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Drew Barrymore Biography

One look at this actor’s impressive list of credits, and equally impressive addiction/rehab triumphs, and you’d think she was, oh, say fifty years old.

She’s only twenty -five.

Drew Barrymore is the heir of a Hollywood dynasty of respected thespians, many of whom tragically self-destructed. The littlest Barrymore looked a candidate for the same fate -- with the timeline condensed a bit. The fast-track began, before she was a year old, with her first commercial appearance. At two she played the part of a little boy in Suddenly Love (TV - 1978) and at five appeared in 1980's Altered States and Bogie (TV). Her big break came at the ripe old age of seven when she was cast as the endearing lead in godfather Steven Spielberg’s hit ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Her next movie, Irreconcilable Differences (1984) netted her a Golden Globe nomination. Firestarter (1984) won her rave reviews.

The movies continued, including Cat’s Eye (1985), Babes In Toyland (TV -1986), Far From Home (1988) and See You In the Morning (1989), but the little girl was in serious trouble -- drinking at nine, addicted to marijuana at ten, and snorting cocaine at 13. At 14 she had spent time in police handcuffs and had attempted suicide. Her off-camera stunts were tabloid fodder and even more in the news than her racy teen-sexpot roles in movies including Poison Ivy (1992), Wayne’s World 2 (1993), Bad Girls (1994), Batman Forever (1995), and Boys on the Side (1995).

By 15, though, the “wild child” was legally emancipated from her mother and drug free. She co-authored Little Girl Lost, an autobiography revealing all, but her tendency to embrace the seamy side of show business continued -- she posed nude for magazines, bared her breasts on the late-night David Letterman Show and, at 19, married actor Jeremy Thomas for a brief six weeks.

All that has changed now. Barrymore has been successfully sweet since 1996, playing innocents in Scream (1996), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998), Home Fries (1998), Wishful Thinking (1999) and Never Been Kissed (1999 - star and executive producer). Encouraging reports are that she is sweet not only on the screen, but to her fellow actors on the set as well.

With the worst that Hollywood can dish up out of the way, and her talent left intact, Barrymore’s future looks rosy. Coming up are film deals through her own Flower Films production company (Barbarella is a possibility), and roles in Skipped Parts, So Love Returns, and Charlie’s Angels.

Being sweet seems to be working out very well.