Amy Adams, 50, reveals why she felt ‘so vulnerable and exposed’ during her early ‘naive’ years in Hollywood

Amy Adams felt ‘so vulnerable and so exposed’ during her early years in Hollywood.

The 50-year-old actress has enjoyed a hugely successful career in the movie business, but Amy initially struggled with self-doubts and vulnerabilities.

The Junebug star told Variety: ‘I was just very naïve, and I think I was really afraid to show any truth or darkness about the flip side of the human experience.

‘I would have felt so vulnerable and so exposed.’

Adams got her start in her 20s as a dancer and then made her film debut opposite Denise Richards in the dark comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999). 

Amy Adams felt ‘so vulnerable and so exposed’ during her early years in Hollywood, she told Variety. Seen October 19 in LA

The 50-year-old actress initially struggled with self-doubts. Seen during her film in the dark comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

Her first major film role was in Steven Spielberg’s biopic Catch Me If You Can (2002) with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Her breakthrough came when she portrayed a pregnant woman in Junebug (2005), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination.

Next came Enchanted (2007), Doubt (2008), The Fighter (2010) and The Master (2012). 

From 2013 to 2017, she portrayed Lois Lane in superhero films set in the DC Extended Universe. 

She won two consecutive Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress for playing a seductive con artist in the crime film American Hustle (2013) and painter Margaret Keane in the biopic Big Eyes (2014). 

She starred in the science fiction film Arrival (2016), a self-harming reporter in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects (2018), and Lynne Cheney in the satire Vice (2018).

Her first major film role was in Steven Spielberg ‘s biopic Catch Me If You Can (2002) with Leonardo DiCaprio

With Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson’s War in 2007

Her most glam role came in 2013 in American Hustle

She also told Variety that becoming a mother changed her. 

Amy has a 14-year-old daughter called Aviana, and the actress believes that motherhood has transformed her career.

The movie star explained that her daughter is now her focus, rather than her film career.

She said: ‘Every moment needed to be dedicated to the care and keeping of my child.

The Junebug star told Variety: ‘I was just very naïve, and I think I was really afraid to show any truth or darkness about the flip side of the human experience. I would have felt so vulnerable and so exposed.’ Seen October 16 in London

Adams is seen in her new film Nightbitch 

The film is about an artist who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom. She seeks a new chapter in her life and encounters just that, when her nightly routine takes a surreal turn and her maternal instincts begin to manifest in canine form

‘Motherhood did redirect my priorities. And I think that changed some relationships. That was hard, but I don’t think it’s uncommon.’

Amy is now keen to work with a new generation of actors and actresses. 

And the veteran star revealed that she’s particularly fond of Jenna Ortega, her co-star in Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun adaptation.

Amy explained: ‘I learn so much from the young women that I work with.

The star seen leaving her hotel on October 18, 2024 in London

‘I feel like I learn more from them than they could ever learn from me. I do forget that I’m not their age sometimes. I’m like, ‘Amy, you’re 50. You’re not gonna hang!’

Despite this, Amy observed that there are still some benefits to being an older actress.

Amy – who has won various awards over the years, including two Golden Globes – said: ‘It gets so much better. But there are things I miss: my joints working, collagen, things like that.’