Sandra Annette Bullock (born July 26 , 1964 in Arlington County, Virginia ) is an American film actress .

Sandra majored in drama at East Carolina University . She left ECU during the spring semester of her Senior year at ECU, only three credits short of graduating, to pursue acting in New York City , but found it difficult to establish herself. She later received an honorary degree from ECU. She moved to Los Angeles, California and landed a series of small roles in several independent films and, eventually, she got the lead role in the TV version of the movie Working Girl .

Bullock's first notable movie appearance was in Demolition Man in 1993 , which led to her breakthrough performance in Speed the following year. She became a bona fide star in the mid–late 90s , carrying a string of successes on the strength of her name alone. She also runs her own production company, Fortis Films .