Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt.(born
February 21 1979) is an
American actress and
singer. She has appeared on the
Fox television series
Party of Five and starred in the
I Know What You Did Last Summer films. Hewitt can currently be seen on the
CBS television series
Ghost Whisperer. As a singer, her single "How Do I Deal" reached twenty-six on the American charts.
Early life and career
Hewitt was born in
Waco,
Texas to Herbert Daniel Hewitt and Patricia Mae Shipp (who are of mostly
English descent).[
1] Her father is a technician and her mother worked as a speech pathologist. Hewitt grew up in
Killeen, Texas. After the divorce of her parents, Hewitt and her only sibling, Todd Hewitt, were brought up by her mother. Her first name was given to her by her brother, after a girl of whom he was fond as a youngster, while her middle name, "Love", was given to her by her mother after her best friend in college.
As a young girl, Hewitt was attracted to music which led to her first encounters with the entertainment industry. At the age of three, she sang "The Greatest Love of All" by
Whitney Houston at a livestock show. Just a year after that, at a restaurant-dance hall, she entertained an audience with her version of "Help Me Make It Through the Night". By the time she was five, Hewitt already had tap dancing and ballet in her portfolio. At nine, she became a member of the
Texas Show Team (which also toured in the
Soviet Union). At the age of ten, at the suggestion of talent scouts, she moved to
Los Angeles, California, with her mother to pursue a career in both acting and singing.
After moving to Los Angeles, Hewitt appeared in more than twenty
television commercials. Her first break came as a
child actor on the
Disney Channel variety show
Kids Incorporated (1989–1991). In 1992, she played
Pierce Brosnan's daughter in a pilot for
NBC called
Running Wilde, which featured Brosnan as a reporter for
Auto World magazine whose stories cover his own wild auto adventures, but the series wasn't picked up and the pilot never aired. She later played on television in several short-lived series, such as Fox's
Shaky Ground (1992–1993), ABC's
Byrds of Paradise (1994), and
McKenna (1994–1995). Finally, Hewitt became a young star after landing the role of
Sarah Reeves on the popular
Fox Television show
Party of Five (1995–1999), joining the cast during its second season. She continued the same role in the short-lived
Party of Five spinoff,
Time of Your Life (1999). Hewitt was also one of the producers, but the show was cancelled after only half a season.
Film and music career
She made her film debut in the independent film
Munchie (1992). Hewitt became a film star after a lead role in the
horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). The film had great box-office appeal (125,000,000
U.S. dollars worldwide), and Hewitt became one of the most popular young stars in the USA (together with her co-stars:
Freddie Prinze Jr.,
Ryan Phillippe, and
Sarah Michelle Gellar). She also played in the sequel
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998). Other notable film roles included the high-school comedy
Can't Hardly Wait (1998). She starred with
Sigourney Weaver in the romantic comedy
Heartbreakers (2001), which also featured
Gene Hackman,
Jason Lee, and
Ray Liotta.
In 2000, Hewitt appeared in
The Audrey Hepburn Story. That same year, she was the "most popular actress on television" due to her
Q-rating (a measurement of a celebrity's popularity) of thirty-seven. For that reason,
Nokia chose her to become its spokesperson, because of her "fresh image", and her being "a symbol of youthfulness and
wholesomeness". In 2002, she was paired with
Jackie Chan in the action comedy
The Tuxedo.
Since September
2005, Hewitt has starred in the television series
Ghost Whisperer. In Australia,
Ghost Whisperer has been popular since its introduction; in the United States, it is the highest rated show on Friday nights.
To date, she has released four
albums with some success, most notably outside the United States in regions such as
Europe and
Japan. In Japan, as a result of her success in music there, she is widely considered a pop star. Japan is also where Hewitt's first album was released. Her explanation for her success in Japan is that the Japanese "love perky music. The poppier the music, the better."
["Straight Talk" Jeffrey Zaslow, USA WEEKEND November 20-22, 1998 ]In March 2005, Hewitt was featured in
Maxim magazine and their
Girls of Maxim gallery. In May 2006, the magazine named her #29 in their
Hot 100 list.
* Blockbuster Entertainment Award — Favorite Female Newcomer (
I Know What You Did Last Summer) (1998)
* Blockbuster Entertainment Award — Favorite Actress (
I Know What You Did Last Summer) (1998)
*
People's Choice Award — Favorite Female Television Performer in a New Series (
Time of Your Life) (2000)
*
She Had Brains, a Body, and the Ability to Make Men Love Her (2007) (announced)
* Streetlight (2007)... Mena
* Delgo (2006)... voice of princess Kyla
* Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006)... Liz
* The Truth About Love (2004)... Alice Holbrook
* Garfield: The Movie (2004)... Liz
* If Only (2004)... Samantha Andrews
* The Tuxedo (2002)... Del Blaine
* The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2001)... voice of Madelaine
* The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina (2001)... voice of Thumbelina
* The Devil and Daniel Webster (2001)... The Devil
* Heartbreakers (2001)... Page Conners/Jane Helstrom
* The Suburbans (1999)... Cate
* Zoomates (1998)... voice of Helen
* Can't Hardly Wait (1998)... Amanda Beckett
* I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)... Julie James
* Telling You (1998)... Deb Freidman
* I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)... Julie James
* Trojan War (1997)... Leah Jones
* House Arrest (1996)... Brooke Figler
* Sister Act 2 (1993)... Margaret
* Little Miss Millions (1993)... .... Heather Lofton
* Munchie'' (1992)... Andrea Kurtz
*
Ghost Whisperer (2005– )
*
Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber (2005)
*
Family Guy (2001) (voice)
*
The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000)
*
Time of Your Life (1999)
*
Party of Five (1995–1999)
*
McKenna (1994–1995)
*
Byrds of Paradise (1994)
*
Shaky Ground (1992–1993)
*
Kids Incorporated (1989–1991)
*
Ghost Whisperer (2005)
*
Bunny (2000)
*
The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000)
*
Time of Your Life (1999)
Albums
*1992
Love Songs — released in Japan only
*1995
Let's Go Bang *1996
Jennifer Love Hewitt*2002
BareNaked – 37 U.S., 31 AUS
*2006
Cool With You: The Platinum Collection *2006 TBA â€" release in October
Singles
*From
Jennifer Love Hewitt**1996: "No Ordinary Love"
*From
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (soundtrack)**1999: "How Do I Deal" — 59 U.S.
*From
BareNaked**2002: "Barenaked" — 6 AUS (
gold)
**2003: "Can I Go Now" — 12 AUS (gold)
*From TBA
** TBA â€" released in September
