Minnie Driver Feels ‘Glad’ About Ageing In Hollywood & Appreciates Its ‘Weird Freedom’

Apr 13, 2022 by apost team

The path to success is not a straightforward one in the world of entertainment. Whether you've been a child movie star or achieved your stardom later in life, being a celebrity isn't a cookie-cutter career. For actress Minnie Driver, her career has been full of opportunities and new beginnings. 

Born in London and raised in Barbados, Driver attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Driver would have her first big opportunity in 1991 when she landed her first commercial acting gig for Right Guard deodorant. Not only did she get hired as an actress in 1991, but she also performed as a jazz vocalist and guitarist. 

Driver started to break into feature films when she landed her first large supporting role in "Circle of Friends" in 1995. The jobs started to roll in for the young British-American actress not long after. She would go on to star in "Big Night" in 1996 before being nominated for an Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for her supporting role in "Good Will Hunting." 

Driver didn't just star in dramas but animation films as well. In 1999 Driver voiced the character Jane in Disney's "Tarzan." Switching from film to television, the actress landed a role in "Will and Grace" in the early 2000s. Driver was engaged shortly in 2001 to actor Josh Brolin before calling it off for good. In 2008 she had a son, Henry Story Driver, before she got married to her current husband, Addison O'Dea. 

While Driver was once known for her Hollywood hits now, she is working on projects away from the big screen. 

Recalling rejection, in 2014, Driver told CBS she almost didn't get her supporting role in "Good Will Hunting." "The producers didn't want me," she said. "I don't think they thought — they didn't think I was sexy. They didn't think I was like, you know, hot." 

But Driver was no quitter. She told The Guardian in 2021, "Ambition requires you to create big things you're supposed to want, which become totems to a person you actually may not be." 

Her determination began behind the screen. She said, "My idea of what I wanted to do was to story tell, was to be a storyteller." Her determination crossed over easily as she hand-picked her Hollywood roles throughout the years. 

"If I read something, I'll know immediately when I read it. 'Can I apply myself to this and is there enough of me to lend myself to this that I could make it- come to life?' which is what you have to do; it's just words on a page," she told CBS. Driver isn't just developing her acting career; she's also singing, writing, and podcasting. She told The Guardian there was more to her life than just Hollywood.

"The idea of maintaining, of being a movie star, for decades. I clearly did not have that. I did not have the appetite. Ambition requires you to create really big things that you're supposed to want, and then they become totems to a person that you actually may not be. But you're encouraged to worship at those totems because that's what keeps the engine of Hollywood going." 

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While having plenty of acting experience on her resume, Driver has added new skills to her areas of expertise. 

Adding a podcast with Iheartradio in 2021, she told Variety, "I feel like podcasts can be extraordinarily wayward, and I wanted to create something disciplined around a jumping-off point," she said. "It looks tame — but it's pretty fierce." She added, "finding creative diversification during lockdown. I felt like during the pandemic, it was a really wonderful way of connecting people… and finding out what people think about their life."

Interviewing guests like actress Viola Davis and singer Dave Grohl, Driver has added another career to her long list of accomplishments. These days the award-nominated woman focuses on herself and what makes her happy.

"Also, what is one's benchmark for success? My God! It might be someone else's idea of failure that I didn't stay being a huge movie star. For me, I'm 51, and I'm making a living and I own a home that I love, and I have this partner and this child, and people will still hire me to do something that I love. I can't possibly call that anything other than the most resounding success," she said. 

Driver is just grateful for her long career. 

"I'm at this age now, 51, where you can look back over a vast stretch of time and also look forward with so much clarity, in a way. There's something incredibly powerful about that. Joyful."

Now that Driver has a long career to look back on; the actress said she looks at getting older in a hopeful light:

"[Getting older's] a weird freedom, even as our bodies start to betray us. We're so funny about getting older but there is something in my heart that feels glad and excited about what's coming."

What do you think of Minnie Driver's career pivot after all these years? If you've missed seeing her on tv, pass this on to others, so they can follow her new work!