Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Noted for both comedic and dramatic roles, she has featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. Her accolades include two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for six Academy Awards and seven British Academy Film Awards.
Born in Vicenza, Italy, and raised in Castle Rock, Colorado, Adams is the fourth of seven siblings. She trained to be a ballerina, but at age 18, she found musical theater a better fit, and from 1994 to 1998, worked in dinner theater. Adams made her feature film debut with a supporting part in the 1999 satire Drop Dead Gorgeous. After moving to Los Angeles, she made guest appearances in television and took on "mean girl" parts in small-scale features. Her first major role came in Steven Spielberg's biopic film Catch Me If You Can (2002), opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, but she was unemployed for a year afterward. Her breakthrough came in the part of a loquacious pregnant woman in the independent comedy-drama film Junebug (2005).
The musical fantasy film Enchanted (2007), in which Adams played a cheerful fairy tale princess-type character, was her first major success as a leading lady. She followed it by playing naïve, optimistic women in a series of films, such as the drama Doubt (2008). Adams subsequently played stronger parts to positive reviews in the sports film The Fighter (2010) and the psychological drama film The Master (2012). In 2013, she began portraying Lois Lane in superhero films set in the DC Extended Universe. Adams won two consecutive Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress for playing a seductive con artist in the crime film American Hustle (2013) and the painter Margaret Keane in the biopic film Big Eyes (2014). Further acclaim came for playing a linguist in the science fiction film Arrival (2016), an art gallery owner in the thriller film Nocturnal Animals (2016), a self-harming reporter in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects (2018), and Lynne Cheney in the satirical film Vice (2018).
Adams's stage roles include the Public Theater's revival of Into the Woods in 2012, in which she played the Baker's Wife. In 2014, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time, and featured in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list.