Actor / Director Profile

Jennifer Beals was born on December 19, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in the city. With a life-long desire for acting, Beals first appeared in small high school plays and even got an uncredited bit part in My Bodyguard (1980). After graduation, she enrolled in college at Yale University, studying American literature. She appeared in her first starring role in the movie Flashdance (1983) while still a freshman at Yale. While at Yale, she also starred in Franc Roddam's The Bride (1985). After graduation from Yale, Beals married independent filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell, and appeared in several of his films. Most notably, she starred in his In the Soup (1992), which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Deauville Film Festival.Beals has continued to find acting work with lead roles in obscure independent films and various made-for-television productions, as well as occasional supporting roles mainstream features such as Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Catch That Kid (2004), The Grudge 2 (2006), and The Book of Eli (2010). One of her most notable roles came in 2004 when she was cast on the Showtime cable TV series "The L Word" (2004), playing a lesbian art gallery manager named "Bette Porter" throughout its entire run until 2009. Her latest role is playing Police Superintendant Teresa Colvin on the Fox Network crime series "The Chicago Code" (2011).In her personal life, Beals divorced Rockwell in 1996 and married Canadian entrepreneur Ken Dixon two years later. On October 18, 2005, she gave birth to a daughter.