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With her long dark hair, large expressive eyes and obvious talent, Anne Hathaway was earmarked as one to watch from the time she made her primetime acting debut as eldest daughter Meghan Green in the short-lived Fox drama series “Get Real” (1999-2000). The Brooklyn-born, New Jersey-raised player developed her craft as a child performer in theater, earning her stripes in several productions at the famed Paper Mill Playhouse (including “Gigi” with Gavin MacLeod and early stagings of the musical version of “Jane Eyre”). Hathaway was reportedly also the first and (to date) only teenager accepted into the acting program at The Barrow Group based in Manhattan.

Although she had attempted to land Broadway roles, Hathaway found her height (five feet eight inches) and youth detrimental. (She was too tall to be accepted in children’s roles and too young-looking to portray adult parts.) She was perfect for TV and films, though, and soon landed the part of the overachieving high schooler on “Get Real” which earned her positive critical reviews. Segueing to the big screen, Hathaway was cast in the independently produced fact-based tale of a missionary to Tonga “The Other Side of Heaven,” which did not make it to theaters until 2002. Instead, audiences first saw the actress as Mia, an awkward San Francisco teen who learns she’s actually royalty, in the comedy “The Princess Diaries” (2001), directed by veteran Garry Marshall. Holding her own with such talented co-stars as Julie Andrews (as her grandmother), Hector Elizondo (as an adviser) and Heather Matarazzo as Mia’s pal, Hathaway proved a supple comic and displayed a commanding screen presence that could easily lead to a long and distinguished career. The actress reprised her role in the equally entertaining sequel “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement” (2004), the same year she appeared in the fantasy twist of the Cinderella story, “Ella Enchanted,” in which her character Ella is bound by a spell of obedience that is the reason for her shrinking violet nature.

Attempting to more into more adult territory, in 2003 Hathaway appeared in the feature “Havoc” as part of a group of Beverly Hills high school students who are heavily influenced by the hip-hop culture of kids from South Central are taught a lesson by one of their teachers when tragedy strikes the affluent teens. Though it aspired to be edgy–Hathaway ditched her good-girl image for her first nude sex scene in the film–the inauthentic movie was never able to find distribution and went staright to video in 2005. A much better step on the road to more mature roles came with her knowing performance in director Ang Lee’s sensitive and haunting “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), in which she played the sexy, rodeo-riding Texan Lurleen, who becomes the well-off wife of ranch hand Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), despite his closeted, years-long love affair with another cowboy (Heath Ledger). The actress was poised to break into the elite ranks of Hollywood’s leading ladies when she was cast as Andrea Sachs, the heroine of the film adaptation of the juicy bestseller “The Devil Wears Prada” (lensed 2005), a small-town girl who takes a job working for the imperious editor (Meryl Streep) of a New York fashion magazine.

• Born:
  on 11/12/1982 in Brooklyn, New York
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Singer

Family

• Father: Gerald Hathaway. born c. 1954
• Mother: Kate McCauley. born c. 1954

Significant Others

• Companion: Raffaello Follieri. Began dating Spring 2004
• Companion: Scott Sartiano. Co-owner of the trendy East Village restaurant Butter; dated in 2002

Education

• Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, English
• The Barrow Group, New York, New York

Milestones

• 1999 TV series debut as regular as the intelligent daughter Meghan Green in the Fox drama series “Get Real”
• 1999 Performed as a member of the All-Eastern United States High School Honors Chorus at NYC’s Carnegie Hall
• 2000 Cast in first feature film, “The Other Side of Heaven”, based on the true story of a male missionary in Tonga; film shot in 2000; screened at Sundance in 2002
• 2001 Starred as a teenager who learns she’s royalty in the comedy “The Princess Diaries”, directed by Garry Marshall and co-starring Julie Andrews
• 2002 Played leading role of Lili in the Encores! staging of “Carnival”
• 2004 Re-teamed with director Gary Marshall and co-star Julie Andrews for “The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement”
• 2004 Starred in “Ella Enchanted,” based on a novel by Gail Carson Levine, about a young woman who was given a “gift” of obedience by a fairy named Lucinda.
• 2005 Starred in Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” with Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger
• Appeared in several productions at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, New Jersey, including “Gigi” and “Jane Eyre”
• Raised in New Jersey
• Signed on to star opposite Meryl Streep in the adaptation of “The Devil Loves Prada,” Lauren Weisberger’s bestselling book (lensed 2005)