Jodie Foster

Foster began acting as a young child and studied literature at Yale while continuing to work professionally, building one of the most respected and critically decorated careers of her generation by the time of this role.

A two-time Oscar winner, she plays Dr. Ellie Arroway's scientific rigor and personal longing as two sides of the same coin — faith and evidence, reaching for the same stars. Already a two-time Academy Award winner for The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, she brought considerable dramatic weight to the role.

She has cited the role as one of the more personally meaningful of her career, and has continued to work as both a celebrated actress and an accomplished director since.