16 Things You Didn't Know About Amy Adams
- Photo: Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock.com
A Star Turn In 'Enchanted' Increased Her Visibility
Enchanted director Kevin Lima wanted a relatively unknown actress for the lead role in his 2007 fantasy musical, a mix of live action and animation. He auditioned hundreds of actresses for the part of a princess exiled from a storybook land by an evil queen. Lima said he saw "probably 300 girls looking for Giselle," and wasn't sure he would find the right person.
However, when Lima saw Adams, he knew she was perfect for it. He told The Hollywood Reporter:
First of all, she walked into the room and she looked like a Disney character. She's got those beautiful round eyes and fair skin. Boy, I just crossed my fingers and hoped that she understood how to play the character. What she brought [to it] and what I was looking for the whole time was someone who didn't judge the character's naivete, an actor who could disappear into the role and never wink at the role while they were playing it [and] never think that what they were doing was ridiculous. And she was a revelation.
- Photo: Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock.com
Dyeing Her Hair Red Helped Her Career
At age 27, Adams decided to dye her lush strawberry blond hair a deep red to help her acting career. Of the bold change in look, she said at a New York Times "TimesTalk" session:
Based on roles that I was getting, called in for, people were responding to certain types of characters with me as a blonde and the minute I went red, it was quirky and fun instead of flirtatious and dumb. It was great. I liked that.
The change in hair hue seemed to work. Adams landed a part in the short-lived Rob Lowe television series Dr. Vegas, followed by a role in the independent film Junebug, which proved to be a turning point in her career.
- Photo: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
She Almost Gave Up Acting
Adams landed several guest roles on major television shows early in her career, appearing on series such as Smallville and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In 2004, when Adams turned 30, she suffered a career setback after being fired from Dr. Vegas, her first major recurring TV role. At that point, she had serious doubts about whether or not she could sustain a career as a Hollywood actress.
In 2005, Adams was cast as Ashley in Junebug, but wasn't sure if the independent film would even find an audience. She told Vanity Fair:
They were making it for under $1 million - you just don’t know when you’re involved in smaller projects if they’re going to be seen. So I had to really come to terms with what I wanted in my life and what was going to make me happy. Did that mean staying in LA and continuing to pursue a career in film acting? Was it moving to New York and trying to go back to the stage? Or stopping acting altogether?
I was at that point in my life where I did not know where I was going to go. I wanted to be a grown-up, but I didn’t know how.
Junebug was a hit, and Adams earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her turn as the sweet and quirky Ashley.
- Photo: GIO_LE / Shutterstock.com
She Was Born In Italy
Adams was born on August 20, 1974, in Vicenza, Italy. The fourth of seven siblings, she has four brothers and two sisters. Both her parents are American. Her father, Richard, was a US serviceman stationed in Italy when Adams was born.
The family moved around to different bases during Adams's formative years before they ultimately settled in Castle Rock, CO.
- Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
She Worked At Hooters
After high school graduation, Adams decided to forego college to become a dancer. She moved with her mother to Atlanta, GA, and took a job at Hooters. However, the skimpier outfits and rowdy crowds were out of Adams's comfort range. She told Vanity Fair:
I hate to sound so innocent but... where I grew up, what was being sold to us was far less sexualized than what’s being sold to kids now. So there was definitely an innocence to my interpretation of what [the restaurant] was about. Though I did learn, quickly, that short shorts and beer don’t mix! The nicest guy walking in is not necessarily the nicest guy after two pitchers of beer.
Her stint at the chain lasted just three weeks, which gave Adams enough money to purchase a used car.
- Photo: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
She Was Raised In The Mormon Faith
Adams's parents were both Mormon and raised their kids according to the tenets of Mormonism. As such, Adams developed a strong sense of faith shaped by her early religious beliefs. However, in 1985, her parents divorced and stopped attending their church.
The actress said the lessons she learned in the church formed a solid moral foundation. She told The Sun:
I grew up as a Mormon, and that had more of an impact on my values than my beliefs. I'm afraid I will always feel the weight of a lie. I'm very hard on myself anyway. Religious guilt carries over, too. You can't really misbehave without feeling badly about it - at least I can't.
- Photo: DFree / Shutterstock.com
She "Hounded" The Director For A Role In 'Doubt'
Adams was determined to play Sister James in Doubt, the film adaptation of John Patrick Shanley's Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The story is about a Catholic school principal and a young teacher who both believe the school's priest may be inappropriately touching students.
"I just loved Doubt. I loved the delicacy of it," Adams told Vanity Fair.
Adams was not on Shanley's radar, so she needed to convince him she was a good fit for the role. "I didn’t audition - I hounded!" Adams said. "I hounded [producer] Scott Rudin and John Patrick Shanley for months!" Another actress was attached to play the supporting part, but that didn't stop Adams from flying to New York to meet Shanley, ostensibly for coffee.
Shanley, who wrote and directed the adaptation, said although they did not specifically talk about the film when they met, he knew right away Adams was perfect for the role of Sister James: "Her natural, deferential charm and openness were traits the character needed to have. And she had the look for it, and was self-effacing, as Sister James was - and smart as a whip."
Adams's persistence and Shanley's intuition paid off. Adams earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nod for the role.
- Photo: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
She Came Up With The Idea To Kiss Jennifer Lawrence In 'American Hustle'
A racy scene in 2013's American Hustle between Adams and Jennifer Lawrence takes place in a bathroom and features two of America's most popular actresses locking lips. According to Adams, the kiss was her idea. During an interview on the late-night program Chelsea Lately, she said:
My character is really strong, and her character is kind of [wild], and I was thinking, "Why would I let her leave?" I really want to tell her something, and I thought, "What's the craziest thing she could have done to me?" I thought she should kiss me.
Lawrence liked the idea. "Jen was open," Adams said. "She's open to anything." Adams said of the kiss from Lawrence, "She does a great job at it! She has very soft lips. She's a really awesome woman. Everyone's chemistry is so electric in this."
Both actresses received Oscar nominations for their work in American Hustle, and both won Golden Globe Awards for their performances.
- Photo: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
She Originally Wanted To Become A Ballerina
Adams participated in many different activities when she attended Douglas County High School in Colorado. She sang in the choir, ran track, did gymnastics, and studied ballet. Adams had ambitions to be a professional ballerina and trained as an apprentice at the David Taylor Dance Company. Eventually, she set her sights on the stage instead and found a passion for theater.
Her musical talent came in handy when Adams landed the lead role of Giselle in the 2007 movie musical Enchanted. She also had singing roles in The Muppets and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.
- Photo: Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com
She Still Suffers From Stage Fright
While Adams has received multiple Oscar nominations and appeared in dozens of films, she still suffers from stage fright. "I've had anxiety attacks on stage my whole career," she told Cover Media in 2016. "At the Oscars, I was like, 'Who talked me into this?'"
Adams talked about her fears at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2013:
The only thing that allows you to be a risk taker is somebody who tells you that your fears are pointless, really. And tells you that really the only thing that fear indicates is... it’s a risk worth taking... I’m a fearful person, and I think being brave means working through your fear; it doesn’t mean not having it.
- Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
She's Afraid Of Flying
In a bit of irony, the actress who played Lois Lane in Man of Steel has a fear of flying. Adding more fear to her flight issues, she's also claustrophobic. Of this, Adams told Glamour Germany: "None of this has been diagnosed, but I recognize the symptoms as they affect me."
Because Adams needs to fly for her job, she uses meditation and self-hypnosis to assuage her concerns.
- Photo: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
Emily Blunt Is Like Her Sister
Adams and Emily Blunt first worked together on the Tom Hanks movie Charlie Wilson's War in 2007. They struck up an immediate friendship, which led to the pair working together in the 2008's Sunshine Cleaning, in which they play sisters who start a crime-scene cleaning service.
The pair have since become exceptionally close, as Blunt said to MTV News in 2009: "We have a weird inner dialogue that we sort of know what the other one’s thinking. It was like I’d known her forever. She still very much feels like my sister."
Out of everyone she's worked with over the years, Adams said, she is closest to the English actress. She told Hollywood Life: "Emily and I keep in touch all of the time. We try to see each other when we’re both not working."
- Photo: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com
She Met Her Husband In An Acting Class
Adams married her husband, Darren Le Gallo, in 2015. The couple met in an acting class in 2001. At first, they were just friends. But when they acted in a short film together, Pennies, and got to know each other outside of class, they started dating.
Le Gallo has had small roles on TV shows like Six Feet Under and films including Date Night and, with Adams, The Master. He's also an artist whose work is described as "somewhere between surrealism and expressionism."
The couple has a daughter, Aviana.
- Photo: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
Kirstie Alley Encouraged Her To Move To Los Angeles
Adams was working in a dinner theater in Minneapolis, MN, when she got her first big break. She landed a role in the 1999 dark comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous when the movie was filming in Minnesota.
On the advice of co-star Kirstie Alley, Adams moved to Los Angeles to become a Hollywood actress.
- Photo: Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com
She Is Related To President Harry S. Truman
Adams has a pretty important branch on her family tree. Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, is her fifth cousin twice removed. Truman served as vice president to Franklin D. Roosevelt and became president following Roosevelt's passing in 1945.
He remained commander-in-chief for a second term and left office in 1953.
- Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
Her Father Was A Singer, And Her Mother Was A Bodybuilder
Show business genes run in the Adams family. Her dad, Richard, was a singer who often performed at various venues, including clubs or pizza places. Adams told Vanity Fair about fun family nights out to see him on stage:
We used to watch him - honestly, we went everywhere my parents went - so there would be seven of us in a bar. I mean, it was a pizza place, but it had a bar. We’d drink Shirley Temples in the "bar area" - we couldn’t sit at the bar itself - and watch my dad play guitar and sing.
Her mother was a semi-professional competitive bodybuilder. The whole family attended her competitions. Adams told The Guardian she realizes now her mother was an inspiration:
My mother has a really strong sense of self, which is probably more inspiring to me as a grownup than it was to me as a kid. Back then, I was like, "Mom, can you not show up in the cool jumpsuit and the spiky hair?'"
