Sunshine girl Amy Adams

While Amy Adams’ friends were gushing over Patrick Swayze wooing Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing, Adams had a different cinematic crush. The then 13-year-old was obsessed with the turbulent love affair between a headstrong woman and a rogue during the American Civil War in the South. “I watched Gone With the Wind, and it changed my life forever,” she says, smiling. “I was like, ‘I am Scarlett O’Hara.’ She was a survivor. I think that’s why I identified with her.”

It was a prescient role model for a young actress who would become a “10-year overnight sensation” when her indie film Junebug screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Three years earlier, Adams landed what was to be her breakout role, playing the naive fiancée to Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in the film Catch Me If You Can. The movie was a hit, but it didn’t land any parts for Adams. With her 30th birthday looming, she accepted the role in the low-budget Junebug, but her expectations were modest. She was discouraged and considered leaving the business.

But after the film’s much-lauded debut at Sundance -- and the awards that followed, including her Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress -- Adams’ career went into overdrive. When she took to the stage two years later to sing the Oscar-nominated tune “Happy Working Song” from the film Enchanted, she was indeed happily and gainfully employed. The film grossed more than $340 million, and Adams -- who had once struggled to pay her rent -- was now in the number nine spot on Forbes’ list of Hollywood’s best-paid actresses.

'I watched Gone With the Wind, and it changed my life forever,' says Amy Adams

Adams returned to the Sundance Film Festival last year with another indie offering, Sunshine Cleaning. In the film -- which opens this month -- Adams plays a single mom who quits cleaning houses and launches a lucrative crime-scene cleanup business with her un­reliable sister, played by Emily Blunt. “I was completely intimidated when I found out that Emily had been cast for the role,” says Adams. “I had seen My Summer of Love, so I was like, ‘That girl has chops! I have to bring my A game.’ It felt like she was my sister. It’s weird when you meet someone and there’s such a connection.”