Jennifer Beals was born in December 1963 in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in the city. With a life-long desire for acting, Beals first appeared in small high school plays and even got an uncredited bit part in My Bodyguard in 1980. After graduation, she enrolled in college at Yale University, studying American literature. She appeared in her first starring role in the movie Flashdance while still a freshman at Yale. While at Yale, she also starred in Franc Roddam's The Bride. After graduation from Yale, Beals married independent filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell in the mid-80s, and has appeared in several of his films. Most notably, she starred in his In the Soup, which won the 1992 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Deauville Film Festival.

Beals continued to find acting work in various movies and TV productions through the 1990s, in lead and supporting roles. Her most recent and notable role came in early 2004 with her appearing as a regular on the Showtime TV-cable series "The L Word" playing a lesbian art gallery manager named Bette Porter.
In Devil in a Blue Dress, she plays a woman passing for white who is actually the daughter of an interracial couple. In real life, this is Beals's racial background, too. Film debut was in the 1980 film, My Bodyguard, in which she is uncredited. Turned down the opportunity to play herself in It's Like, You Know.... She put her career on hold to graduate from Yale. While at Yale, she was classmates with David Duchovny, who suggested her for a part on The X-Files (which went to Gillian Anderson). In the film The Anniversary Party, Beals plays a character who takes photographs of performers which she then gives away, usually to the subjects of the photos. Beals actually does this. Has an African-American father and an Irish mother. In Flashdance, the birth date that she fills out on the application form is her actual birth date in real life. While still a teenager, before she went into show business, she worked as a babysitter for one of her neighbors - Steve Edwards. Good friends with Elizabeth Berkley. The each appeared in a Joe Eszterhas-written film (Berkley: Showgirls; Beals: Flashdance), and they appeared together in Roger Dodger. Stepmother to her husband, Ken Dixon's, two children. Gave birth to her first child, a girl, in October, 2005. She and her character on The L Word, Bette Porter, are both Yale graduates with an African-American father and a Caucasian mother. Was offered the part of Apollonia for Purple Rain, which starred 80s music star Prince. She turned it down because she wanted to concentrate on college. Worked at Baskin-Robbins as a teenager. She was the original choice for the lead role in Pretty in Pink, but it went to Molly Ringwald. Is a close friend of Quentin Tarantino. He often stayed at her home while struggling as an director before making Pulp Fiction. Daughter of Alfred Beals (an African-American grocery store owner) and Jeanne Cohen (an Irish elementary school teacher).