Amy Adams

Amy Lou Adams 

20 August 1974

An American actress and singer. Throughout her years at Douglas County High School, Adams sang in the school choir and trained as an apprentice at a local dance company with ambitions of becoming a ballerina. Her parents had hoped that she would continue her athletic training, which she gave up to pursue dance, as it would have given her a chance to obtain a college scholarship. After graduating from high school, she moved to Atlanta with her mother. Deciding that she was not gifted enough to be a professional ballerina, she entered musical theater, which she found was "much better suited to [her] personality". Adams began working professionally as a dancer at Boulder's Dinner Theatre and Country Dinner Playhouse and Heritage Square Music Hall. There, she was spotted by a Minneapolis dinner theater director, Michael Brindisi, in 1995. Adams relocated to Chanhassen, Minnesota, and worked at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres for the next three years. While she was off work nursing a pulled muscle, she auditioned for the satirical 1999 comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous, which was being filmed in Minnesota, and was cast in her first film role. 

As actress

• Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
• Psycho Beach Party (2000)
• The Chromium Hook (2000)
• Cruel Intentions 2 (2000)
• The Slaughter Rule (2002)
• Pumpkin (2002)
• Serving Sara (2002)
• Catch Me If You Can (2002)
• The Last Run (2004)
• The Wedding Date (2005)
• Junebug (2005)
• Standing Still (2005)
• Pennies (2006)
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
• Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006)
• The Ex (2007)
• Underdog (2007)
• Enchanted (2007)
• Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
• Doubt (2008)
• Sunshine Cleaning (2009)
• Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
• Julie & Julia (2009)
• Moonlight Serenade (2009)
• Love & Distrust (2010)
• Leap Year (2010)
• The Fighter (2010)
• The Muppets (2011)
• The Master (2012)
• Trouble with the Curve (2012)
• On the Road (2012)
• Man of Steel (2013)
• American Hustle (2013)
• Her (2013)
• Lullaby (2014)
• Big Eyes (2014)
• Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
• Arrival (2016)
• Nocturnal Animals (2016)
• Justice League (2017)

Quotations

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I think a lot of times we don't pay enough attention to people with a positive attitude because we assume they are naive or stupid or unschooled.

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I like Cinderella, I really do. She has a good work ethic. I appreciate a good, hard-working gal. And she likes shoes. The fairy tale is all about the shoe at the end, and I'm a big shoe girl.

* * *

Being pregnant finally helped me understand what my true relationship was with my body - meaning that it wasn't put on this earth to look good in a swimsuit.

* * *

When I died my hair red the first time, I felt as if it was what nature intended. I have been accused of being a bit of a spitfire, so in that way, I absolutely live up to the stereotype. The red hair suits my personality. I was a terrible blonde!

* * *

I used to have a lot of superstitions, and then I realized that it was kind of hogwash. Once I let go of them, I relaxed a lot.

* * *

Perfect isn't normal, nor is it interesting. I have no features without makeup. I am pale. I have blond lashes. You could just paint my face - it's like a blank canvas. It can be great for what I do.

* * *

I'm pretty Sicilian if I've been crossed. I don't seek revenge, but I never forget. And I make it hard to repair, which is not a great quality because if people held me to that standard, no one would be around me - ever.

* * *

I'd love to be a diva. But I'd then have to send so many apology notes for my abhorrent behaviour.

* * *

I'm really good at gymnastics, and that's about it.

* * *

It's just very homey in Ireland. It's very comforting and comfortable. There's lots of fireplaces with fires. It's just really cozy.

* * *

I grew up as a Mormon, and that had more of an impact on my values than my beliefs. I'm afraid I will always feel the weight of a lie. I'm very hard on myself anyway. Religious guilt carries over too. You can't really misbehave without feeling badly about it. At least, I can't.

* * *

I didn't necessarily fit in in high school. I felt very awkward. I still feel completely awkward and weird in my body sometimes. I'm hoping that's going to go away, but I've just embraced it as reality.

* * *

I'm like the luckiest girl in the world. I've gotten to be a princess, I've gotten to work with the Muppets. A lot of my childhood dreams about who I wanted to be when I was a grown-up, I at least get to play them in movies.

* * *

I have worked with some of the meanest people in the world. You can't do anything to intimidate me.

* * *

In high school, I was so painfully self-aware that how I thought of myself was probably very different from what other people thought of me. I thought of myself as just painfully awkward and dorky. I had a lot of hair and was kind of weird. I sang a lot in the hallways.

* * *

I knew I wanted to be a performer, but I didn't know I would specifically be in film. I actually never thought I would be in film. I always envisioned being on the stage.

* * *

I like not being noticed. It has been a struggle because I love performing, but if I'm in a group of people and someone has a bigger personality, I'm like, 'Go ahead, and have fun!'

* * *

I research every part thoroughly. I talk it out with my actor friends, but then I throw it all away when I get to the set. You have to be spontaneous.

* * *

My job as an actress is to make things work and come up with reasons of my own and not just fill in the blanks for anybody else, you know what I mean?

* * *

School was hard for me. If there had been a school for the creative arts, I might have thrived, but... I needed that creative outlet so much. Also, I'm just bad with numbers.

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