Anne initially was a musical performer but her love for stage and theatre won out and she started to act full time. She landed her first professional gig when she was cast in 1999’s short-lived comedy T.V. series “Get Real”. She played a recurring character over four episodes of the series, alongside Mila Kunis, Taryn Manning and Christina Milian. The series was cancelled although it proved to be Anne’s entry into the big screen when she auditioned for the lead role of Mia Thermopolis in “The Princess Diaries”. Director Gary Marshall loved Anne immediately when she fell off her chair while auditioning. The actress had a lot of fun on the set of the movie and was rewarded with a worldwide box-office success which catapulted her into instant stardom. Her other film that year was “The Other Side of Heaven”, a religiously-themed movie that did not fare as well as the wholesome comedy “The Princess Diaries”.
She next appeared in 2002’s “Nicholas Nickleby”, a critically-acclaimed children’s comedy. The movie opened to positive reviews but it did not fare really well at the box office. Even though experts called the cast “Oscar-worthy”, the movie made only 4 million USD. Her next role earned her contrasting reviews. “Ella Enchanted” opened in 2004 as well as the sequel for “The Princess Diaries”. Both movies were successful and financially lucrative but some people wondered if Anne has the ability to act in more mature roles. Both movies satisfied many of the star’s pre-teen fans, solidifying her image as a family-friendly actress. But she silenced her critics when she agreed to appear in the 2005 drama “Havoc”. She played a rebellious rich teenager in the movie and surprised fans and detractors alike when she appeared in several nude scenes throughout the movie. That same year she starred opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in the multi-awarded Western drama “Brokeback Mountain” where she again appeared in nude scenes.
In 2006, she starred opposite Meryl Streep in the blockbuster movie “The Devil Wears Prada”, a film based on the best-selling novel by Lauren Weisberger. She played an assistant to a powerful fashion magazine editor (played by Streep) and the role straddled her family-friendly and adult-oriented inclination in movies perfectly. She was supposed to work with director Judd Apatow in the comedy “Knocked Up” but backed out of the lead role when she learned from Judd that he will be using real footage of a woman giving birth. The actress commented on a film but did not name it in an interview with Marie Claire magazine, “I turned it down because it was going to show a vagina, not mine, but somebody else’s. And I didn’t believe that it was actually necessary to the story.”
She went on to play Jane Austen, and English writer in the movie “Becoming Jane”. The movie did not fare very well but she continued to get roles for future roles including a role in the film adaptation of “Get Smart” and “Passenger”, a thriller alongside Patrick Wilson. She also completed the drama feature “Dancing with Shiva” opposite Debra Winger. Aside from acting, she has also agreed to lend her voice to the sequel of “Hoodwinked!” Other possible projects include a remake of the 1967 film “Valley of the Dolls”.
Anne Hathaway continues to improve her craft and is being billed as the successor to Hollywood superstars Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan, playing leading lady roles likened to the previous roles of the two veteran actresses. And Anne has displayed her adaptability to different roles as she played in vastly different projects throughout her career, willing to take the risk from a guaranteed family-friendly success to a riskier mature-oriented type of role. Because of her willingness to diversify her image, Anne is ensured that she will never be thought of as just another pretty face in Hollywood.