Sandra Bullock: her best-known roles

Sandra Bullock got her big break courtesy of a supporting role as an imperilled passenger in the 1994 blockbuster Speed. Sadly she had to play distant second fiddle to Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper and a bus that couldn't slow down
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Bullock swapped buses for trains on the romcom While You Were Sleeping, bagging a starring role as a lonely fare collector who finds herself trapped in a web of lies after saving a commuter. This being a Bullock film, it all ends happily
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The world wide web was still in its infancy when Bullock pointed the way to the future and warned us of the dark torments that lay in wait in cyberspace. Here she is, staring pensively at her computer screen in the 1995 thriller The Net
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

Director Joel Schumacher assembled an A-list cast for A Time to Kill. This fevered adaptation of the John Grisham bestseller starred Kevin Spacey, Matthew McConnaughey, Donald Sutherland and Samuel L Jackson. Happily a slot was also found for Sandra Bullock in a pivotal role as a liberal law student, straight out of Massachusetts
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Hollywood concepts don't come much higher than the concept at the heart of Miss Congeniality, which starred Bullock as an FBI agent who goes undercover at a beauty pageant. A runaway hit, the film cemented the actor's credentials as mainstream America's favourite movie sweetheart
Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar/Cinetext Collection

Crash, Paul Haggis's glossy tale of racial tensions in modern-day LA cast Bullock as a jittery housewife in an ensemble cast that included Don Cheadle, Brendan Fraser, Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton. The film trumped Brokeback Mountain to win the crowning best picture Oscar in 2006
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Last year was a time of triumph and disaster for Sandra Bullock. Here's the disaster: the reputed comedy All About Steve was one of the worst reviewed films of 2009 and bagged the star a Golden Raspberry award. Sportingly, Bullock showed up in person to collect her prize
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And here's the triumph. The Blind Side stars Bullock as a God-fearing football mom who mentors a troubled black teen. It was a role that was embraced by middle America and went on to win her the best actress Oscar at the 82nd Academy Awards. Sportingly, she showed up to collect that one too
Photograph: PR