Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, producer, talk show host, and businesswoman. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she has received multiple awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award, an Emmy Award, and an Actor Award. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2023.[1]
Barrymore rose to prominence as a child star in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Firestarter (1984). She established herself as a Hollywood leading actress with roles in Poison Ivy (1992), Boys on the Side (1995) and Scream (1996). Barrymore appeared in the franchise Charlie's Angels (2000), and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) and has starred a number of times with Adam Sandler including in The Wedding Singer (1998) and 50 First Dates (2004). Other notable film credits include Batman Forever (1995), Donnie Darko (2001), and He's Just Not That Into You (2009).
Barrymore won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Film for her portrayal of Edith Bouvier Beale in HBO's Grey Gardens (2009), played Sheila Hammond on the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet (2017–2019), and hosts the daytime talk show The Drew Barrymore Show (2020–present).[2]
Barrymore is the founder of the production company Flower Films and has starred in several of its projects. She made her directorial debut with Whip It (2009). She launched a range of cosmetics under the Flower banner in 2013.[3] Her other business ventures include a range of wines,[4] homeware, and clothing.[5] She has released four New York Times bestselling books, including the memoir Little Girl Lost (1990) and the photobook Find It in Everything (2014).[6][7]
Early life
Ancestry
Barrymore was born on February 22, 1975, in Culver City, California, an inner suburb of Los Angeles. Her father was John Drew Barrymore, an actor. Her mother, Jaid Barrymore was an actor as well.[8][9] Her mother was born in a displaced persons camp in Brannenburg, West Germany, to Hungarian World War II refugees.[10][11] Through her father, Barrymore has three older half-siblings, including actor John Blyth Barrymore.[12]
Career
Early roles and breakthrough as a child actor (1976–1985)
Barrymore appeared in a dog food commercial when she was eleven months old. After her film debut with a small role in Altered States, she played Gertie in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Director Steven Spielberg felt she had the right imagination for the role after she impressed him with a story that she led a punk rock band.[25] E.T. was the highest-grossing film of the 1980s and made Barrymore one of the most famous child actors of the time. She won the Young Artist Award for Best Young Supporting Actress[26] and was nominated for the Rising Star Award at the British Academy Film Awards. In the eighth season of Saturday Night Live, she became the youngest person to guest-host the series at 7 years old.[27] Barrymore said that "nobody treated me like a kid there" and she didn't feel different than any other cast member despite her age.
Public image
Barrymore became a CoverGirl Cosmetics' model and spokeswoman in 2007.[140] In February 2015, she became one of the faces of CoverGirl, alongside Queen Latifah and Taylor Swift. The company partnered with her because "she emulates the iconic image of CoverGirl with her fresh, natural beauty and energetic yet authentic spirit," said Esi Eggleston Bracey, vice president and general manager of CoverGirl Cosmetics North America. She brought not only her personality into this endorsement but also her creative side, as she also helped create the ads.[141] She was No. 1 on People's annual 100 Most Beautiful People list in 2007.[142] She was named the new face for the Gucci jewelry line.[143][144]
Personal life
Barrymore practices meditation.[153]
In a 2003 interview with New Woman magazine, Barrymore said: "Do I like women sexually? Yeah, I do. Totally. I have always considered myself bisexual. I love a woman's body. I think a woman and a woman together are beautiful, just as a man and a woman together are beautiful. Being with a woman is like exploring your own body, but through someone else". She added "I don't think I could ever just solely be with a woman…It's just not enough for me."[154][155][156]
Barrymore is the godmother of Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love.[157]
Barrymore eats a
Acting credits and accolades
Barrymore's films compiled a worldwide box office gross that stood at over US$2.3 billion. According to The Hollywood Reporter's annual Star Salary Top 10, she was tied for eighth place on the top ten list of actresses' salaries, commanding 10 to 12 million dollars per film in 2006.[194]
Barrymore became the youngest person to host Saturday Night Live, having hosted on November 20, 1982, at seven years of age, a record that remains unbroken as of 2024.[195][196] On February 3, 2007, Barrymore hosted SNL for the fifth time, becoming the second female host (after Candice Bergen) in the show's history to do so. She hosted again on October 10, 2009, becoming the first woman to host six times.[197]
In 1999, Barrymore was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award commemorating her outstanding achievements within the film industry as a child actress.
Bibliography
Following a highly publicized childhood marked by drug and alcohol abuse, she released an autobiography, Little Girl Lost, which became a New York Times best seller. E. P. Dutton published a collection of Barrymore's autobiographical essays in her book Wildflower in 2015, for which she also narrated the audiobook version; it was also a bestseller.[200][201]
- Barrymore, Drew. Little Girl Lost. Pocket Books, 1990. ISBN 0-671-68923-1
- Barrymore, Drew. Find It in Everything. Little, Brown and Company, 2014. ISBN 0-316-25906-3
- Barrymore, Drew. Wildflower. Dutton, 2015. ISBN 1-101-98381-7
- Barrymore, Drew and Valdes, Pilar. Rebel Homemaker: Food, Family, Life. Dutton, 2021. ISBN 0-593-18410-6
See also
Further reading
- Aronson, Virginia. Drew Barrymore. Chelsea House, 1999. ISBN 0-7910-5306-7
- Bankston, John. Drew Barrymore. Chelsea House Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0-7910-6772-6
- Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914–1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 11.
- Ellis, Lucy. Drew Barrymore: The Biography. Aurum Press, 2004. ISBN 1-84513-032-4
- Hill, Anne E. Drew Barrymore. Lucent Books, 2001. ISBN 1-56006-831-0
External links
References
- Drew Barrymore www.britannica.com, 2025-10-19, retrieved 2025-11-08^
- Drew Barrymore Announces Talk Show Return, Says New Season Will Still Follow WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strike Rules Variety, September 10, 2023, retrieved 10 September 2023^
- Drew Barrymore's sets new sights for beauty brand