Sandra Bullock

Sandra Annette Bullock (born July 26, 1964) is a Screen Actors Guild Award-winning and two-time Golden Globe Award-nominated American-German actress. She came to fame in the 1990s, after roles in successful films such as Speed and While You Were Sleeping, and has since established her career as a well-known leading Hollywood actress, with comedy hits like Miss Congeniality and The Lake House as well as her most recent film roles, in 2004's Crash, having received critical acclaim. She was ranked as the 14th richest female celebrity with an estimated fortune of $85 million in early 2007.

Early life
Bullock was born in Arlington County, Virginia, the daughter of Helga D. Meyer, a German opera singer, and John W Bullock, a Pentagon contractor, executive and part-time vocal coach from Alabama. Bullock's maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist from Nuremberg, Germany. On her father's side, she is descended from a prominent family in early Alabama history for whom Bullock County is named. Bullock lived in Nuremberg until age twelve, where she sang in the opera's children's choir at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. She frequently traveled with her mother on her opera tours, and lived in Germany and other parts of Europe for much of her childhood. She retains German citizenship. Bullock studied ballet and vocal arts as a child, taking small parts in her mother's opera productions.

Bullock attended Washington-Lee High School where she was a cheerleader, participated in high school theater productions and dated a football player. She graduated in 1982 and enrolled in East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. During this time, she worked as a waitress at a restaurant. She later left school during her senior year (Spring 1986), only three credits short of graduating, to pursue an acting career. She went on to Manhattan to pursue auditions and supported herself with a variety of odd jobs (bartender, cocktail waitress, coat checker).

Bullock later completed her coursework and was awarded a bachelor's degree from East Carolina University. She is fluent in German.

Career

Sandra Bullock's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
While in New York, Bullock took acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She had appeared in several student films and had later landed a role in an Off-Broadway play No Time Flat. Director Alan J. Levi was impressed by Bullock's performance and offered her a part in the made-for-TV movie Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989). After filming the TV movie, Bullock had stayed in Los Angeles and was cast in a series of small roles in several independent films as well as in the lead role of the short-lived NBC television version of the film Working Girl (1990). She had later appeared in several films such as Love Potion No. 9 (1992), The Thing Called Love (1993) and Fire on the Amazon (where she agreed to appear topless if the camera did not show that much, she covered herself with duct tape which apparently was somewhat painful to take off).

One of Bullock's first notable movie appearances was in the science-fiction/action movie, Demolition Man (1993), which had starred Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. This role then led to her break-through performance in Speed the following year. She became a high-level movie star in the late 1990s, carrying a string of successes, including While You Were Sleeping (replacing actress Demi Moore, who was originally scheduled to star), and Miss Congeniality. Bullock received 11 million dollars for Speed 2 and 17.5 million dollars for Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous.

Bullock was selected as one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1996 and 1999, and was also ranked #58 in Empire magazine's Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. She was presented with the 2002 Raúl Juliá Award for Excellence for her efforts, as the executive producer of the sitcom The George Lopez Show, in helping expand career openings for Hispanic talent in the media and entertainment industry. She also guest starred as Accident Amy in two episodes. In 2002, she starred opposite Hugh Grant in the global hit Two Weeks Notice.

In 2004, Bullock had a supporting role in the film Crash. She received positive reviews for her performance, with some critics suggesting that it was the best performance of her career.[citation needed] Bullock later appeared in The Lake House, a romantic drama also starring her Speed co-star, Keanu Reeves; it was released on June 16, 2006. Because their film characters are separated throughout the film (due to the plot revolving around time travel), Bullock and Reeves were only on set together for two weeks during filming. The same year, Bullock appeared in Infamous, playing author Harper Lee. Bullock also stars in Premonition with Julian McMahon, which was released in March 2007.

Bullock received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 24, 2005. In January 2007, Bullock was named the 14th richest woman in entertainment by Forbes, with a net worth of $85 million.