Anne Jacqueline Hathaway

Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the 1999 television series Get Real, but her first prominent role was in Disney's family comedy The Princess Diaries (2001) starring opposite Julie Andrews, which established her career. She continued to appear in family films over the next three years, and she had the lead roles in Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (both 2004).

Anne later ventured away from the "G-rated" image her early acting career bestowed upon her, starring in the adult-themed films Havoc and Brokeback Mountain, both of which featured her topless. She later starred in The Devil Wears Prada (2006) opposite Meryl Streep and in Becoming Jane (2007), in which she portrays Jane Austen. Another movie she is in, Get Smart, in which she plays the character Agent 99, was released in June 2008 and is currently the second highest-grossing film of her career. Anne is set to star alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp in the 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland.

Anne was born in Brooklyn, New York, and moved to Millburn, New Jersey, when she was six years old. She is the daughter of Gerald Hathaway, a lawyer, and Kate McCauley, an actress who inspired Hathaway to follow in her footsteps. She was named after the wife of playwright William Shakespeare. She has an older brother, Michael, and a younger brother, Thomas. she has mainly Irish and French ancestry, with more distant German and Native American roots.

Anne was raised in Millburn, New Jersey. A very intelligent child, she was involved in a Montessori program as a preschooler and was then able to enter first grade when she was technically still a kindergartner. She graduated from Millburn High School where she participated in many school plays. Anne's high school performance as Winifred in "Once Upon a Mattress" garnered her the New Jersey Rising Star Award nomination for best performance by a high school actress. She spent several semesters studying as an English major at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York before transferring to New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study.She referred to her college enrollment as one of her best decisions because she enjoyed being with others who were trying to "grow up."

Anne was a member of the Barrow Group Theater Company's acting program and was the first teenager ever admitted into the program. She is a trained stage actress and has stated that she prefers appearing on stage to film roles.

A soprano, Anne performed twice in 1998 with the All Eastern U.S. High School Honors Chorus at Carnegie Hall and has performed in plays at Seton Hall Prep in West Orange. Three days after performing at Carnegie Hall, she was cast in the short-lived 1999 television series Get Real.

Anne was raised a Catholic with what she considered "really strong values," and has stated she wanted to be a nun during her childhood. However, at the age of fifteen she decided not to become a nun after learning that her brother Michael was gay. Despite her Catholic upbringing, she felt that she could not be part of a religion that disapproved of her brother's sexual orientation. 

Please pray that Anne will come to a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  No matter what denomination we choose, it's that one-on-one relationship, and asking personally for God's grace through His Son that provides abundant life here and eternal life hereafter.

--Heidi