Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress and a former teen model. She played the role of Alexandra "Alex" Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, and starred as Bette Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word. She earned an NAACP Image Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for the former. She has appeared in more than 50 films.

Biography

Beals was married to Alexandre Rockwell from 1986 to 1996. In 1998, she married Ken Dixon, a Canadian entrepreneur. On October 18, 2005, Beals gave birth to their daughter. Her husband also has two children from a previous marriage.

Beals has described herself as a "spiritual person". She has expressed interest in The Bible and Catholicism, as well as Judaism, which she once considered conversion to, and is a practicing Buddhist.

She has been a vocal advocate for gay rights saying, "I think after playing Bette Porter on The L Word for six years I felt like an honorary member of the community." Beals was a Celebrity Grand Marshal at the 2006 San Francisco Pride Parade. In October 2012, she received the Human Rights Campaign's Ally For Equality Award, in recognition of her outstanding support to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Jennifer Beals is a practitioner of Kung-Fu, Sanshou, & Kickboxing. She also enjoys Ballet, Salsa dancing & Belly dancing.

Beals is a photographer, who has had shows of her work under her married name, Dixon. She has a book about her time on The L Word featuring her own photographs. In 1989, she spent some time in Haiti photographing the elections.

She is also a triathlete.

In 2010, Beals served as the Grand Marshal of the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago, during which she spoke of the two charities important to her, the Matthew Shepard Foundation and The Pablove Foundation.

Best films