Rise to Fame
She didn't break through playing the ingenue. She broke through playing Gia Carangi in the 1998 HBO film Gia, a heroin-addicted supermodel who died at 26, and won a Golden Globe for it. Girl, Interrupted came next and she stole the film from Winona Ryder, playing a charismatic sociopath in a supporting role nobody expected to overshadow the lead. She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2000. The industry stopped trying to cast her as the girl-next-door after that.
In the Spotlight
After a decade where her personal life overshadowed her work, Maria (2024) gave critics something new to argue about. She played Maria Callas, the Greek soprano who died in 1977, in Pablo Larrain's biographical film, and took an eight-minute standing ovation at Venice. The broader move is behind the camera: she produced The Outsiders on Broadway (Tony for Best Musical in 2024) and wrote and directed Without Blood. She's not positioning herself as a movie star. She's positioning herself as a filmmaker.
Side Notes
She's been collecting knives since she was a kid and has said she wanted to be a funeral director before acting. Both get mentioned more than the two decades she spent as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and then Special Envoy, logging more than 60 field missions across more than 20 countries. She testified before the UN Security Council and lobbied heads of state on refugee policy. The wild-child image made better copy. The humanitarian infrastructure was the actual project.