictionary of Film

| edition = 6th

| publisher = Abacus

| isbn = 978-0-3491-4111-4

}}

{{cite news

| first=Stuart Jr. |last=Taylor

|date=May 1, 1982

|title=TV barred from tapes of Jodie Foster testimony

|newspaper=The New York Times

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/01/us/tv-barred-from-tapes-of-jodie-foster-testimony.html

|access-date=February 9, 2017 |url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201132010/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/01/us/tv-barred-from-tapes-of-jodie-foster-testimony.html

|archive-date=December 1, 2017

}}

}}

• {{Cite book | last = Cullen| first = Jim | title = Sensing the Past: Hollywood Stars and Historical Visions | year = 2013 | publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-992766-1 }}
• {{Cite book | last = Erb|first= Cynthia|year= 2010|chapter=Jodie Foster and Brooke Shields: 'New Ways to Look at the Young'|editor=Morrison, James |title=Hollywood Reborn: Movie Stars of the 1970s|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-4748-0}}
• {{Cite book | last = Hollinger| first = Karen | title = The Actress: Hollywood Acting and the Female Star | year = 2006 | publisher = Taylor and Francis| isbn = 978-0-415-97792-0}}
• {{Cite book | last = Hollinger| first = Karen | chapter =Jodie Foster: Feminist Hero?|editor= Everett, Anne | title =Pretty People: Movie Stars of the 1990s|year=2012|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-5244-6}}
• {{Cite book |last = Rausch| first = Andrew J. |title=The Films of Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro |year=2010 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7413-8}}
• {{Cite book | last = Snodgrass| first = Mary Ellen | title = Beating the Odds: A Teen Guide to 75 Superstars Who Overcame Adversity | year = 2008 | publisher = Greenwood Press| isbn = 978-0-313-34564-7 }}
• {{Cite book| last = Sonneborn| first = Liz| title = A to Z of American Women in the Performing Arts| year = 2002| publisher = Facts on File| isbn = 0-8160-4398-1| url = https://archive.org/details/tozofamericanwom0000sonn}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{IMDb name}}
• {{TCMDb name |id=64402{{!}}0 |name=Jodie Foster}}
• {{NYTtopic}}
• [http://cinema.encyclopedie.personnalites.bifi.fr/index.php?pk=8849 Jodie Foster] in the online catalog of the Cinémathèque Française

{{s-start}}

{{s-ach|aw&ach}}

{{succession box |

title = Best Actress in a Leading Role |

years = 1988 |

before = Cher |

after = Jessica Tandy |

}}

{{succession box |

title = Best Actress in a Leading Role |

years = 1991 |

before = Kathy Bates |

after = Emma Thompson |

}}

{{s-end}}

{{Jodie Foster|state=expanded}}

{{Navboxes

|title = Awards for Jodie Foster

|list =

{{Academy Award Best Actress}}

{{AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Supporting Actress}}

{{AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Actress (TV/Streaming)}}

{{BAFTA Award for Best Actress 1980-1999}}

{{BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress 1968-1984}}

{{Bafta Award for Most Promising Newcomer}}

{{BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards}}

{{Cecil B. DeMille Award 2001–2025}}

{{Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress}}

{{Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress}}

{{David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress}}

{{EmmyAward MiniseriesLeadActress}}

{{GoldenGlobeBestActressMotionPictureDrama 1981-2000}}

{{Golden Globe Award Best Supporting Actress Motion Picture}}

{{Golden Globe Best Actress TV Miniseries Film}}

{{Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year}}

{{IndependentSpiritBestFemaleLead 1985–1999}}

{{The Life Career Award}}

{{Maltin Modern Master Award}}

{{Mary Pickford Award}}

{{National Board of Review Award for Best Actress}}

{{National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress}}

{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress}}

{{Saturn Award for Best Actress}}

{{ScreenActorsGuildAward FemaleLeadMotionPicture 1994–2000}}

}}

{{César Awards presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Jodie}}

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