Amy Adams
Star of Disney’s Enchanted Raised Mormon
By Danielle Adams
When asked about her Mormon background, Amy Adams, actress and two time Oscar Nominee said, “I can’t speak for everybody, but I know it instilled in me a value system I still hold true. The basic ‘Do unto others…’ – that was what was hammered into me. And love.”
Adams was born on 20 August 1974 in Italy where her father was stationed for the military. She spent most of her childhood in Colorado. When she was young, she showed promise in sports which her parents urged her to pursue so that she could earn scholarships for college. Adams decided to go a different route and began to put her time and effort into dancing in hopes of one day becoming a ballerina. She trained at the David Taylor Dance Company until she was about eighteen.
She was able to find some work through a few different dinner-theater groups. While she was recovering from a pulled muscle that kept her from dancing, Adams auditioned for the movie Drop Dead Gorgeous, where she secured the role of Leslie Miller. While filming, Kirstie Alley encouraged Adams to try her luck in Los Angeles. Adams, who had discovered she fit much better with acting than with dancing, something she felt she was “never going to be that good no matter how hard [she worked],” decided to take that chance and moved to LA.
At first she was only able to secure small roles, including a part in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. Her first major role was for the indie film Junebug, which earned her her first Oscar nomination. Her breakthrough role wasn’t until a couple of years ago when she was cast in the Disney film Enchanted. Kevin Lima, director of the film, has said that there was no doubt that Adams was perfect for the role of Giselle. She was focused and made the character jump of the page. ‘She’s filled with joy—I didn’t have to do any work to direct her.”
Adams has a tendency to play the naïve, innocent characters like Giselle. “I just love playing characters who are unabashedly, persistently cheerful. It’s so much fun,” she says. She also likes to play the role of joyous characters or woman who struggle with faith centered questions, which has been attributed to her religious background.
Both Adams’s parents were Mormon and raised her and her siblings in the religion until about the time she was eleven when her parents divorced and left the church. Concerning her Mormon upbringing, Adams said, “Well, we stopped practicing at some point, but before that it was just somewhere you went on Sunday. I didn’t think of it as different. But there are values and teachings I take with me: don’t lie, observe the Golden Rule. I can’t even yell at a New York taxi driver without feeling like I have to apologize for losing my temper.” She also suggested that some of her views of the world may also be influenced by her religious background: “We live in a society that tends to dehumanize people, and it drives me crazy. How would you want to be treated in that situation? Maybe that goes back to my Mormon upbringing.”
Adams will be appearing in two movies in 2010, Leap Year and The Fighter which are both in post-production.
Resources
“Amy Adams.” The Internet Movie Database. 2009. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
Cohen, Sandy. “Focus Helps Amy Adams Find Enchanted Career.” Deseret News on the web. 2
Dec. 2007. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
Fox, Killian. “Amy’s Fairytale of New York.” The Observer on the web. 18 Nov 2007. Web. 9
Nov. 2009.
Parsi, Novid. “The Artful Dodger.” Time Out Chicago Online 12 Mar 2008. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
West, Naomi. “Amy Adams: Happily Ever After.” Telegraph.co.uk 17 Nov 2007. Web. 9 Nov.
2009.
By Danielle Adams
When asked about her Mormon background, Amy Adams, actress and two time Oscar Nominee said, “I can’t speak for everybody, but I know it instilled in me a value system I still hold true. The basic ‘Do unto others…’ – that was what was hammered into me. And love.”
Adams was born on 20 August 1974 in Italy where her father was stationed for the military. She spent most of her childhood in Colorado. When she was young, she showed promise in sports which her parents urged her to pursue so that she could earn scholarships for college. Adams decided to go a different route and began to put her time and effort into dancing in hopes of one day becoming a ballerina. She trained at the David Taylor Dance Company until she was about eighteen.
She was able to find some work through a few different dinner-theater groups. While she was recovering from a pulled muscle that kept her from dancing, Adams auditioned for the movie Drop Dead Gorgeous, where she secured the role of Leslie Miller. While filming, Kirstie Alley encouraged Adams to try her luck in Los Angeles. Adams, who had discovered she fit much better with acting than with dancing, something she felt she was “never going to be that good no matter how hard [she worked],” decided to take that chance and moved to LA.
At first she was only able to secure small roles, including a part in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. Her first major role was for the indie film Junebug, which earned her her first Oscar nomination. Her breakthrough role wasn’t until a couple of years ago when she was cast in the Disney film Enchanted. Kevin Lima, director of the film, has said that there was no doubt that Adams was perfect for the role of Giselle. She was focused and made the character jump of the page. ‘She’s filled with joy—I didn’t have to do any work to direct her.”
Adams has a tendency to play the naïve, innocent characters like Giselle. “I just love playing characters who are unabashedly, persistently cheerful. It’s so much fun,” she says. She also likes to play the role of joyous characters or woman who struggle with faith centered questions, which has been attributed to her religious background.
Both Adams’s parents were Mormon and raised her and her siblings in the religion until about the time she was eleven when her parents divorced and left the church. Concerning her Mormon upbringing, Adams said, “Well, we stopped practicing at some point, but before that it was just somewhere you went on Sunday. I didn’t think of it as different. But there are values and teachings I take with me: don’t lie, observe the Golden Rule. I can’t even yell at a New York taxi driver without feeling like I have to apologize for losing my temper.” She also suggested that some of her views of the world may also be influenced by her religious background: “We live in a society that tends to dehumanize people, and it drives me crazy. How would you want to be treated in that situation? Maybe that goes back to my Mormon upbringing.”
Adams will be appearing in two movies in 2010, Leap Year and The Fighter which are both in post-production.
Resources
“Amy Adams.” The Internet Movie Database. 2009. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
Cohen, Sandy. “Focus Helps Amy Adams Find Enchanted Career.” Deseret News on the web. 2
Dec. 2007. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
Fox, Killian. “Amy’s Fairytale of New York.” The Observer on the web. 18 Nov 2007. Web. 9
Nov. 2009.
Parsi, Novid. “The Artful Dodger.” Time Out Chicago Online 12 Mar 2008. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
West, Naomi. “Amy Adams: Happily Ever After.” Telegraph.co.uk 17 Nov 2007. Web. 9 Nov.
2009.
