Sandra Bullock

Strangely, for someone whose screen persona is usually so open and simple, it's difficult to accurately describe Sandra Bullock. Sure, she's often feted for her Meg Ryan-like girl-next-door appeal. But then, like Julia Roberts, she's also an unconventional beauty and talented comedienne. And let's not forget that her breakthrough came when she stole the show in an all-out action movie. On top of this, though deservedly famous for an irrepressibly bubbling personality, she was a student of The Method under Sanford Meisner and started off (to rave reviews) on the New York stage. Hard to pin down, is Sandra. Harder still when you know her unusually exotic background.

She was born Sandra Annette Bullock on the 26th of July, 1964, in Arlington, Virginia. Her mother, Helga, the daughter of a German rocket scientist, initially studied to be an opera singer in Nuremberg. To support her studies, she worked as a clerk, one day being called to the town's Palace of Justice (where the notorious post-WW2 trials took place). Here she was to takes letters for the new head honcho, one John Bullock. Bullock, originally from Birmingham, Alabama, was a Juilliard scholar who'd joined the Army as a runner and risen to become the boss of the military Postal Exchange for the whole of Europe.

To begin with, there was no romance between the pair. But over a three year period, with John singing at recitals (he was also a part-time voice coach), and Helga gaining renown as a dramatic soprano, they grew close and, while still in Germany, were married. John's organisational talents drew him into the Army Material Command and it was due to this work that he'd eventually become a contractor for the Pentagon, moving to Arlington and also buying a mountain property just north-west of Charlottesville. The family grew - three years after Sandra came another daughter, Gesine.

Right from the start, Sandra was a wilful and contrary child. She now recalls an incident when, at age three, with the family moving into a new home, she was directly instructed not to touch a light-bulb lying there. Her response was to karate-chop it and slice her hand horribly. It would not be the last physical injury she'd suffer as a youngster.

For an all-American girl-next-door, Sandra's formative years were thoroughly inappropriate. Much of her time was spent in Salzburg and in Nuremberg, where she lived with her aunt and grandma, attending a local school (she's fluent in German) and studying English with a tutor in the afternoons. During the opera season, she'd attend her mother's performances, sometimes appearing herself as the ubiquitous "gypsy child", or singing in the children's chorus. Also studying ballet, she quickly proved herself to be a natural performer.