"Jodie Foster comes out!" were the cries from the entertainment press following the actress' Golden Globes speech on Sunday (January 13, 2013) during which she cleared up any ambiguity surrounding her sexuality and made a heartfelt plea for privacy in Hollywood. Foster - who was accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Beverly Hilton Hotel - told the star-studded audience, "I already did my big coming out about a thousand years ago in the stone age, in those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends, and family, co-workers and then gradually, proudly, to everyone who knew her."

"If you had been a public figure since the time you were a toddler, if you had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe you too would value privacy above all else," she added. Ok, so everyone applauded Foster's openness (several audience members even cried), though after a long and distinguished career, is the 50-year-old still considered amongst Hollywood's premier band of leading ladies? Quiz anyone on their favourite Jodie Foster movie and the answer will invariably be Taxi Driver, The Accused or Silence of the Lambs, the latest of which hit cinemas in 1991. Ok, so there's been a couple of good movies since - most notably Panic Room (2006) and Inside Man (2006) - though shouldn't a two-time Oscar winner have been offered stronger roles in the supposed peak years of her career? Perhaps Foster still has award-winning roles ahead of her, ala Meryl Steep, Helen Mirren and Glenn Close. 

A recent directorial foray with The Beaver didn't turn out well. Although the comedy-drama had an interesting premise, Mel Gibson's central performance was panned by critics. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw said, "Contrived, self-admiring and self-pitying, unfunny, burdened with a central performance which is unendurably conceited and charmless." Perhaps things will turn around for Foster with Elysium, District 9 director Neill Blomkamp's forthcoming sci-fi set in the year 2159, where the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population reside on a ruined earth. Sounds a reasonable enough sci-fi offering, though something in the script has attracted Matt Damon to play the lead role of Max. Foster will play a government official.

What do you think, does Jodie Foster have another Oscar winning role in her yet?

Jodie Foster Comes Out In Golden Globes SpeechJodie Foster Surprised Everyone By Coming Out At The Golden Globes