JENETTE GOLDSTEIN
THEN: ALIEN: COVENANT is only a couple weeks away and I couldn’t be more excited. Ever since my first exposure to the franchise I was utterly blown away by the Xenomorph and its acidic blood and slick design. From its first introduction in ALIEN (1978) to the fantastic follow-up ALIENS (1986), the series hit some impressive heights. While the following films rarely lived up to the first two, it was too late, I was already in awe of these amazing creatures and the characters it hunted. One such character is the fantastic Private Vasquez in ALIENS. She was tough, she was intense, and ironically the real life actor taking on the role appeared to be nothing like her on-screen persona. Jenette Goldstein stole many a scene in this legendary film, and this week is a great time to see what is going on with this talented lady.
When you start off your career in a movie like ALIENS, with a role like Vasquez, it’s not a bad way to begin. And that is exactly what introduced audiences to the lovely actress. She was tough as they get, but she was scared as f*ck when she needed to be. Considering she was starring opposite the likes of Sigourney Weaver, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn, and she still killed it, that is something to be proud of. This street smart character was about as far from the woman playing her that she could possibly be. Yet Jenette became Vasquez on every level. I had no doubt that you’d want this private on your side when things got tough. I love everything about ALIENS, and that is especially true when it comes to the badass Vasquez.
If you are going to follow-up a film like ALIENS, you could do much worse than what Ms. Goldstein went for. As fantastic as Vasquez was, you have to give it up for freaking Diamondback in NEAR DARK (1987). With an incredible script by friend of AITH, Eric Red, and the incredible Kathryn Bigelow – who also directed – this quickly became one of my favorite vampire flicks. Once again Jenette joined forces with Paxton and Henriksen and they slayed it as a vicious family of vamps. Sure this film didn’t blow up the box office on its initial release, but it certainly has become a major cult classic. I loved the family dynamic here, and yes, Jenette was already proving to be a force to be reckoned with.
Considering the actress started off in genre, she began to try out a few different projects. She made a guest appearance on the intriguing series Max Headroom in 1987. You could find her opposite Mark Harmon and Sean Connery in THE PRESIDIO as well as an underrated gem about nuclear war called MIRACLE MILE, both in 1988. In 1989 she appeared in another popular sequel, a little movie called LETHAL WEAPON 2. And in 1991, she once again joined James Cameron for a small role in the classic action flick TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991). She followed that with a few guest starring roles on shows like MacGyver (1991), Civil Wars (1992), L.A. Law (1994) and The Client (1995).
Jenette once again took on a bit of sci-fi goodness in 1994 by joining STAR TREK: GENERATIONS. And then she had a couple of other flicks including the goofy Cindy Crawford and William Baldwin action drama FAIR GAME in 1995. To be fair, this is a game I had no interest in playing. She was also featured in the romantic drama TOUCH ME (1997) which gave us Amanda Peet and Michael Vartan as the leads. And what about that movie about the ship that sank? Yeah, not surprisingly her strong working relationship with Cameron brought her on for a small role in the gigantic hit TITANIC that same year. Just the fact that she has ALIENS, NEAR DARK and freaking TITANIC on her resume is ridiculously impressive.
In the late 1980’s the actress took on a number of flicks including the role of Nurse Alvarez in SENSELESS, a maid in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS and Fanny in LIVING OUT LOUD (all three in 1998). After Y2K fizzled, you could find the actress doing voice work on video games like “Star Trek: Invasion” (2000) or “X-Men: Next Dimension” (2002). She offered assistance on the critically acclaimed series’ ER and Six Feet Under. She continued to take on smaller features like IT IS WHAT IT IS (2001), CLOCKSTOPPERS (2002), HOME ROOM (2002) and DUPLEX (2003). She once again returned to the scary stuff with a role in the horror thriller AUTOPSY in 2008. And her last credit according to IMDb is an indie called UNDER THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN about a struggling actor trying to find his purpose in life.
NOW: Last year, our very own Eric Walkuski had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Jenette about all things ALIENS and Private Vasquez for the thirtieth anniversary of the classic film. It is a fantastic conversation and it was fun reading about her thoughts on working with Mr. Cameron and the legacy of that legendary flick. So what is Jenette up to as of late? Well, she has certainly taken a break from Hollywood, and now she owns a company called Jenette Bras, which according to wikipedia is described as “a large-cup bra specialist known for its slogan "The alphabet starts at ‘D’"
As a fan of all things ALIEN and ALIENS, it was fun to travel back a bit and look back on her impressive career. Very few actors can say that worked on that many incredible projects, unless you are a huge star and used to that kind of thing. I’ve always been a fan of Jenette as Vasquez and Diamondback. She owned the two characters, and she will forever be a favorite of mine. If you’d like to check out what she has currently going on, you can follow her on Twitter or Facebook. And if you happen to be in Los Angeles area and feel the need to purchase some quality clothing, check out Jenette Bras at any of the locations. What better way to get ready for ALIEN: COVENANT, than to revisit the original classics and see just how awesome Vasquez was against those deadly space creatures.