You might remember Leelee Sobieski from some of her roles in hit movies like Never Been
Kissed and Joy Ride.
The Helen Hunt look-alike was one of the hottest up-and-coming actresses in the late nineties,
but she seemed to just disappear overnight.
So, what happened to make her slip so far from the public radar?
Here's a look at why Leelee Sobieski just isn't a staple of the screen anymore.
Teen typecast
Like many young actresses, Sobieski got her start acting on television.
Her turn as the title legend in TV's Joan of Arc mini-series earned her Golden Globe
and Emmy nominations when she was still just 17.
It wasn't long before she made a transition into films and experienced some early buzz
on the silver screen.
The first movie she snagged a role in was the apocalyptic blockbuster Deep Impact alongside
Elijah Wood.
And soon after, she appeared in a small role in Stanley Kubrick's sexy mystery-thriller
Eyes Wide Shut to tack some prestige cred onto her growing resume as well.
It was after that when she appeared in one of her first real recognizable roles alongside
Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed.
But while those pics brought her right into the promising teen scene, they also may have
pigeon-holed her a bit as the go-to young actress you'd want as a sidekick, rather than
the leading lady.
So, once she did start snagging herself some prime positions in films, she had a lot more
trouble commanding a crowd.
The tough side of Tinseltown
Right around the turn of the millennium, Leelee Sobieski had gotten enough attention to earn
herself top billing on a couple of promising projects.
She got to star as the object of two swoony hunks' attention in the 2000 southern teen
drama Here on Earth and then starred as the central damsel in distress in the 2001 thriller
flick The Glass House.
But both films failed to justify Sobieski's status as a cinematic centerpiece, with low
box office receipts and critical slams aplenty.
And, while she did enjoy some success as part of the cast of the suspense pic Joy Ride,
that only proved that she's more likely to earn ticket money as part of an ensemble.
Later efforts to headline a variety of pics like The Idol, In a Dark Place, and Walk All
Over Me did nothing to cure those symptoms of box office poisoning either.
Turning back to TV
Once Sobieski's film career started to wane, she began making appearances on television
shows such as Drop Dead Diva and The Good Wife.
The actress was then cast in a CBS show called NYC 22 in 2012.
Even though it followed suit with many popular shows on the network, telling the story of
six rookie cops working in New York City, it was cancelled just after one season.
No one was sad to see the show go, since so few people even knew the show existed.
Tough break, Leelee.
Shielding an image
Unlike many of her peers, Sobieski is a vocal opponent of the strict body standards set
forth by the industry for a woman's image and believes her form is only meant to be
seen by the likes of her husband.
As she told OK Magazine in 2012, "I feel like there's something that changes when a woman
is more developed in the chest area, where you have to be more demure…
I really wanted to show the world!
And now, I realize that it's for my husband, and when I keep it to myself, it's more alluring."
Leelee's commitment to keeping her on-screen intimacy to a minimum is definitely a reflection
of her personal life decisions as well.
The actress proudly remained a virgin until the age of 26, when she married the future
Vampire Diaries star Matt Davis in 2008.
She told Access Hollywood, "it was important to me that I remained a virgin until after
I was married.
It wasn't for any religious reasons or anything like that, but simply because, to me, my virginity
was the most precious gift that I could ever give to a man, and I wanted to be sure I was
giving it to the right man."
"Are you looking for attention?"
“What kind of attention?”
The Finding Bliss co-stars split after just five months together, but that didn't affect
Sobieski's opinion about sex.
In fact, her second marriage to Adam Kimmel may have even encouraged more on-screen modesty
on her part.
As she told Vogue, "Ninety percent of acting roles involve so much sexual stuff with other
people, and I don't want to do that.
It's such a strange fire to play with … if you're going to walk through fire, there has
to be something incredible on the other side."
More power to her.
But it's an unfortunate reality even the most accomplished actresses of all time — including
her celeb doppelganger Helen Hunt — have been known to bare it all for the sake of
bolstering their box office worth.
So, while Leelee's decision to keep her skin tucked away might be noble, it could've also
precluded her from securing certain roles.
On the bright side, at least she missed out on that terrible Oscars montage.
“We saw your boobs / Jessica Chastain, we saw your boobs in Lawless / Jodie Foster in
The Accused”
It seems her desire for privacy could also be part of the reason why Sobieski chose to
step away from the limelight a bit in recent years.
A family affair
Thanks to her marriage to Kimmel, Sobieski is now a mom to two children, and has said
that she credits her newest gig as mom with being her most important role of all these
days.
She told Us Weekly, "I am just focused on my kids.
I think that's mainly why I stopped [acting]."
Her marriage to Kimmel, a fashion designer, has also offered her a secondary career path,
as she pitches in with his projects whenever she does get the itch to work, and likes to
paint as an artistic outlet.
While it doesn't look like we'll be seeing Sobieski on camera again any time soon, fans
can still look forward to her releasing some creative work.
Because even though she's currently focusing on motherhood, she's long predicted she'd
end up becoming a Renaissance woman down the line.
At the tender age of 23, she told France's Purple magazine, "I want to be a director,
a painter and a writer of children's stories, and a mother."
It sounds like she's well on her way to achieving those goals already.
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