Connelly was born on December 12, 1979, in Catskill Mountains, New York, to parents Gerard, a clothing manufacturer, and Eileen, an antique dealer. She was raised in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, and went to St. Ann’s School.
She became a child model at the age of ten when one her father’s friends, an advertising executive, suggested she audition at a modeling agency. She soon began to appear in newspaper and magazine ads, and then moved to television commercials.
Her first role was in Sergio Leone’s 1984 gangsta epic Once Upon a Time in America, starring Robert De Niro, where she played Elisabeth McGovern. She next starred in Phenomena in 1985, and that same year she had the lead part of Natalie Becker in the coming-of-age movie, Seven Minutes in Heaven.
In 1986, she landed a lead role opposite goblin king Jareth, played by David Bowie, in Jim Henson’s and George Lucas’ fantasy film, Labyrinth. She played Sarah, a teenager who wishes her baby brother into the world of goblins.
In 1990, she landed the role of sexpot Gloria Harper where she did her first topless scene. It was the first of seven movies in which she appeared nude.
The following year Connelly was featured on the August cover of Esquire magazine as part of the "Women We Love" feature. Then she began studying English at Yale and transferred two years later to Stanford.
While in university, Connelly was cast in the lead of Disney’s The Rocketeer. Here she met co-star Billy Campbell and ended up having a long-term romance with him.
In 1995, Connelly was cast as a lesbian in John Singleton’s Higher Learning, co-starring Tyra Banks; and the following year she appeared in Mulholland Falls and starred in the indie film Far Harbor .
In 1998 she had a leading role in the science fiction film Dark City. Two years later she played Pollock’s mistress in Pollock. In 2000 she landed a breakthrough role in Requiem for a Dream, and followed that part up the following year with a stunning performance in A Beautiful Mind.
Connelly starred in Hulk in 2003 as Betty Ross, and as Kathy in the drama House of Sand and Fog in 2003, with Ben Kingsley. In 2005 she appeared in the horror film Dark Water, and appears as a journalist Maddy Bowen in 2006’s Blood Diamond opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. She is currently working on the thriller Reservation Road, which is planned to release in the fall of 2007.
On January 1, 2003, Connelly married English actor Paul Bettany, whom she met while working on A Beautiful Mind. The couple has a son, Stellan, born on August 5, 2003. Connelly also has a son, Kai, born in 1997, from her relationship with photographer David Dungan.
YUDDY
