Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979)[2] is an American actress, producer and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated (1989–1991). She had her breakthrough as Sarah Reeves Merrin on the Fox teen drama Party of Five (1995–1999) and rose to fame as a teen star for her role as Julie James in the horror films I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and its 1998 sequel, as well as her role as Amanda Beckett in the teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait (1998).
For the album, see Jennifer Love Hewitt (album).
Jennifer Love Hewitt
February 21, 1979
- Actress
- singer
- film/television producer
- director
1989–present
3[1]
Vocals
Hewitt's other notable films include Heartbreakers (2001), The Tuxedo (2002) and the two Garfield live-action films (2004–2006). She has starred as Melinda Gordon on the CBS supernatural drama Ghost Whisperer (2005–2010), Riley Parks on the Lifetime drama series The Client List (2012–2013), Special Agent Kate Callahan on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds (2014–2015), and since 2018, Maddie Buckley on the Fox first-responder procedural 9-1-1. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for The Client List pilot film (2010).
In music, Hewitt has released four studio albums to date. After her debut album, Love Songs (1992), was released at age 12 exclusively in Japan, she went on to record Let's Go Bang (1995), Jennifer Love Hewitt (1996) and BareNaked (2002), the latter of which became her first album to chart in the United States, peaking at number 37 on the Billboard 200 chart. Her most successful single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart was the 1999 release "How Do I Deal", which peaked at number 59.[3] In addition to music and acting, Hewitt has served as a producer on some of her film and television projects. She has appeared in several magazines' lists of the world's most beautiful women.
Early life
Hewitt was born in Waco, Texas[4] to Patricia Mae (née Shipp), a speech-language pathologist, and Herbert Daniel Hewitt, a medical technician. She grew up in Nolanville in Central Texas,[5] and has close kinship ties in parts of Arkansas.[6] After their parents divorced, Hewitt and her older brother Todd were raised by their mother.[7]
As a toddler, Hewitt was attracted to music, which led to her first encounters with the entertainment industry. At age three, she sang "The Greatest Love of All" at a livestock show.[8] The following year, at a restaurant-dance hall, she entertained an audience with her version of "Help Me Make It Through the Night".[9] By age five, she had tap dancing and ballet in her portfolio.[10] At nine, she became a member of the Texas Show Team, an L.A. Gear troupe,[11][12][13] which also toured the Soviet Union.[14][15][16]
Acting career
1989–1994: Early acting credits
Hewitt moved to Los Angeles, at age ten, with her mother, to pursue a career in both acting and singing, at the suggestion of talent scouts, and after winning the title of "Texas Our Little Miss Talent Winner".[7] She attended Lincoln High School[17] where her classmates included Jonathan Neville, who became a talent scout and recommended Hewitt for her role in Party of Five.[9]
Hewitt appeared in more than twenty television commercials, including some for Mattel toys.[18] Her first break came as a child actress on the Disney Channel variety show Kids Incorporated (1989–1991),[19] which earned her, as a member of the cast, three Young Artist Award nominations. In 1992, she appeared in the live action video short Dance! Workout with Barbie (1992), which was released by Buena Vista,[20] and obtained her first feature film role in the independent production Munchie, in which she played Andrea, the love interest of a bullied young boy.[21] A year later, she had her first starring role in Little Miss Millions, as a wealthy nine-year old who runs away from her stepmother to find her real mother, and appeared as a choir member in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.[22] Hewitt played Pierce Brosnan's daughter in a pilot for NBC called Running Wilde (1993), which featured Brosnan as a reporter for Auto World magazine, whose stories cover his own wild auto adventures, but the series was not picked up and the pilot never aired.[23] Hewitt later had roles in several short-lived television series, such as Fox's Shaky Ground (1992–1993),[24] ABC's The Byrds of Paradise (1994),[25] and McKenna (1994–95).[26]
1995–1999: Rise to stardom
Hewitt rose to teen idol status after landing the role of Sarah Reeves Merrin on the popular Fox show Party of Five (1995–99).[27] Originally cast for a nine-episode arc in season two, reception from producers and audiences was so positive that she became a series regular, continuing to play the character until the show's sixth and final season.[28] Co-creator Amy Lippman once stated: "She was a crazy professional. You didn't have to ask yourself, ‘I don't know if she'll be able to work up a head of steam here, I don't know if she'll be able to cry.' She wasn't running to her trailer [between takes] to smoke cigarettes or play with a toy poodle. She was reading material and trying to plot her career".[29] For her performance, Hewitt garnered nominations for a Kids' Choice Award, a Teen Choice Award and a YoungStar Award.
Hewitt became a film star with the release of the horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997),[30] in which she starred opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze, Jr, portraying Julie James, the final girl.[31] She was cast in the role based on her "ability to project vulnerability," which the producers, director Jim Gillespie, and writer Kevin Williamson unanimously agreed upon. While the film received mixed reviews, an Entertainment Weekly columnist praised Hewitt's performance, noting that she knows how to "scream with soul".[32] Budgeted at US$17 million, the movie made US$125 million globally.[33][34][35] For her role, she received a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Performance in a Feature Film — Leading Young Actress and the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Female Newcomer. She appeared in the sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), which, though not as successful as the first film, took in more money on its opening weekend.[36]
Hewitt starred as Amanda Beckett, the most popular girl in school and the senior class prom queen, in the teen comedy Can't Hardly Wait (1998).[37] Critic James Berardinelli asserted that Hewitt was "so likable that it's hard not to have at least a minor rooting interest" in her character,[38] and with a US$25.6 million gross at the North American domestic box office, the film emerged as a moderate commercial success.[39] Telling You, another 1998 teen comedy, featured Hewitt as the annoyingly sweet ex-girlfriend of a college student working in a pizza joint. In 1999, she played a record company executive in the independent comedy The Suburbans and starred in and produced Time of Your Life, a Party of Five spin-off following her character as she moved to New York City to learn more about her biological parents.[40] Despite Hewitt's popularity at the time, the show received a lackluster viewership and was cancelled after only half the season had aired.[41]
Other endeavors
Music
Hewitt was one of the backing vocalists on Martika's number-one single, "Toy Soldiers" (1989). At age 12, Meldac funded the recording of Hewitt's debut studio album, Love Songs (1992).[78] The album was released exclusively in Japan, where Hewitt became a pop star.[79] Her explanation for her success in Japan is that the Japanese "love perky music. The poppier the music, the better."[80] She was subsequently signed to Atlantic Records, who released her next two albums —Let's Go Bang (1995) and Jennifer Love Hewitt (1996).[81] The albums, along with their singles, failed to chart and Atlantic dropped Hewitt, who did not return to the music scene for three years.[78]
Hewitt recorded the single "How Do I Deal" (1999) for the I Still Know What You Did Last Summer soundtrack, which became her first charting single, climbing to No. 59 on the Hot 100 and No. 36 on the Top 40 Mainstream.[82] It reached No. 8 in Australia.[83] She also recorded a cover of the Gloria Gaynor song "I Will Survive", which is featured briefly in the film.[84]
Hewitt appeared in the LFO video for "Girl on TV" (1999),[85] a song which band member Rich Cronin band wrote for her while the two were dating.[86] She also appeared in the music video for the Enrique Iglesias song, "Hero" (2001), as the singer's love interest.[21]
In 2002, Hewitt signed to Jive Records[87] and recorded her fourth studio album, BareNaked, with singer, songwriter, and producer Meredith Brooks.[88] The first single, "BareNaked" (2002), became her biggest radio hit to date when it peaked at No. 24 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, No. 31 on the Adult Top 40 and No. 25 on the Top 40 Mainstream. It climbed to No. 6 in Australia, remaining there for two weeks,[89] and reached No. 33 in the Netherlands.[90] The song later featured in two episodes of Ghost Whisperer: "The Vanishing" (Season 1, episode 20)[91] and "The Collector" (Season 2, episode 20).[92] The moderate success of the single propelled the album to peak at No. 37 on the Billboard 200[93] and No. 31 in Australia.[94] However, it only remained on the chart for three weeks. The second single, "Can I Go Now" (2003), failed to chart in the US, while managing to peak at No. 8 in the Netherlands[95] and No. 12 in Australia.[96]
Since 2004, Hewitt has remained mostly inactive in the music industry, but she released the compilation albums Cool with You: The Platinum Collection (2006) in Asia and Hey Everybody (2007) in Brazil.[97] In 2013, she recorded a cover of "I'm a Woman" to promote the second season of The Client List and shot a music video for the song, which reached the top ten in the iTunes Music Video chart.[98]
Writing
In November 2009, Hewitt made a foray into comic books, when writer Scott Lobdell scripted the five-issue anthology, Jennifer Love Hewitt's Music Box (2009–2010), based on Hewitt's ideas.[99] The series was published by IDW Publishing and was collected in a trade paperback.[100]
She wrote a book titled The Day I Shot Cupid (2010), in which she speaks of her experiences with love and dating.[101] While promoting the book during a January 2010, interview on Lopez Tonight, Hewitt said that there is a chapter in it about "vajazzling" (decorating a woman's pubis with crystals or rhinestones). This became a big internet hit with the video going viral, widespread news coverage and the term "vajazzling" becoming one of the most searched terms on Google the next day.[102][103][104][105] She has since been credited for the popularization of this trend.[106] Helium.com gave the book a positive review, stating: "Jennifer Love Hewitt's book provides some good guidelines for those that need to work on clarifying their relationship desires before trying to establish their relationships". It was commercially successful upon its release, becoming a New York Times bestseller within a week.[107]
[108]
Personal life
Relationships and family
Between the 1990s and the 2000s, Hewitt dated several high-profile figures, including Joey Lawrence, Will Friedle, Carson Daly, Rich Cronin, Patrick Wilson, John Mayer and Jamie Kennedy.[116][117]
In 2005, Hewitt began dating Scottish actor Ross McCall after he made an appearance on Ghost Whisperer.[118] They became engaged in November 2007, while vacationing in Hawaii.[119] People magazine reported that Hewitt called off their engagement in late 2008.[120]
In June 2013, Hewitt announced that she was engaged and expecting her first child with co-star, Brian Hallisay.[121] On November 20, 2013, Hewitt and Hallisay married.[122][123] Their daughter was born a few days later on November 26.[124][125][126] In June 2015, the couple had a boy.[127] In August 2021, Hewitt and Hallisay welcomed their third child.[128]
Stalking incident
In 2002, at the Grammy Awards, Diana Napolis, a conspiracy theorist and former social worker, "verbally confront[ed]" Hewitt and attempted to pose as a friend of hers in order to enter the premiere of The Tuxedo; she was then arrested for stalking and uttering death threats against Hewitt and Steven Spielberg.[129][130][131] Napolis was charged with six felonies related to the incidents.[132][133] After almost a year of involuntary commitment and prison, Napolis pleaded guilty and was released on probation with a condition that she was barred from any contact with both Spielberg and Hewitt.[134][135]
Studio albums
Credits as an author:
Other credits: