In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jennifer Love Hewitt was one of the top actresses in Hollywood. The actress, who began her career as a child, achieved her breakthrough in 1995 when she began playing the role of Sarah Reeves Merrin in the classic teen drama series Party of Five. She then played the lead role in many box office hits, especially in the horror movie I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), which brought her worldwide fame. Her acting skills have earned her numerous awards, including two Saturn Prizes, two Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, a Young Artist Award, and a People’s Choice Award, to name but a few.
At the height of her career, Hewitt, who also tried her hand at singing, landed roles not only in blockbuster movies but also in many magazines. Among the high-profile magazines whose cover she graced are Seventeen, Rolling Stone, and CosmoGirl.
In 2010, Hewitt once again proved her versatility by writing a New York Times bestselling book entitled The Day I Shot Cupid. However, the actress, who has been a producer on some of the projects she has worked on, has spent less and less time on the screen in recent years. Find out what caused this new low in her career and what she spends most of her time on.
How Jennifer Love Hewitt Became a Favorite in Hollywood
Jennifer Love Hewitt was born on February 21, 1979, in Waco, Texas, and was originally attracted to music. Her first appearance as a singer was at a livestock show where she performed “The Greatest Love of All” at the age of only three years. In the following years, the young girl continued to perfect her voice by adding tap dancing and ballet to her portfolio.
Hewitt was later to be named Texas Our Little Miss Talent at the age of ten, before moving with her mother to Los Angeles, California, in the hope of starting an entertainment career. Before she could land any roles, she had to be content with appearing in commercials. She appeared in more than twenty television commercials before she got her first acting role in Disney’s Kids Incorporated.
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In the early 1990s, Jennifer Love Hewit began to attract the attention of many filmmakers and has appeared in a variety of films and television series. Among the projects she has appeared in are Munchie (1992), where she made her feature film debut, Shaky Ground (1992-1993), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), The Byrds of Paradise (1994), and McKenna (1994-1995).
In 1995, the talented actress came to the fore after she took on the role of Sarah Reeves Merrin in the Fox teen drama Party of Five. While she was still acting in the above-mentioned series, Hewitt became a star in Hollywood after she played the character of Julie James in the blockbuster “I know what you did last summer”. (1997), which brought in 125 million dollars worldwide. The following year she again played the role of Julie in the sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, which was great but not as good as the first one.
In 2004, Jennifer Love Hewitt appeared in her most successful film to date, Garfield: The Movie, which brought in over 200 million dollars. Since then she has appeared in the sequel Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006), which grossed $141.7 million. Other commercially successful films and series in which she has appeared include Heartbreakers (2001), Tuxedo (2002) alongside Jackie Chan, Ghost Whisperer (2005-2010), and The Client List (2010).
Why Has Her Acting Career Taken a Downturn?
It’s quite obvious that the former child actress has experienced a career downturn lately, as she doesn’t get as many roles as she used to. This has been the case since 2008 when she appeared in the cartoon Delgo, which became one of the least profitable films in history and lost an estimated 46 million dollars.
Since then, Jennifer Love Hewitt, who is reported to have a diva-like attitude and to be very hard to work with, has rarely been involved in any major project, although there are one or two exceptions where she has excelled. In 2012, her role in the romantic comedy Jewtopia met with fierce reactions from critics and fans alike.
In 2014 Hewitt joined the cast of Criminal Minds for the 10th season of Criminal Minds. However, fans of the drama series “Police Procedural Crime” did not take the actress of the series on when they wrote a petition to CBS asking for her immediate removal. The actress later left the series at the end of the season, although it was at her own request. She did so in order to have enough time to feed her baby.
In 2016, the actress was named Hollywood’s worst-reviewed actress after sixteen of her films were rated “rotten” after her critical reviews on the website of the review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes.
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What We Know About Her Husband and Kids
Jennifer Love Hewitt was once engaged to her Ghost Whisperer colleague Ross McCall after the couple had been together for a while. However, the actress canceled the engagement in late 2008. Four years later she began a romantic affair with her co-star on The Client List, Brian Hallisay.
Washington DC-born Brian Hallisay is best known for his role as Will Davis in the television series Privileged. His other acting achievements include Revenge, American Sniper, Cold Case, CSI: NY, Bones, Wrestling, Mistresses, NCIS, and Suits.
In 2013, it was announced that Brian and Jennifer have become engaged and continue to expect their first child together. The couple celebrated their union in a secret ceremony on November 21, 2013, and five days after the wedding they welcomed a little girl named Autumn James Hallisay to Los Angeles, California. Two years later, in June 2015, Hewitt gave birth to the couple’s second child, a son named Atticus James Hallisay.