Armed with one of the widest smiles in Hollywood, talented starlet Anne Hathaway rose to fame with the success of 2001’s “The Princess Diaries” playing an average teenager who belatedly learns that she belongs to a royal family. Since then she has starred in other family-friendly films and has recently appeared in dramatic roles in films like “Brokeback Mountain”.
Born on November 12, 1982 in Brooklyn, New York, Hathaway was raised in a strongly Catholic family and dreamed of being a nun in her youth. However, when she learned at the age of fifteen that her brother Michael was gay she decided against a life in the Catholic Church due to its lack of support for homosexuals. While growing up in New Jersey, Hathaway attended Millburn High School and was the first and only teenager accepted into the Barrow Group Theater Company’s acting program. Her mother Kate McCauley inspired the gorgeous teen to pursue acting, and she made her screen debut in the promising 1999 Fox series “Get Real”, which was cancelled after a single season due to poor ratings.
Hathaway’s next appearance made her an overnight star. With a domestic gross of over $100 million, 2001’s “The Princess Diaries” was a surprise smash, reviving the career of screen legend Julie Andrews and making Hathaway one of the most well-known teen stars on the planet. Immediately after the film’s success, Hathaway enrolled at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY where she stayed for two years before finishing at New York University. During this time she starred in the religious drama “The Other Side of Heaven”, appeared in the ensemble cast of “Nicholas Nickleby” in 2002, starred as a fairy tale princess in “Ella Enchanted”, and reprised her star-making role in 2004 with “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement”, which was nearly as successful as the original.
Recently Hathaway has quietly moved away from her childlike image, appearing in Barbara Kopple’s incendiary drama “Havoc” and in the Oscar-winning “Brokeback Mountain” alongside Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and fellow rising star Michelle Williams. She appeared nude in both films, and the latter earned her heaps of praise from major critics around the world. Playing Gyllenhaal’s wife Lureen, Hathaway gave a powerful performance in her brief role, earning the respect of audiences and critics who had relegated her to permanent teen star status. This summer she has been busy butting heads with the indomitable Meryl Streep in the surprise smash “The Devil Wears Prada”, and is currently shooting the starring role of “Becoming Jane”, a biopic focusing on the early years of famed novelist Jane Austen.