One line from the 2013 Oscar ceremony sums up Anne Hathaway’s journey up to that point in just a few words. After receiving the award for Best Supporting Actress for “Les Misérables,” she said: “It was a dream. And it came true.” On November 12, 2026, the American actress turns 44.
Hathaway was born in 1982 in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Millburn, New Jersey. Her first major success came with the role of Mia Thermopolis in the 2001 film “The Princess Diaries.” The film made her a familiar face to young audiences and marked the beginning of a career that gradually moved away from the roles of fairy-tale heroines.
Andy Sachs made her world-famous
In 2006, Hathaway played Andrea “Andy” Sachs in David Frankel’s “The Devil Wears Prada.” Her character is a young journalist who finds herself in the ruthless world of a fashion magazine, where she works for the powerful editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep.
The film became one of her most recognizable roles, while her on-screen partnership with Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt remains among the most memorable in popular cinema of the first decade of the 21st century. The character of Andy Sachs continues to be associated with Hathaway even years after the premiere.
The road to the Oscar
The actress demonstrated a more serious dramatic range in Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married.” For her role in the 2008 film, she received her first Oscar nomination in the Best Actress category.
Four years later came the performance that earned her the statuette. In Tom Hooper’s “Les Misérables,” Hathaway played Fantine — a woman forced to part with her child and endure severe hardships. For the role, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 2013 ceremony.
“I hope that one day Fantine’s misfortunes will be found only in stories, and not in real life,” Hathaway said in her acceptance speech.
From superhero cinema to space fiction
In the same year that “Les Misérables” was released, Hathaway also appeared as Selina Kyle, known as Catwoman, in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises.” In 2014, she worked with the director again — this time on “Interstellar,” in which she played Dr. Amelia Brand, a scientist on an expedition searching for a new home for humanity.
Her filmography also includes “Brokeback Mountain,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “One Day,” “The Intern” and “Ocean’s 8.” Hathaway has also won Golden Globe, BAFTA and Emmy awards.
In recent years, she has continued to work both in auteur and dramatic productions and in major studio films. Following her appearance in “The Idea of You,” the actress is returning to the role of Andy Sachs in the sequel “The Devil Wears Prada 2” — a sign that one of the most popular characters of her career still has a place in the present.
Sources: usmagazine.com, oscars.org, the-independent.com