Sandra Annette Bullock was born in Arlington, a suburb of Washington, D.C. on 26 July.The exact year is unknown, but the best guess is 1964. Her mother Helga Meyer was a German Opera singer and her father John was an American voice coach. Sandra lives with her 27 year old sister Gesine, who is a law student and works with criminals and gang members.
Sandra grew up partly in Nuremberg, Germany, and also in Saltzburg, Austria, where she often performed as a child as an extra in her mother's operas.(She first performed on stage at age 8, as a gypsy girl). She moved back with her family to Virginia when she was 10. At age 11 she acquired the scar above her right eye (which is not visible in most photos) when she fell into a creek.("I love my scar. I figure if Harrison Ford has one on his chin, I can have one above my eye. It's a guy thing.") .Sandra graduated from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington. Virginia in 1982. Whilst there she joined the cheerleading squad and was also voted the 'girl most likely to brighten up your day' by her classmates. OR WAS SHE? (See Rolling Stone Interview).
Next Sandy majored in drama at the East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. She helped pay for her tuition by winning dance contests with Mark Brunetz, who is now on the creative team at her production company and is credited as her personal assistant on most of her movies. Whilst at ECU she performed in Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, directed by Don Biehn; and after graduation she went to New York to pursue an acting career. There she was trained by Sanford Miesner. She performed at the Neighbourhood Playhouse for a short time (No Time Flat), worked as a waitress, and went to numerous auditions.
Following this she moved to Los Angeles, and appeared in the TV movie The Preppie Murder, and then landed a role in the television version of Working Girl, but did not enjoy it and was glad when the show,which was a flop, was cancelled. This show, however, did bring her to the attention of American audiences. Sandy appeared in other TV movies (Bionic Showdown) and numerous low budget movies (Who shot Patakango, Fire in the Amazon).After filming the romantic comedy Love Potion No.9 in 1992 she embarked on a three year relationship with Tate Donavan, her co-star in that movie. The end of this relationship left Sandra emotionally damaged for a long time. In recent years Sandra has had a brief relationships with Don Padilla, a member of The Net crew, which ended because of her fame, and more recently with Matthew McConaughey.
In 1993 Sandra appeared in her first blockbuster, the futuristic action movie Demolition Man, playing Sylvester Stallone's partner, Lenina Huxley.(The part was first taken by Lori Petty, who was fired three days into the filming). Other roles she performed at this time include a singer in The Thing Called Love (in which she wrote and performed the country and western song, Heaven Knocked On My Door.) (This was also one of River Phoenix's last movies).
Also in the same year she gave outstanding performances as a kidnap victim and a waitress in The Vanishing and Wrestling Ernest Hemingway respectively (her months of waitressing in NY made the latter role easy.) , but it was her performance in Demolition Man that assured her a starring role in Speed (1994). Playing Annie, she eclipsed the other stars (Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper). Speed earned over $100 million at the box office and gave Sandy the true stardom and recognition for her talent which she deserved.Sandra became a star overnight, although as she was in Europe at the time promoting the film, she missed a lot of the hoop-la.
After the huge success of Speed, Sandy was given her first starring role in the hit movie While you were Sleeping (1995), which stayed at No. 1 at the box office for two weeks in the US. Since then she has starred in The Net, A Time To Kill ( the movie adaptation of John Grisham's first novel), Two If By Sea and In Love And War, about the romance that flickered and died between an ambulance driver Ernest Hemingway (Chris O'Donnell) and a nurse named Agnes von Kurowsky (Sandy) in Italy in the summer of 1918. She has also starred in a sequel to Speed released last year.
In March 1996 Sandy parted company with her manager and lawyer and since then her career has been largely managed by her family. Her father started helping her a few years ago and eventually gave up his job as a vocal coach in Washington DC to devote himself fully to her career.
This year Sandra is producing her first film,
Kate and Leopold (her production company is called Fortis Films, her second
choice after Aquila), and she has written and directed the short (40 minutes)
movie Making Sandwiches, which costars Matthew McConaughey, (also her costar in
A Time To Kill, and until recently her partner). You can't see Making
Sandwiches unless you live in Los Angeles and went to the LAIFF (Los Angeles
Independent Film Festival), which is now in its third year. Making Sandwiches
was the highlight of the Actors Direct section of the Festival. Sandra's latest
movie is Hope Floats, which stars her as a mother who returns home with a baby
after a divorce, costars Harry Connick Jnr, and is directed by Forest Whitaker.
Sandra Bullock is 5' 7½'' tall, and is best friends with Samantha Mathis, star of The Thing Called Love, who accompanied Sandy to Europe when she was promoting Speed. Her hobbies include rock-climbing, Tom Jones ("I've loved him ever since I was a child"), and surfing the Internet, although her own e-mail address is a closely guarded secret. She plays the piano, builds toilets and is a big fan of Dr. Suess. She has also loved Salsa dancing ever since she was taught by Robert Duvall on the set of Wrestling Ernest Hemingway. Her favourite food is Kentucky Fried Chicken.