Also, just so you know, her firefighter dad was actually her stepdad — her real father was Michael Monasterio, a rock musician who wasn’t around when she was a kid.
She also had a younger sister, and as children, the two “played outside until it was dark,” she recalled in an interview with The Guardian. They would wish “the light would stay longer, so you didn’t have to go home.”
Later in life, she remembered being bullied as early as age 8 because of her red hair and freckles.
”I was told every day at school that I was ugly,” she told Glamour. ”And that no one wanted to be my friend. The most cruel things.”
Tragically, in 2003, her sister died by suicide at their biological father’s home, and Michael Monasterio later passed away in 2013 from bronchitis.
When her father passed away, the award-winning actress didn’t attend the funeral and didn’t speak publicly about his death. She later described the attention around it as “very difficult.” She also revealed that no father was listed on her birth certificate and there’s “no proof of anything.”
Financial hurdles
While most lot of the women around her had kids as teenagers, our star knew that wasn’t the path for her. She found her true passion at just 7 years old when she saw a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
”As soon as I saw that I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is my job, this is what I am,’” she told The Telegraph. ”I’ve always had an active imagination, and I didn’t do very well in the public-school system, but that was a complete aha moment for me.”
And just like that, her dream of becoming an actress was born.
“There were people that saw I was struggling as a kid, and they helped me,” she added. “And that’s why I ended up where I am now.”
A huge inspiration was her grandmother, who took her to her first play and always encouraged her to pursue what she loved.
”I think she saw that I needed an outlet or something to find my people, in a way, and be creative,” the actress shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
The star also credits Planned Parenthood and access to birth control for giving her options. “It had a great impact on my life because it gave me choice,” she said.
After high school, she landed a spot at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York— but the dream came with crushing pressure.
”I am the first one in my family to go to college and I felt a great responsibility… It was very expensive. The first two years it was really tough on us,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Robin Williams saved her
”It was after my second year I found I got that scholarship… It paid for not only all my schoolwork, but it paid for my apartment, and my books, and my flight home to see my family for Christmas,” she recalled.
Though she never met him before his passing in 2014, she sent him countless letters of thanks.
After honing her craft at Juilliard, she began her career on stage and television. Her film debut came at age 31 with the drama Jolene, but it was 2011 that marked her breakout year, with six films released, including Take Shelter and The Tree of Life.
Her performances that year earned critical acclaim, leading to Academy Award nominations for portraying an ambitious socialite in The Help and a determined CIA analyst in Zero Dark Thirty.
Her most famous role
Suddenly, the relatively unknown actress found herself right in the heart of Hollywood’s hustle and bustle.
”Walking down that red carpet with Sean Penn holding one hand and Brad Pitt holding the other, and everyone’s like, ‘Who is this girl in the yellow dress? Who is this person?’ I knew that that red carpet, after having that premiere, it would just be a turning point in my life,” she shared.Continue reading…
