Jessica Capshaw biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Actress Jessica Capshaw was born on August 9, 1976, in Columbia, Missouri, to parents Robert, a sales manager, and Kate Capshaw, who later became a successful Hollywood actress. Her parents split when Jessica Capshaw was 3 years old. During this time time, Jessica moved with her mother to Los Angeles, where Kate pursued an acting career. Jessica Capshaw spent her childhood on her mother's film sets, often in exotic locales such as Sri Lanka.

Kate Capshaw met director Steven Spielberg on the set of the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, in which Capshaw played Willie Scott, the female lead and Indiana Jones' love interest. The director and his leading lady fell in love. The couple married in 1991, when Jessica was 15. She is part of a large mixed family that includes five half-siblings and one stepbrother.

Interest in Show Business

Despite hearing warnings from her mother and stepfather about the difficulties of a show business career, Jessica Capshaw was drawn to the industry at a young age. While still a high school student at the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School, she assisted Spielberg as an intern on the set of his Academy Award-winning 1993 classic Schindler's List. After graduating from high school, she attended Brown University in Rhode Island, earning an English degree in 1998. She also attended acting classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

Small Screen Roles

Her Hollywood pedigree did not guarantee her success in the business. "I don't remember at 19, someone giving me a golden key and saying, 'Welcome to Hollywood, which job would you like?'" she said. "I've always had to work hard for what I've got and to stay where I was." After taking a few parts in obscure films and appearing in minor guest roles on television shows, Capshaw landed her first major TV role in 1999 on the sitcom Odd Man Out, playing Aunt Jordan, one of five women sharing a house with the show's main character. The show lasted just one season, but it gave Capshaw's career a start. She later appeared in supporting roles in several movies, including the Tom Cruise psychological thriller Minority Report (2002), before landing a starring role in the drama series The Practice, playing the oversexed attorney Jamie Stringer. Her role on the show lasted from 2002 to 2004. Capshaw followed that with a series of varied film and television roles, including that of Jennifer Beals' lover on the Showtime drama The L Word.

Grey's Anatomy

In 2009, Capshaw achieved a long-desired goal: a starring role on Grey's Anatomy, her favorite show on television.