Acclaimed actress Jodie Foster has delivered a stark assessment of her lifelong profession, describing acting as a "cruel job" that was chosen for her in childhood rather than a path she willingly selected.
A Career Forged in Childhood
Speaking candidly at the Marrakech International Film Festival on Sunday, the Oscar-winner reflected on a career that began when she was just three years old. Foster made her debut in a 1965 sunscreen television commercial, leading to further advertising work before her feature film debut at age six in 'Napoleon and Samantha'.
"I would never have chosen to be an actor," Foster stated plainly. "I don't have the personality of an actor. I'm not somebody that wants to dance on a table and, you know, sing songs for people." She emphasised that her entry into the industry was not a conscious decision, saying, "It's actually just a cruel job that was chosen for me as a young person that I don't remember starting."
Survival and Separation
Foster, now 63, credits her ability to navigate the pressures of fame to maintaining a strict division between her public and private life, a boundary she says her mother helped her establish. "I don't know why anyone would want to be an actor now," she mused, "if they knew that in order to be excellent they would have to contend with being robbed of their life in a way."
Her early breakthrough came at the age of 12 with the controversial role of a child prostitute in Martin Scorsese's 1976 classic 'Taxi Driver', which earned her a first Oscar nomination. She recalled how her then 32-year-old co-star Robert De Niro "took [her] under his wing" to help her prepare, as Scorsese was unsure how to direct a child for such a mature part.
Later that same year, on 27 November 1976, Foster became the youngest ever host of Saturday Night Live, a record later broken by Drew Barrymore in 1982.
A Guardian for Today's Young Actors
These formative experiences have shaped Foster's protective attitude towards child performers in the modern era. "I feel like, wait, where are their parents?" she questioned. "And why is nobody telling them that they should stop doing so many movies or maybe not be so drunk on the red carpet? I want to take care of them because I know how dangerous it is."
Despite her success, Foster maintains a detached perspective on her craft. "If I never acted again, I wouldn't really care," she admitted, contrasting herself with peers who act for its own sake. "I really like to be a vessel for story or cinema. If I could do something else, if I was a writer or a painter or sculptor, that would be good too. But this is the only skill I have."
The actress is currently promoting her latest project, Rebecca Zlotowski's French-language comedy thriller 'A Private Life', in which she plays a therapist investigating a patient's suspected murder. Her appearance at the festival underscores a career built on survival, selectivity, and a deep-seated ambivalence towards the very profession that made her an icon.
