Sandra Bullock

Sandra Annette Bullock (born July 26, 1964) is an American film actress. She came to fame in the 1990s, after roles in successful films like Speed and While You Were Sleeping, and has since established a career as a well-known Hollywood leading actress, with the box office comedy hit Miss Congeniality and one of her most recent film roles, in 2004's Crash, receiving critical acclaim. She is the 14th richest female celebrity with an estimated fortune of $85 million.

Bullock was born in Arlington County, Virginia to John W. Bullock, a Pentagon contractor and part-time vocal coach from Alabama, and Helga D. Meyer, a German opera singer who died of cancer on April 4, 2000; Bullock's maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist from Nuremberg. Bullock lived in Nuremberg until age twelve, where she sang in the opera's childrens' choir at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. She frequently traveled with her mother on her opera tours, and lived in Germany and other parts of Europe for much of her childhood. Bullock studied ballet and vocal arts as a child, taking small parts in her mother's opera productions.

Bullock attended Washington-Lee High School where she was a cheerleader, participated in high school theater productions and dated a football player. She graduated in 1982 and enrolled in East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. During this time she worked as a waitress at a restaurant. She left school during her senior year (Spring 1986), three credits short of graduating, to pursue an acting career. She went to Manhattan to try to get auditions and supported herself with a variety of odd jobs (bartender, cocktail waitress, coat checker).

Sandra Bullock later completed her coursework and was awarded a bachelor's degree from East Carolina University. She is fluent in German. When appearing on German TV shows, she prefers to speak English (the TV hosts speak German though).

--wikipedia