Fascinating Things You Didn't Know About Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock has a unique family background. During a 2022 WIRED auto-complete interview, "The Proposal" star revealed that her mother, Helga Bullock, was an opera singer and her father was a voice teacher. However, she was quick to note that while she hadn't inherited their talents, her daughter Laila Bullock had. Still, despite her lack of vocal prowess, Sandra was apparently interested in singing at a young age. Although the "Gravity" star was born in Virginia, she spent most of her formative years in Nürnberg, West Germany, and frequently accompanied her mother to her opera shows. 

In addition to occasionally playing smaller roles in Helga's shows, Sandra also performed in the children's opera choir at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. The Oscar winner also became fluent in German during her time in the country. The Bullocks moved back home to Virginia around Sandra's high school years, and she managed to fit right in with her American peers. During a 2010 ABC interview, the "Two Weeks Notice" star's classmate from the time recalled that she was a class clown who once sent everyone into fits of laughter by donning a mouse's outfit for their yearbook cheerleading photo. 

In addition to being a varsity cheerleader, Sandra was also a member of the thespian honor society and the ski club. Before Sandra had a stunning transformation into a movie star, she worked as a waitress. In a 2022 CBS interview, she highly recommended the hospitality job to just about everyone, crediting it with helping her develop her multitasking, people-handling, and memory skills. And she kept her love for the profession close to her after she made it in Hollywood.

Sandra Bullock has owned two restaurants. Her first Austin-based eatery, Bess Bistro, opened its doors to customers in 2006. Unfortunately, her first go in the brutal industry didn't go as planned, and the establishment closed in 2015. At the time, an insider informed Radar Online that the business had failed because it couldn't attract customers, despite Bullock's best efforts. They noted that the Oscar winner had tried to make the cuisine more palatable to locals by changing the French food menu to a "French with a Southern American flare." 

Unfortunately, even that wasn't enough to turn a profit, and Bullock was ultimately left "devastated" at the restaurant's closing. Although Bullock wasn't present at Bess Bistro's closing night, she delivered a heartfelt speech to her staff earlier to express her gratitude. And she even sought to thank her staff by helping them find new work. Since 2009, the "Miss Congeniality" star has been the proud owner of another Austin eatery called Walton's Fancy and Staple. 

However, her second venture isn't a regular restaurant, but a hybrid establishment that sells flowers as well as baked goods and deli food items. In a statement shared with the Austin American-Statesman in 2016, the general manager of the establishment, Jerald Rhodes, described it as a place where "A bride can come in here and get everything she needs, except the dress." Meanwhile, Bullock made her passion for her business clear by asserting, "The acting is to fund what I do here in Austin." So, she's undoubtedly pleased that the eatery continues thriving. 

In 1995, Sandra Bullock started her own production company, Fortis Films. In a 2001 Variety interview, the company's president and the owner's sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, offered insight into Sandra's motivation for the venture, saying, "She wanted to find things [that were] not coming her way and develop things that she wants to do — as well as passion projects." Fortis Films was one of the production houses behind some of Sandra's most popular films, including the "Miss Congeniality" duology, "Practical Magic," "Two Weeks Notice," and "Hope Floats."

Through her production company, Sandra became the executive producer of "The George Lopez Show" in 2002. During a September 2024 appearance on the "Politickin'" podcast, the "Lopez vs. Lopez" alum shared that Sandra had set up a meeting with him when she sought to create a Latino-centric TV show. After the meeting concluded, Lopez privately thanked the Oscar winner for the opportunity while informing her that he knew the odds of the show making it to air were slim. 

In response, she urged him to focus on his comedic routine and let her handle the stresses. Lopez admitted that the meeting moved him, and he teared up in his car afterwards. As The Hollywood Reporter noted, Lopez had high praises for Sandra: "She changed the direction of my life and everybody that's in my family," he continued. "And for no other purpose other than she just thought I was funny." Likewise, during the comedian's appearance on "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?" in 2024, he shared that Sandra hadn't stopped supporting him since that first meeting.

Sandra Bullock's decades-long friendship with Keanu Reeves could have evolved into something more. During a December 2018 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," the "Ocean's 8" star confessed that she had developed a crush on Reeves while they were co-starring in "Speed" in 1994. While reflecting on their work on the action flick, Bullock gushed, "I think about how sweet Keanu Reeves was and how handsome he was." She continued, "It was hard. It was really hard for me to really be serious. He'd look at me and I'd [giggle]." 

When DeGeneres questioned if Bullock had ever dated Reeves, she answered in the negative and posited that he may have found some aspect of her off-putting. When the "John Wick" star appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in May 2019, the talk show host played a clip of Bullock admitting her crush. In response, Reeves stated that he had no idea about his co-star's feelings, adding, "She obviously didn't know I had a crush on her either." Moreover, he posited that neither of them acted on their feelings because they were in a professional relationship at the time. 

Another interesting fact about "Speed" is that Bullock did her own stunts in the action flick. During the Oscar winner's 2018 chat with DeGeneres, she revealed that she had entrusted Reeves to keep her dress from flying up during a stunt where she had to hang off a bus. Speaking to E! News in April 2021, "Miss Congeniality" director Donald Petrie revealed that Bullock performed their own stunts and was particularly sore after the wrestling scene.

In March 2010, Sandra Bullock accepted a Golden Raspberry, AKA Razzie award for her performance in "All About Steve." The Razzies are the antithesis of the Oscars, honoring the worst of Hollywood over the year. So, it was surprising that Bullock showed up to the ceremony to graciously accept her award. In her speech, she joked that if hundreds of Razzies members had watched the movie, it wouldn't have underperformed at the box office. 

Bullock admitted that she had a sneaking suspicion that they had only given her the award because she had vowed to attend the ceremony. So, she bought a cart-full of "All About Steve" DVDs to hand out to the attendees and vowed to return the next year and return her award if they watched her film and found her performance to be the absolute worst. Bullock became the only actor to win an Oscar within 24 hours of winning a Razzie, receiving the coveted trophy for Best Actress for "The Blind Side." 

A few years later, Bullock would make history again, topping the list of highest-paid actresses of 2014 for her role in "Gravity," which earned her $70 million total. Bullock has also put her multi-million-dollar net worth to good use. According to a 2017 E! News report, Bullock had secretly given away over $6 million to numerous charities over 16 years. In 2018, People reported that the actress who was aging like fine wine had added another $500,000 to her philanthropic efforts with her contributions for California wildfire relief.

In December 2000, Sandra Bullock and her then-boyfriend, Bob Schneider, were arriving in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a Christmas getaway when her plane skidded off the runway during landing. Although the aircraft sustained damages, everyone on board was unharmed. Speaking to the New York Times in 2013, the "Bird Box" star admitted that she had been "deathly afraid of flying" since that flight.

Another tragic detail of Bullock's life is that she has been repeatedly stalked. In 2007, the Oscar winner's alleged stalker, Marcia Diane Valentine, nearly ran over her then-husband Jesse James with her car when he spotted her parked outside their home and tried to note her license plate number. During a 2021 appearance on the "Red Table Talk" podcast, Bullock reflected on a fateful night from 2014 when another one of her stalkers, Joshua James Corbett, broke into her home while she was alone, and she had to hide in a closet after calling 911. 

 As The Hollywood Reporter noted, "The Lost City" star confessed that she was worried about how the PTSD she suffered from the home invasion would impact her son, Louis, sharing, "I'm a single parent and this child is going to absorb nothing but fear and trauma and shame from me in the most pivotal times of his life, and I was like, I don't want to drop that load of baggage onto my beautiful child." Later, the Associated Press would reveal that the stalker had written a letter to Bullock before the break-in, which he had signed off with "Love, your husband." In 2018, Corbett committed suicide following a police stand-off.