The daughter of filmmaker Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner , she established herself as a leading lady appearing in mainly mid-budget and period films during the s and early s, before transitioning to blockbusters and franchises. She garnered wider acclaim for her role as Viola de Lesseps in the historical romance Shakespeare in Love which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
This was followed by roles in The Talented Mr. After becoming a parent in , Paltrow reduced her acting workload by making intermittent appearances in films such as Two Lovers , Country Strong , and Contagion After starring in the Netflix series The Politician — , she took a break from acting. She hosted the documentary series The Goop Lab for Netflix in Paltrow is a half-cousin of actress Katherine Moennig , through her mother, and a second cousin of former U.
Congresswoman Gabby Giffords AZ through her father. Senator and retired astronaut Mark Kelly of Arizona. Paltrow's godfather is director Steven Spielberg. Paltrow recalls their family gatherings: "Hillary and I always had this in common, and to this day It's how we were raised. It's what we do. Paltrow was raised in Santa Monica, California , where she attended Crossroads School , before enrolling in the Spence School , an all-girls private school in Manhattan. Her career beginnings can be credited to her acting family, as her acting debut was in High , a TV film her father directed, and after spending several summers watching her mother perform at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts , Paltrow made her professional stage debut there in Her first plum feature film role was in the noir drama Flesh and Bone as the much younger girlfriend of James Caan.
Janet Maslin of The New York Times described Paltrow as a scene-stealer "who is Blythe Danner 's daughter and has her mother's way of making a camera fall in love with her. In , she starred in the thriller Se7en , as the wife of a young detective Brad Pitt , who is partnered with the retiring William Somerset Morgan Freeman and then tasked with tracking down a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as tropes in his murders. The seventh highest grossing film of the year, [ 33 ] Se7en also known as Seven earned her a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She appeared in Moonlight and Valentino , as a grieving chain-smoker , and in Jefferson in Paris , portraying Martha Jefferson Randolph. In , Paltrow played the title character in the period film adaptation Emma , based on the novel of the same name by Jane Austen. Director Douglas McGrath decided to bring in Paltrow to audition for the part of Emma Woodhouse , after a suggestion from his agent and after seeing her performance in Flesh and Bone. I know that wouldn't recommend her to most people I knew she had theater training, so she could carry herself.
