- Drew Barrymore, Firestarter, 1983. At two, she said: ”I’m an actress, you know.” And she was. In Savannah Smiles, etc, until a tragic OD at 21. Producer Dino De Laurentiis saw her singing on Johnny Carson’s Late Show and had her audition for the incendiary kid in the 12th of 313 Stephen Kings adaptions. Also testing: Jennifer Connelly, about to breakthrough jn Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, ice-skater Taylor Neff and poor Heather O’Rourke, dead at 12 five years later. It had also been Barrymore v O’Rourke for Poltergeist, 1981; Drew made ET, instead. Well, of course, she did. She is Spielberg’s god-daughter.
Birth year: 1975Death year: 1997Other name: Casting Calls: 0