What a feeling! I’ve still
got it at 47: Jennifer Beals first became a sex symbol in Flashdance and now
she’s setting TV screens alight almost three decades later
Last updated at 10:31 PM on 24th June 2011 Jennifer Beals was the star of
Flashdance, one of the biggest movies of the 1980s – with one of the most
memorable soundtracks – and although it’s hard to believe the film is nearly 30
years old, her place in men’s hearts is unassailed. As Alex Owens – the legendary
welder-by-day/dancer-by-night – Jennifer walked the tough-yet-feminine line
with singular aplomb, and it’s a feat she manages once again in her new series
The Chicago Code. It is a crime drama (created by
Shawn Ryan, the man behind The Shield) that focuses on the frictions behind the
city’s police force. Beals is again thrust into a male-dominated world as Teresa
Colvin, Chicago’s first female police chief and the woman in charge of a
10,000-strong force. Comeback: Jennifer Beals first became
a sex symbol in Flashdance when she was 19 and now at 47 she is making a return
in her new crime drama The Chicago Code Colvin fights corruption, moving
her way round the convoluted politics of the city and kicking industrial
amounts of backside. But, says Jennifer, After a career spanning 30 years,
with roles in films such as The Book Of Eli with Denzel Washington, The Chicago
Code is Jennifer’s third regular TV role – her first was on The L Word, which
ended two years ago. It was a critical and commercial success, and focused on
the love lives of a glamorous group of LA lesbians, not dissimilar to the
straight ladies of Sex And The City. Her role as Bette Porter included
a smattering of lesbian love scenes, and although Jennifer had a no-nudity
clause in her contract (‘I was offered Playboy and told them I’d do it when
there was peace in the Middle East’), she still engaged in some risqué moments
on screen. ‘As you get older, any kind of sex scene becomes a concern,’ she
laughs. ‘As for kissing women, at first I thought, “What do I do?” But then I
decided, this scene is about me loving this person, so I just related it to
that. I’m heterosexual and have not questioned my sexuality so the love scenes
weren’t a problem.’ That the show revved up Jennifer’s
sex symbol status is unquestionable, ‘and at my age, I’m just grateful if
anyone still thinks I’m sexy.’ She is, of course, talking nonsense. At 47 and
devoid of make-up, she is still immensely pretty, and in khaki capris, gingham
shirt and flip flops, retains her svelte Flashdance figure. She hasn’t resorted
to Botox or surgery: ‘I have no intention of doing so because I’d be the one
they’d screw it up on and I’d end up looking like a Picasso.’ Legendary: Jennifer pictured as Alex
Owens in the 1980s film Flashdance Jennifer has long had a reputation
for guarding her private life (‘there are about three people who have my home
phone number and they are all related to me’), and for tensing slightly at any
mention of the ‘F’ word. It is noticeable how her chattiness dissolves when I
speak of Flashdance. One can understand her wariness at having to discuss a
film she made so long ago, but it was a huge success, making more than £60m in
the States alone and turning 19-year-old Jennifer into a star. ‘I’ve done a lot since then, but
it seems that people just love talking about it. I don’t think it makes me feel
proud, because I didn’t write or direct it. But it’s nice that people remember
the film fondly. I was offered lots of money to make Flashdance 2, but I just
wasn’t interested. Money has never been a motivating factor for me but you have
no idea what people around me were going through when I turned down the offers.
They were losing their minds. But I don’t have any regrets.’ Jennifer beat 4,000 other girls to
win the part of Alex Owens in Flashdance, but when the film became a worldwide
hit and offers flooded in, she did the unthinkable: she turned her back on fame
and went to Yale University to study literature, Italian and photography. What
then does she make of the young Hollywood stars such as Lindsay Lohan,
shuttling between parties, rehab and court appearances? ‘My advice to them would
be just to stop!’ she says. ‘You can’t party every day. I suppose life is about
the pursuit of pleasures and mine didn’t involve alcohol, they involved
reading.’ At Yale, fellow students included
Jodie Foster and David Duchovny of The X-Files. ‘At college he used to follow
me around and ask me for dates,’ she laughs. ‘And then, when I went to acting
class in New York, who was there but David Duchovny? He swore he wasn’t
stalking me, but after that we became acting partners and friends.’ I don’t know if
acting helped me overcome my shyness, but you can’t afford to be shy in this
business because you’re forever telling people to “p*** off”! Born in Chicago to mixed-race
parents, Jennifer, the middle of three children, was just nine when her father
died. Despite being ‘unbelievably shy’, she loved acting in school plays. ‘I
don’t know if acting helped me overcome my shyness, but you can’t afford to be
shy in this business because you’re forever telling people to “p*** off”!’ She
has been married to Canadian entrepreneur Ken Dixon for 13 years and says, ‘My
husband Jennifer was stepmother to his two
children, now aged 18 and 23, and then, at the age of 41, she gave birth to her
first child. ‘I won’t tell you her name. She’s five now and can tell you
herself when she’s older. Even though I was in my 40s, I hadn’t given up hope
of having children. I just always thought it would happen when it was supposed
to. I don’t know if having a child later makes it more special because it’s
special whenever it happens, but it’s amazing how your priorities change
overnight.’ She insists she has no regrets
about shying away from more lucrative roles early in her career. ‘I care a lot
about my work. I’m just not someone who concentrates on my career. I think
that’s a very boring way of looking at things.’ The very opposite then of her
new character, Teresa Colvin. ‘Teresa is very driven and righteous and I’m not
nearly as driven or organised. I need to talk out loud a lot just to get myself
out the door.’ The Chicago Code is on
Thursdays, 9pm, Sky1. 
‘She and I are very different.
She has a strong moral compass, but she just isn’t too good at balancing family
and friends with her job.’
does so many romantic things.
One day I was on my way home and he knew that I had not had a great day, so he
had a gazillion rose petals in the doorway that spelled out “I love you”.’