How Jennifer Connelly Really Felt About Working With David Bowie

Jennifer Connelly is a self-described nerd who never imagined going into the film industry. But the universe wouldn't let her escape it. At just 10 years old, Connelly began working as a child model after a family friend suggested the idea to her parents, as Independent pointed out. A year later, the New York native was starring in Sergio Leone's 1984 film "Once Upon a Time in America." "I had done a little bit of modeling, but I had no aspirations of being an actor," she told The Guardian in 2002. She figured she would grow up to become a veterinarian or some other professional that worked with animals. 

But Connelly continued to star in films, including the 1986 cult-classic "Labyrinth" in which she played a young girl who tries to save her brother from a magical world ruled by goblins. The king of the goblins was played by none other than David Bowie. The movie made Connelly an international star, even though she didn't see it that way. "I don't know if I was a star ... I was certainly working a lot and that was strange because there were good things about it and things that were difficult," she told Independent in 2005.

While Bowie took the world by storm with his music, he had actually starred in some 15 films. By the time he starred in "Labyrinth," Bowie was already considered one of the most influential artists of all time — though Connelly was unaware.

Jennifer Connelly was 14 years old when she was cast to share the screen with David Bowie in "Labyrinth," but unlike many teenagers at the time, she wasn't a fan of the legendary artist. "I wasn't cool enough. There were 14-year-olds who definitely got it," she said on "The Graham Norton Show" in 2019. In hindsight, she believes not being "cool" played in her favor in the end. Had she been aware of how big of a deal working with Bowie was, she would probably have been way too nervous to perform, she added.

Aside from Connelly's own ignorance, Bowie's personality also helped. "He was funny and gracious and made me feel so comfortable," Connelly told Norton. After the film came out, she delved into Bowie's music and gained understanding of the impact he had in the entertainment industry. "After working with him, he became a real hero of mine because he was so kind to me — I was a 14-year-old kid and knew nothing," Connelly added.

Bowie's attitude toward her teenage self left a permanent mark on Connelly. Upon his death on January 10, 2016, she lamented his loss, not only for his artistic contributions, but also his big heart. "It's very sad, his passing, for so many reasons. To me, not only was he a genius, he was a genius who had the time to be kind. [That] was my experience of him," Connelly told Entertainment Tonight. 

"Labyrinth" is widely regarded as Jennifer Connelly's breakthrough role, but her subsequent roles failed to achieve the same level of recognition. While she continued to act, Connelly enrolled at Yale University in 1988, where she studied English for two years, Starz noted. Two years later, Connelly transferred to Stanford to study drama, shifting her attention back to films, according to Independent. "I went back to acting because it's a pretty good job. I didn't enjoy it so much when I was younger and a teenager," she said. 

Connelly went to Yale to gain a different perspective, as she had spent her adolescence feeling like a "walking puppet," she told The Guardian. "It's an interesting way to grow up, being so watched from the outside without really having time alone to sort of get through it all. It really took me a while to come into my own," she said.

Connelly's return to acting was no smooth sailing. In the early 1990s, she starred in a series of films that failed to reignite the success Connelly had achieved as a teenager, as Independent noted. But she changed strategy toward the end of the decade, opting for roles in independent projects that garnered acclaim, like "Inventing the Abbotts" (1997) and "Dark City" (1998). By the time the century turned, Connelly was an established actor with an Oscar under her belt. It might have taken her some time, but Connelly came into her own after all.