Amy Adams may have started on the small screen, but she always knew she was destined for more.
She proved this when she blew audiences away in 2013’s American Hustle . She’s been kicking butt and taking names since then in roles such as in Big Eyes and HBO’s limited series, Sharp Objects .
Come learn more about this star.
1. She used to be a waitress at *Hooters*:
No wonder Michael Scott from The Office loved her character. It all makes sense now.
She told ET that she worked there when she was 18 and “had the body” for it.
“But it was a great job out of high school and I was a hostess at first, and then I waited tables for a while, and it was great.”
“It was a great way for me to earn money for college.”
2. She also used to work at The Gap:
Whitney Houston even came in when she was working!
Adams told The Late Late Show with James Corden that she had to “gap act” her, which is when you greet the customer and tell them about the specials.
“I was like, ‘Gotta Gap-act her,'” Adams said. “She went back into the dressing room and requested anybody else.”
“It made me laugh because I agreed that I was annoying but I couldn’t stop doing the job.”
3. She was on several ’90s shows:
She’s not alone — these celebs were also on ’90s shows.
Adams had brief roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Smallville , and Charmed . She was also on That ’70s Show where she played a cheerleader.
4. She was once fired from a TV show for not being “sexy enough”:
Ugh, the nerve of them! She was let go from the short-lived show, Dr. Vegas , starring Rob Lowe.
Apparently, they brought in a tall blonde and she just “knew.”
5. She’s not a natural redhead:
Gasp! I know.
Amy explained in an interview with The New York Times ‘ “TimesTalks” that she dyed her original hair, which is strawberry-blonde, for her career.
“Based on roles that I was getting called in for, people were responding to certain types of characters with me as a blonde.”
“And the minute I went red, it was quirky and fun instead of flirtatious and dumb,” Adams continued.
She added that it was “fascinating to see just one element of yourself change people’s perception.”
Which do you prefer her as? Blonde or red?
6. She wanted to be a ballerina when she was a kid:
She danced and twirled her way into becoming one until the age of 18 when she switched to musical theater.
But now that she has a daughter, she has Avi in ballet lessons.
“I want to be a dance mom so bad. I would love it,” she said on *Late Night with Seth Meyers* in 2018.
“It would be really fun to be the mom fighting to the front with my camera, brushing her hair really tight,” she said .
7. She once had to reject a hug from Brad Pitt:
Say whaat?
She told Jimmy Kimmel that this happened on the set of Vice when Pitt suddenly showed up.
“He was so sweet, he was like, ‘Oh it’s so good to see you,’ and he went to give me a hug,” she said.
“And I was like, ‘Oh it’s happening,’ then I realize I can’t hug him, I have pink eye.”
The horror! Imagine being the reason Brad Pitt got pink eye? How horrifying.
“And in that moment, I became the first woman in history to reject a hug from Brad Pitt.”
8. She changed the roles she was taking to help fight sexism in Hollywood:
She’s a champion for women, always.
“There’s a reason I started playing nuns and virgins,” Adams told The Hollywood Reporter . “I was like, ‘I’m not putting up with that anymore.'”
9. It was her idea to kiss Jennifer Lawrence in *American Hustle*:
“My character is really strong and her character is kind of crazy, and I was thinking, ‘Why would I let her leave?'” she said on Chelsea Lately .
“I really want to tell her something and I thought, ‘What’s the craziest thing she could have done to me?’ I thought she should kiss me.”
The scene was steamy and she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress!
10. She grew up Mormon:
While she doesn’t practice the religion today, she is grateful for some of the values it instilled in her.
She told The Telegraph that the most important thing that was taught to her was to love.
11. She was born in Italy:
As an army brat, her father was stationed in the country when she was born in 1974.
She’s proud of where she comes from and even paid homage to the town she’s from when her daughter was born.
She named her daughter, Aviana, after the Italian town she was born in.
“We had picked out a whole bunch of other names as well and we had thrown around Aviana,” Amy said on The Rachel Ray Show .
“But I was into more traditional names and thought that we would go that direction,” Adams said. “But, when she was born we just kept calling her, ‘Avi, Avi, Avi.'”
12. She doesn’t have to draw on her own experiences to play a character.
She has said that she is able to just become another person and separate their traumas from her own.
She convinces herself that the character she is playing is a real human in order to get into the role.
13. She once screen-tested with other actors when auditioning for Lois Lane.
If you can imagine it, she did the test with Paul Walker and Matt Bomer!
This, of course, was before Henry Cavill came around, and the rest was history!
14. She said one of the perks of playing Lois was the fact that she didn’t have to diet or work out for the role:
Which, if you ask me, is a pretty sweet deal!
Other celebs go through a lot to get into the superhero frame of mind and build.
15. She isn’t as polite as she seems!
“I can be very polite, and I think that people can confuse that for all sorts of things … But I’ll take that over people assuming that I’m smart just because I’m short and rude,” she said to Interview.
16. Her favorite characters are the vulnerable ones:
“I would say that a lot of the characters I’ve been attracted to are very vulnerable and they expose themselves emotionally. Not so much in The Fighter , not so much in The Master —I think those are different. But definitely in Doubt [2008] and Enchanted [2007],” she said to Interview.
“Those characters put their hearts out there, which is always a scary thing to do. I find that in life all you can do is try to be honest about who you are and how you’re feeling, and trust that it will be received in the correct way.”
“I haven’t spent a lot of time evaluating my body of work for a through line, but I guess I am curious about the way people have connected with certain things, and I do find it interesting that I tend to be attracted to—or the world brings me to—parts that sort of cluster together.”
17. It was hard for her to reach stardom:
She says it is on account of the model-looking type of people that went to the same auditions as her.
But she paid her dues in television and eventually made it to the big screen .
18. She tries her best to keep her personal life and Hollywood life separate:
But that doesn’t mean her husband doesn’t follow her around!
In fact, he actively follows her to her sets, and she has found that whether they are home or in a hotel, they remain a happy couple.
19. She does not want to discuss women’s wages in Hollywood.
In fact, when she is asked about it, she says that she fights her own fights in private, but applauds those who take it public.
But she is choosing to stay quiet and do what works for her.
20. She does, however, speak up when it comes to inequality:
“Where I feel most empowered is in educating myself and being, hopefully, a mentor for younger women. That’s more important. I offer any young actress I work with my phone number. I’ll tell them on set, ‘You don’t have to do that. You can say no.’” she told The New York Times .
“It seems like a modest gesture, but less so when you consider that the movie industry has long profited from female submission, from women acquiescing because their only choice is exploitation or unemployment.”
“This is what makes women saying no powerful, and why it’s heartening that many are speaking up.”
Do you know any more interesting facts about Amy Adams?
Or were you pleasantly surprised by the facts that we presented you with in this article?
Let us know down below in the comments section! We would love to hear from you!
