NEED TO KNOW
Kate Burton always knew Jodie Foster would succeed in Hollywood — even when she was her landlord at Yale University in the early 1980s.
Speaking with PEOPLE in an exclusive conversation at a screening of her latest project, Netflix’s The Beast in Me, in New York City on Nov. 5, Burton recalled having Foster living in one of her units in New Haven, Conn.
“She was my tenant at Yale, I was her landlord, because she was an undergraduate and I was a graduate student,” the 68-year-old actress says of her longtime, and seemingly random, connection to Foster, 62.
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Foster attended Yale starting in 1980. She studied African-American literature and graduated magna cum laude in 1985.
Prior to Yale, Foster was a child star, earning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role in 1976’s Taxi Driver. Foster was 12 when she was cast in the film, alongside Robert De Niro and Cybill Shepherd.
Burton says of Foster’s acting, “She was the most incredible child actor that has ever existed — and she’s got an extraordinary career.”
After Yale, Foster won Best Actress for 1988’s The Accused and 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. She earned another Best Actress nod for 1994’s Nell. Her latest nomination was Best Supporting Actress for 2024’s Nyad.
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“She’s a beacon to a lot of actors, and particularly child actors who know that there’s a world out there for them,” Burton says of Foster’s impact.
As for Burton’s career, the actress has three Emmy nominations for her roles in Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, as well as three Tony nods for her stints in The Elephant Man, Hedda Gabler and The Constant Wife.
At the Netflix screening, Burton teased that she “just did an episode of Grey’s and I’ll be doing another one probably this year.”
She adds, “Grey’s is the gift that keeps on giving.”
Burton’s The Beast in Me arrives on Netflix on Nov. 13.
