Sandra Bullock

Sandra Annette Bullock (born July 26, 1964) is an American film actress.

Early life

Bullock was born in Arlington County, Virginia to John Bullock (a Pentagon contractor and part-time vocal coach from Alabama) and Helga Mayer (a German opera singer, who died of cancer on April 4, 2000); her maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist from Nuremberg. Bullock's mother took her along on her musical tours, and as a result Bullock lived in Germany and other parts of Europe for twelve years during her early life; consequently, she is fluent in German. She began studying ballet and singing as a child, performing small parts in her mother's operas, and later attending Washington-Lee High School, where she was a cheerleader and was voted "Most Likely to Brighten up Your Day" by her class.

Bullock majored in drama at East Carolina University. She left the university during the spring semester of her senior year in order to pursue acting in New York City, where she found it difficult to establish herself and worked as a waitress. Bullock was only three credits short of graduating, and later received an honorary degree.

Career

Bullock moved to Los Angeles, California and was cast in a series of small roles in several independent films as well as in the lead role in the television version of the film Working Girl. One of Bullock's first notable movie appearances was in Demolition Man (1993), which led to her breakthrough performance in Speed the following year. She became a high-level movie star in the late 1990s, carrying a string of successes, including While You Were Sleeping (she replaced actress Demi Moore, who was originally scheduled to star), Miss Congeniality and Two Weeks Notice.

Bullock turned down the lead role in the Oscar-winning film Million Dollar Baby (2004). In 2005, Bullock had a supporting role in the film Crash. She received positive reviews for her performance, with some critics suggesting that it was the best performance of her career.

Bullock runs her own production company, "Fortis Films"; her sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, is vice president of the company. She has been selected as one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" in 1996 and 1999. She has also been ranked #58 in Empire Magazine's "Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list [1].

Private life

Bullock married motorcycle builder and Monster Garage host Jesse James on July 16, 2005. She had previously dated football player Troy Aikman, blues guitarist Guy Forsythe and her film co-stars, Ryan Gosling and Matthew McConaughey. She has also been engaged to actor Tate Donovan.

In October 2004, Bullock won a multi-million-dollar judgment in a lawsuit against Benny Daneshjou, the builder of her Lake Austin, Texas mansion. She had never resided in the home, claiming it is uninhabitable; Daneshjou denied any wrongdoing and is appealing the judgment.

Bullock has twice donated a sum of $1 million to the American Red Cross, first to its Liberty Disaster Relief Fund and four years later, in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2005	Crash	Jean Cabot
2005	Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous	Gracie Hart
2002	Two Weeks Notice	Lucy Kelson
2002	Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood	Siddalee 'Sidda' Walker
2002	Murder by Numbers	Cassie Mayweather
2000	Miss Congeniality	Gracie Hart
2000	28 Days	Gwen Cummings
2000	Gun Shy	Judy Tipp
1999	Forces of Nature	Sarah Lewis
1998	Practical Magic	Sally Owens
1998	Hope Floats	Birdee Pruitt
1997	Speed 2: Cruise Control	Annie
1996	In Love and War	Agnes 'Aggie/Ag' von Kurowsky
1996	A Time to Kill	Ellen Roark
1996	Two If by Sea	Roz
1995	The Net	Angela Bennett/Ruth Marx
1995	While You Were Sleeping	Lucy Eleanor Moderatz
1994	Speed	Annie Porter
1992	Love Potion No. 9	Diane Farrow

Interviews

External links

Sandra Bullock at IMDb