Drew Barrymore was born on February 22, 1975 in Culver City, California, USA. She was born to actor John Drew Barrymore Jr. and Ildiko Jaid.

She is the youngest member of one of Hollywood's most prestigious acting dynasties. Her grandfather is the legendary actor, matinee idol and writer John Barrymore; her great-aunt the Oscar-winning actress Ethel Barrymore, and her great-uncle the Oscar-winning actor Lionel Barrymore. Even her father, the actor-turned-poet John Jr., courted some fame, although his drug busts and failed marriages earned the lions share of public attention.

She had a very troubled time through her childhood. She tried alcohol for the first time at age 9, and marijuana at age 10. Soon after, she turned to cocaine, and stirred controversy with her near nude appearances in Far From Home, and was forced into ASAP Family Treatment Center, a drug rehab clinic. She stole her mother's credit card, escaped the clinic, and made a break for the Westcoast. She was unsuccessful, however, and was returned to rehab by authorities. July 1989 was her all-time low; she unsuccessfully attempted suicide, and was sent back to rehab. She divorced her mother at the age of 15, and posed nude for a magazine cover not much later than that.

Barrymore entered into a short-lived marriage to actor Jeremy Thomas at age 19, which lasted from March to May of 1994. She continued her outrageous behavior in the early 1990s by posing nude, multiple tattoos and all, for spreads in Andy Warhol's Interview and in Playboy. She also exposed her breasts on TV to a shocked David Letterman at his Late Night show birthday celebration.

But, while she continued to compete for the title of busiest actress in Hollywood, she was honing her craft. She was terrific as a wild and unpredictable runaway in the touching, funny Boys On the Side, a female road movie that teamed her with Whoopi Goldberg and Mary-Louise Parker. She was also startlingly good in Mad Love, as another runaway, this time a wayward, unstable spirit in love with Chris O'Donnell (although the film itself smacked of MTV opportunity). And in Woody Alien's Everyone Says I love You she played a Manhattan socialite with a propensity for swallowing engagement rings.