Profile Text
Foster in 2011, photo by PrPhotos.com
Birth Name: Alicia Christian Foster
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, United States
Date of Birth: November 19, 1962
Ethnicity: English, some Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, Irish, possibly German, distant French
Jodie Foster is an American actress, director, producer, filmmaker, and model. She has twice won the Academy Award for Best Actress , for The Accused (1988) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Her roles also include the films Napoleon and Samantha , Kansas City Bomber , Tom Sawyer (1973), One Little Indian , Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore , Taxi Driver , Echoes of a Summer , Bugsy Malone , The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane , Freaky Friday (1976), Moi, fleur bleue ; Casotto , Candleshoe , Foxes (1980), Carny , O’Hara’s Wife , The Hotel New Hampshire , Mesmerized , Siesta (1987), Five Corners , Stealing Home , Catchfire (1990), Shadows and Fog , Sommersby , It Was a Wonderful Life , Maverick (1994), Nell , Contact (1997), Anna and the King , The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys , Panic Room , Abby Singer , A Very Long Engagement , Flightplan , Inside Man (2006), The Brave One (2007), Nim’s Island , Carnage (2011), Elysium , Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché , Hotel Artemis , The Mauritanian , Nyad , A Private Life , and Breakdown: 1975 ; the made-for-tv movies Svengali (1983) and The Blood of Others ; and the series Mayberry R.F.D. , The Courtship of Eddie’s Father , Gunsmoke , My Three Sons , The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan , Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice , The Addams Family , Paper Moon , and True Detective: Night Country . She has directed the films Little Man Tate , Home for the Holidays (1995), The Beaver (2011), and Money Monster , the first and third of which she also starred in; as well as directed episodes of Tales from the Darkside , Orange Is the New Black , and Black Mirror ( Arkangel ).
Jodie is the daughter of Evelyn Della/Ella “Brandy” (Almond), a film producer, and Lucius Fisher Foster III, a real estate broker, and decorated U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel. Her brother is actor Buddy Foster (Lucius Fisher Foster IV). Jodie is married to photographer, director, and actress Alexandra Hedison . Jodie has two children, including actor Charlie B. Foster, with her former partner Cydney Bernard. She founded production company Egg Pictures.
On her father’s side, she has English, along with Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, Irish, and distant French, ancestry. Jodie’s mother was born in the Bronx, New York, and raised in Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois; she is sometimes cited as being of part German descent. Jodie has also said that she has roots in County Cork, Ireland.
Jodie speaks French, and dubs her own roles into the language.
Jodie’s paternal grandfather was Lucius Fisher Foster (the son of Alexis Caldwell Foster and Alice Eddy Fisher). Lucius was born in Denver, Colorado, and was a member of the 336th Fighter Squadron. He was from a family with deep Colonial American roots, particularly in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and was a Mayflower descendant. Alexis was born in Tennessee, the son of Turner Saunders Foster and Harriet/Harriett Erwin. Jodie’s great-grandmother Alice was born in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, the daughter of Lucius George Fisher, Jr. and Katherine Louise Eddy.
Jodie’s paternal grandmother was Constance Marie Robertson (the daughter of Samuel R. Robertson and Elizabeth Hughes). Constance was born in Paris, Henry, Tennessee. Samuel was born in Tennessee, the son of William Platt Robertson, who had Scottish and Irish heritage; and of Louanna Noble Harris. Elizabeth was born in Mississippi, the daughter of Napoleon Emmett Hughes and Maria Constance Courtenay/Courtney.
Jodie’s biological maternal grandmother was named Josie Almond, and was born in Rockford. Jodie’s biological maternal grandfather has not been publicly identified. Jodie’s mother was adopted by Lucy M. (Lefler) and John Clinton Almond, who were related to her own biological mother.
Through her Almond line, Jodie likely descends from William Almond and Mary Ann Day, who were English, from Yorkshire.
Sources: Rolling Stone article about Jodie Foster, 1991 – http://www.rollingstone.com
Genealogies of Jodie Foster – http://famouskin.com https://www.geni.com http://www.countyhistorian.com
Genealogy of Jodie Foster (focusing on her father’s side) – http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com
Jodie’s mother on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org Jodie’s mother on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Jodie’s mother’s adoptive parents, John Clinton Almond and Lucy M. Lefler, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org