Amy Lou Adams was born on August 20, 1975, on the U.S. military base in Aviano, Italy, where her father was stationed with the U.S. Army, and she was raised in Castle Rock, Colorado. She worked at the local Hooters Restaurant part-time while attending high school, all the while dreaming of a career in show business. Following graduation, she trained for a career as a dancer, and found work in a prominent Denver dinner theater.
amy adams in drop dead gorgeous
In 1996, Amy Adams relocated to Minnesota after a producer hired her to replace one of the girls at his dinner theater in Chanhassen, outside of Minneapolis. There, she honed her singing, dancing and acting skills, appearing in a number of productions, including Brigadoon and Good News.
While the Midwest, location may not have been as ideal as New York or L.A., she landed a lucky break when she was cast in the 1999 comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous, costarring Kirsten Dunst and Denise Richards, which happened to be set in Minnesota.
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Amy Adams' positive experience in making Drop Dead Gorgeous helped her change her mind about doing dinner theater, and at the urging of her costar Kirstie Alley, she moved out to Los Angeles. Within a few weeks of her arrival, she landed a leading role on the FOX TV series Manchester Prep, based on the movie Cruel Intentions. The show never aired due to its risque sexual content; instead, it was released in 2000 as Cruel Intentions 2, a direct-to-video feature film.
Despite this minor setback, Amy Adams continued to find steady acting gigs. In 2000, she appeared in episodes of such TV series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Providence, Charmed, and That '70s Show, as well as in independent films like The Chromium Hook and Psycho Beach Party. In 2001, she guest starred in an episode of Smallville, and appeared in an episode of The West Wing the following year.
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Amy Adams padded her movie role resume in 2002 with appearances in Serving Sara, starring Elizabeth Hurley and Matthew Perry, and Pumpkin with Christina Ricci. That same year, she had a small but memorable part as Leonardo DiCaprio's fiancee in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. Her sole screen appearance in 2003 was in the drama The Slaughter Rule with Ryan Gosling.
Amy Adams reemerged in 2004, costarring with Fred Savage in the comedy The Last Run. She lent her voice to a couple of episodes of the animated series King of the Hill, and costarred with Rob Lowe on Dr. Vegas, a CBS series that failed to find an audience and was quickly canceled.
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2005 became the breakthrough year for Amy Adams. She played Debra Messing's half-sister in the romantic comedy The Wedding Date, and landed the recurring role of Katy on the popular TV sitcom The Office. However, the highlight of her year was her poignant and very funny portrayal of Ashley in Junebug -- a pregnant Southern belle, who, despite not being the central character in the film, emerged as the most memorable. After wowing audiences at Sundance, her performance went on to win acclaim from several critics' associations.
Amy Adams was cast alongside Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen (otherwise known as Ali G) in the NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) and in the musical Moonlight Serenade (2006).
amy adams in enchanted
2007 was a busy year for Amy Adams. She appeared in Enchanted alongside Grey's Anatomy superstar Patrick Dempsey. The role showed Amy's comedic side and shot her straight into the limelight around the world. The movie was a huge success. Soon after Amy landed a role in the biographical drama, Charlie Wilson's War alongside bigwigs like Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
amy adams in doubt
Despite her multiple roles in headliner movies, it was udoubtedly (see what we did there?) Amy's role in the Oscar nominated flick Doubt that really pushed her into superstardom. With Meryl Streep and Viola Davis as her costars, how could she not shine brightly? And the audiences weren't the only ones who noticed her shining, the execs at the Academy Awards gave an Oscar nom to Amy Adams for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, and while she received this nod before for her role in Junebug, Doubt had a much more dramatic impact on the audience and the critics.
2008 didn't just bring Doubt and an Oscar nod to Amy Adams; the sexy star also officially left the market as she and her boyfriend (Darren Le Gallo) of six years became engaged in April.