At 19, Jennifer Connelly is cast by Dennis Hopper in her first lead role.

'Connelly has a nude scene in the movie, which also delves into a lesbian relationship her character had when she was younger. "Jennifer had no problem with the nudity," says Hopper. "I thought she was very brave. It's a really gutsy performance."'

The director of 'Waking the Dead' comments on her performance (this is the sum total of what he is quoted as saying about her work):

'"The way she listened to the main character was exactly the way I always thought he'd be listened to by her," Scott Spencer says. "There was a subtlety and depth even to her gaze that captured more of the relationship than I ever could have hoped for."'

Then she gets cast in 'Requiem For A Dream'.

'Ultimately, Connelly's character performs in a brutal sex show for the entertainment of leering businessmen in exchange for drugs - a scene difficult to watch, but much more so to play. "There was no sex, of course, but there was... interaction," the director says. "All professional, but unbelievably emotional and intense. We don't really talk about what went on that night."

And finally, we have Jennifer's eating habits:

'"What would I like?" Connelly ponders the room-service menu seriously... Finally she decides on a small green salad and Diet Coke. It's not that she doesn't like to eat, she says. It's that she had lunch earlier in the day. "I just put on weight!" she protests when the suggestion is made that people sometimes eat lunch and dinner. "I'm feeling earthy and proud of myself!"'

1. doing lesbian scenes at 19 in front of someone as sensitive and understanding as Dennis Hopper
2. getting a part which requires you to, um, listen to the hero, or
3. taking your clothes off and having '... interaction' that was clearly so foul even the director doesn't want to specify what he got her to do.

Christ. And we're supposed to be jealous of these women? At least real prostitutes generally have some meat on their bones! I could have written a whole article about this interview. And then I thought I'd just let the quotes speak for themselves. I don't know which is worse, the acting stuff or her borderline anorexia (but what can she do, that's how she gets cast. None of the Saturday Night Live guys, for instance have great bodies; some are positively porky. And yet Tina Fey was told to lose TWO STONE before they would let her act in the sketches she'd written.) Everyone out there, eat a lot, be happy and don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington.