From child star to LGBT icon: Jodie Foster turns 57

At just three years old, Alicia Christian Foster (better known as Jodie ) was already working as an actress in a popular sitcom of the sixties, as well as being a child model. As a good child star worth her salt, she also passed through the ranks of Disney , but soon her career turned towards more dramatic roles and she began to gain recognition from a very early age.

The great visionary who discovered Jodie Foster ‘s innate talent for other types of roles was Martin Scorsese himself , who called her for a small part in his 1974 film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and just two years later chose her for the role that would launch a prestigious career in Hollywood .

Jodie Foster as Iris in Taxi Driver alongside Robert De Niro

In the legendary “Taxi Driver”  (1976), Foster – who was fourteen at the time – played the precocious 12-year-old prostitute who becomes the obsession of the protagonist played by Robert De Niro . Measuring herself alongside the actor and again under the orders of the Italian-American director, Jodie earned the respect of critics and a nomination for an Oscar as Supporting Actress .

From that moment on, a series of complex and challenging roles established her as one of the best actresses of her generation. Her status as a promising young actress was consolidated with “Acusada” (1988) , where she played a rape victim who suffered the inequalities of the judicial system. That was the role that earned her her first Oscar for Best Actress .

In 1997 he starred in the adaptation of “Contact”, which pitted science against religion.

Three years later, she took home the statuette again for her most memorable role to date, that of Agent Clarice Starling in “The Silence of the Lambs” alongside Anthony Hopkins . The nineties also saw her debut behind the camera as director and producer of several of her films and she was nominated for an Oscar again for her role in “A Woman Called Nell” (1994).

With almost fifty years of career behind him, in 2013 he received the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globe ceremony . It was there, in the acceptance speech he gave that night, that he decided to speak publicly about his sexuality . His words resonated in the LGBT community (for better and for worse) and from that moment on he became an icon.

Many criticised her for not speaking openly to the press and the world about her sexual orientation for so long, as a matter of representation and visibility, something extremely important for oppressed minorities. But they also celebrated the fact that – after many years of rumours and speculation – Jodie decided to clear the air and talk about her private life.

I have a sudden need to say something I have never been able to convey in public.

She justified herself by explaining that for someone who had been in the public eye since she was a baby, it was very difficult to protect her privacy and she preferred to speak to the press as little as possible in order to preserve that part of herself that was not exposed to the public eye. Despite her measured speech, Jodie became one of the few actresses of her generation – and one of the most famous – to openly declare herself lesbian and thus become a role model for many people around the world.