Jodie Foster has found a new zest for life since entering her sixth decade.

The actress, 62, revealed that her drive and passion for acting throughout her five-decade career, which began when she was just 12 years old, in Taxi driver.

“I go through periods where I’m burned out and then I have to find love again,” Foster told Laverne Cox on E!’s red carpet ahead of the 2024 Emmy Awards on September 15.

However, a recent milestone birthday has completely changed her perspective on her career.

“I think everything changed at 60,” Foster said. “I got the happy pill and I was just so happy to not have to compete with myself, my former self, and just be able to have a new career that was actually, I don’t know, just about a different part of me.”

Foster — who is nominated for outstanding actress in a miniseries or movie for True Detective: Nightland – said that she doesn’t miss all the things that come with being in your twenties and thirties in Hollywood and that she is happy with where she is at in her career.

“I just love making films. I love being part of the experience, and more than that, I love being part of a team, helping other people and telling stories that can ultimately make people better off, not worse.”

When she and Cox, 52, talked about a particularly long shoot for Orange is the new blackFoster added: “People forget – making films and television is hard work. There’s a lot of work involved, a lot of passion and love. And when you do it, it’s not because you want to be photographed, it’s because you want to work hard to create something beautiful.”

The Nyad The star had previously spoken about how his 60th birthday last year was “one of the best days of my life”.

“I think it’s some kind of hormone or something that was injected into me,” she said at the Today Show in January: “I don’t know, I just feel like suddenly nothing really mattered anymore and everything was a bonus. I was just happy and content and not competing with my old self. I had no expectations of what was happening and I was ready for what was to come.”

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