Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4th, 1929 in Brussels, Belguim. She was very thin and tomboyish when she was a teenager, but she was always graceful. She had a great sense of style and a charming presence. Her beauty, and flawless fashion sense made her the designer's dream. Audrey life was not picture perfect at the beginning, though. Audrey Hepburn lived in Holland when Nazis occupied it. When the war finally ended she decided to study dance and modeling. An author named Collette discovered her one day in 1951, and from there, her actng career began. Collette asked her to be in the musical Gigi. The musical launched her off to success in Hollywood. Her first motion picture debut was in the movie One Wild Oat. She won an Oscar for her performance in Roman Holiday and a Tony for her performance in Ondine. Perhaps one of her most famous roles was in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Audrey Hepburn has been married to both Mel Ferrer and Andrea Dotti, and from these two marriages, she had two children. She then met Robert Wolders after her two divorces. The two decided to travel the world together, even when she was sick. They became life long companions. In the latter portion of Audrey's life, she was quite altruistic. From 1988 and on Audrey served as a special ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund. This organization focused on children in Africa and Asia. She died on January 20, 1993 of colon cancer after having won a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Her life story was captured in many films, including one which came out in year 2000: The Audrey Hepburn Story.

Although Audrey has not been my hero for a long time, I've always admired her since the first time I heard of her. I tend to look up to a lot of actresses because their jobs are so challenging, but many actresses of the day aren't as "wholesome" as actresses of the earlier 1900's. Audrey's selfless personality and charitable ways are what makes her so unique. She didn't do this work to look good, she did it because she cared. The qualities which she had are ones which I am striving for too because I want to make an impact on people's lives as well. It takes a hero to start from scratch, work their way to fame, and then still have time to help others. For these reasons, I think of her as my hero.