Jennifer Beals was born on December 19, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in the city. With a life-long desire for acting, Beals first appeared in small high school plays and even got an uncredited bit part in Die Schulhofratten von Chicago (1980) in 1980. After graduation, she enrolled in college at Yale University, studying American literature. She appeared in her first starring role in the movie Flashdance (1983) while still a freshman at Yale. While at Yale, she also starred in Franc Roddam's Die Braut (1985). After graduation from Yale, Beals married independent filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell in 1986, and appeared in several of his films. Most notably, she starred in his In the Soup - Alles Kino (1992), which won the 1992 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Deauville Film Festival.Beals has continued to find acting work with lead roles in various TV and independent film productions, as well as supporting roles in the mainstream features Teufel in Blau (1995), Catch That Kid (2004), Der Fluch - The Grudge 2 (2006), and The Book of Eli (2010). One of her most notable roles came In early 2004 when she was cast on the Showtime TV-cable series "The L Word - Wenn Frauen Frauen lieben" (2004), playing a lesbian art gallery manager named "Bette Porter" throughout it's entire run until 2009. Her latest role is playing Police Superintendant Teresa Colvin on the Fox Network crime series "The Chicago Code" (2011).In her personal life, Beals divorced Rockwell in 1996 and married Canadian entrepreneur Ken Dixon two years later. On October 18, 2005, she gave birth to a daughter. Beals also has two stepchildren from her husband's previous marriage.
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