Biography
A budding TV star, Jennifer Esposito opted to focus more exclusively on movies after landing one of the lead roles in
Spike Lee's incendiary
Summer of Sam (1999). A native New Yorker, Esposito trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute and worked on TV in the early 1990s, including a recurring role on
New York Undercover. Following small roles in indie films Kiss Me, Guido (1997) and
A Brother's Kiss (1997), Esposito gained prime time notice in 1997 as Michael J. Fox's sassy "Noo Yawk" secretary on ABC's hit sitcom
Spin City. During her two seasons on the show, Esposito also appeared in
Edward Burns' blue collar romance
No Looking Back (1998), the teen slasher sequel
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), and
Spike Lee's basketball drama
He Got Game (1998). After playing the more substantial dramatic part of
Adrien Brody's punk singer girlfriend in
Summer of Sam, however, Esposito left
Spin City in 1999. Dividing critics and audiences over its dicey slice of New York City 1977 life and Lee's visual pyrotechnics,
Summer of Sam failed at the box office. Esposito next appeared as one of
Chris O'Donnell's ex-girlfriends in
The Bachelor (1999). The millennial turnover found the beautiful rising starlet establishing herself as a versatile actress in such efforts as Dracula 2000 (2000) and
Don't Say a Word (2001), and after appearing alongside
Dana Carvey in the family comedy The Master of Disguise (2002), Esposito joined an impressive cast including
Luis Guzman, William H. Macy and George Cloony for the caper comedy
Welcome to Collinwood (also 2002). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide