The daughter of an Army
employee and a German vocal coach, Bullock has continually struck a
chord with fans over her nearly 30-year career. At turns charming and
relatable, she comes across as extremely genuine in a field that makes
its magic through pretending.
As the actress celebrates her 50th birthday on July 26, her stock as the long-standing favorite is as solid as ever.
Examine the evidence: She is firmly in the top 10 list of Hollywood's highest paid actresses,
and her films tend to make money. Her 2013 sci-fi thriller "Gravity,"
which starred Bullock as an astronaut lost in space, earned $716 million
worldwide.
And in her personal life,
Bullock has managed to remain pretty scandal-proof. At the height of a
devastating marital breakup from Jesse James in 2010, when lurid tabloid
headlines appeared about his alleged affairs, Bullock shocked the world
with news that she had secretly adopted an African-American son from
New Orleans.
Not only was it
surprising that the Oscar-winning actress had such a tight circle that
she was able to conceal a monumental personal moment, but unlike some
other celebs who had been criticized in the black community for
transracial adoptions, Bullock and her decision were mostly embraced.
Even other celebrities adore her. "Avengers" star Chris Evans has been quoted as saying Bullock was his first celebrity crush.
"I saw 'Speed' when I was in seventh grade, and I was like, that's my lady," Evans said. "I literally had a big poster (of her)."
It's easy to see why a
preteen Evans fell for Bullock. In interviews Bullock can be funny,
self-deprecating and just downright cool. During an appearance on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson"
to promote her 2013 buddy cop comedy, "The Heat," she and the host
good-naturedly took verbal swipes at each other. When Ferguson mentioned
the film "Dumb and Dumber" (in an apparent reference to the way their
interview was going), Bullock volleyed back about that movie.
"Poop humor is fun," she
said jokingly. "If you do the toilet scenes well and commit to them
they can be really, really powerful."
Not many Academy Award winners would tackle such a subject, but it's not surprising from Bullock, who proudly told Us Weekly
that her now-3-year-old son, Louis, is fully potty-trained. While the
actress has almost always been tagged as more girl next door than vixen,
motherhood has clearly helped settle her even more.
She's been very
outspoken about the fact that she would give it all up, the career and
the fame, if it wasn't good for her son in any way.
"I don't want him to
have pressures brought on by what I do. I will quit. I will leave," she
told Vogue last year. "If I see whatever I'm doing affecting him
negatively, I will pack up and move to Alaska."
That probably helps
explain why the self-professed homebody would much rather be spending
time with her kid than working the press. Eschewing the Hollywood scene,
the "Blind Side" star has made paparazzi literally chase her outside
the usual city limits, choosing to build her life in cities like Austin,
Texas, and New Orleans.
Being on the red carpet, she told CNN at a 2013 premiere of "Gravity," is extreme enough for her.
"Being in front of a
camera, in a nice dress, getting all dressed up is extreme," Bullock
said. "There's a lot of other extreme situations, you know, just getting
out of bed sometimes is extreme -- but I do it. Just got to do it, just
got to get up. Put your sweatpants on, brush off the dog hair and just
get out of the house!"
Part of what Bullock
does when she gets "out of the house" is give back to the city of New
Orleans. After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Bullock "adopted"
Warren Easton Charter High School, and has given hundreds of thousands
of dollars to the institution.
"They're infections,
they inspire me," Bullock said of the students. "They make me get off my
butt and try to do better. ... I've been taking and taking from (the
city of New Orleans), and when everything happened with Katrina, that's
when you realize you have to put back."
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