Anne Jacqueline Hathaway was born in Brooklyn, New York, to
Kate McCauley Hathaway, an actress, and
Gerald T. Hathaway, a lawyer, both
originally from Philadelphia. She is of mostly Irish descent, along
with English, German, and French. Her first major role came in the
short-lived television series
Get Real (1999). She gained
widespread recognition for her roles in
The Princess Diaries (2001)
and its 2004 sequel as a young girl who discovers she is a member of
royalty, opposite
Julie Andrews
and
Heather Matarazzo.
She also had a notable role in
Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
opposite
Charlie Hunnam and
Jamie Bell, and a starring role in
Ella Enchanted (2004). A former
top-ranking soprano in New York, Hathaway was reportedly a front-runner
for the role of "Christine" in the 2004
The Phantom of the Opera (2004).
However, due to scheduling conflicts with
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004),
she couldn't take the role, which was later given to newcomer
Emmy Rossum.
Hathaway soon started to move away from family-friendly films.
Following
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004),
she appeared topless in the films
Havoc (2005) opposite
Josh Peck and
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
opposite
Heath Ledger and
Jake Gyllenhaal. Her desire to break out
of her "Princess Diaries" image parallels that of her one-time co-star,
Julie Andrews, who went topless in
the film
S.O.B. (1981) in order to break
away from the image she created from her 1960s musicals. In interviews,
Hathaway said that doing family-friendly films didn't mean she was
similar to their characters or mean she objected to appearing nude in
other films.