Looking Back: The Coppertone Commercial That Got Jodie Foster Into Acting

Jodie Foster got her first acting gig as a toddler with Coppertone in 1965. This would open her to more opportunities as a child actor who would get her first Oscar nomination at 14. “The biggest transition was going from being a young person to college and then becoming an adult actor,” she admitted to W magazine.

Jodie made her first professional acting debut in the Mayberry R.F.D. series, with her role as Iris in 1976’s Taxi Driver being her first breakthrough act. She recently earned another Oscar nomination at 61 for her role as Coach Bonnie Stoll in Netflix’s Nyad decades after her first.

Jodie Foster’s Coppertone commercial

For Jodie, it was an ardent task combining life’s early stages with the spotlight; however, her mom encouraged her to “work as much as you can now because, by the time you’re 40, you’ll be over.” “The work that I did between 16 and 22— that is the most awkward place. But my mom just kept telling me, ‘By the time you’re 40, you’ll never work again,’” Jodie recalled.

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Contrary to her mom’s tip, Jodie has never felt busier than in her 60s. “At 60, you suddenly realize you don’t care about all the things that you cared about in your fifties,” she explained. “You get to support other people because you know it’s not your time. There’s something about being the wise one in the room that it’s just so much more fun.”

Life at 60

Jodie says getting into her 60s was “the best shift of all.” She struggled with feeling inadequate and in “that awkward phase where everybody who’s in their late 40s or 50s is very busy getting all plumped and shooting s— into their face.”

“I didn’t want that life, but I also knew that I couldn’t compete with my old self. So my 50s were tough,” she said. “Then something happened when I turned 60. I was like, ‘I figured it out. This is good.’”

Now, Jodie thrives in sharing wisdom with younger acts and allowing them to shine. “This is not my time. I had my time. This is their time, and I get to participate in it by giving them whatever wisdom I have,” she told herself. While she is letting others have the spotlight, Jodie’s still in it as she stars in HBO’s True Detective: Night Country as police chief Liz Danvers.