Thora Birch

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Thora Birch

Thora Birch, 2006
Born March 11, 1982 (1982-03-11) (age 26)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active 1988 — present
Official website
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Thora Birch (born March 11, 1982) is an American actress. She was one of the leading child actors of the 1990s, starring in movies such as Hocus Pocus (1993), Now and Then (1995), and Alaska (1996). Since the 1990s she has moved on to more mature roles, with notable performances in films such as American Beauty (1999) and the acclaimed cult film Ghost World (2001).

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

Birch was born in Los Angeles, California, the eldest child of Jack Birch and Carol Connors. Both her parents (who have managed her career and remain her managers right up to the present day) were former adult film actors and her mother appeared in the notorious pornographic film, Deep Throat.[1] Birch, who has a brother named Bolt Birch, is of Jewish, Nordic, and Italian descent. The family's original surname was "Biersch", coming from her German Jewish ancestors.[2] The name 'Thora' is a feminized form of the name Thor, the God of the Sky and of Thunder in Norse mythology. From an early age, Birch was encouraged by her parents to audition for commercials. She landed several parts representing companies such as Quaker Oats and Vlasic Pickles. In 1988, she broke into acting when landing the role of Molly in the short-lived television series Day By Day in which she was billed simply as "Thora." That same year she played an important role in the movie Purple People Eater opposite Ned Beatty and Neil Patrick Harris for which she won a Youth In Film Award for her performance.

[edit] Paradise

Birch's breakthrough role came in 1991 when she was cast as 'tomboy' Billie Pike in the movie Paradise which also starred Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith and Elijah Wood. To obtain the role, she had to compete with more than 4,000 other young hopefuls who auditioned for it. Birch received enormous praise for her performance and her career thereafter went from strength to strength.

[edit] 1991-1995

Thora's ability to portray herself as a young tomboy landed her several parts during the period 1991-1995, including the role of Dani in Hocus Pocus (1993). Her acting ability moreover continued to attract much praise and she won leading roles in such films as All I Want For Christmas (1991) and Monkey Trouble (1994). She also appeared in two big-budget blockbuster Harrison Ford films, Patriot Games (1992) and its sequel, Clear and Present Danger (1994).

[edit] Now & Then

Birch's performance in the 1995 film Now And Then is generally regarded as one of her best performances to date.[citation needed] It also starred Gaby Hoffmann, Christina Ricci, Demi Moore and Melanie Griffith. Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, the film is about four friends who have been so preoccupied with their own lives that they have not seen one another for some time until the impending birth of one of their babies reunites them. Upon reuniting, they reminisce about events during the summer of 1970 when they were 12 which were ultimately influential in shaping their lives. It was during that summer, a mixture of both happy and sad events, that they realized that adulthood was fast approaching, that they began to work out what life was about and what they wished to do with their own lives. They also promised to be there for another, hence the reason why they were reuniting for the birth of the baby. The film, a female take on the film Stand By Me, was an enormous success and Birch won great critical acclaim for her performance.

[edit] Alaska

By 1996, Thora was one of leading child actresses of her generation. She consolidated her position with a leading role in the adventure film, Alaska (1996) in which she plays the role of Jessie Barnes who has moved to Alaska with her father (played by Dirk Benedict) and brother after the death of her mother. Her father is a former airline pilot and upon moving to Alaska, he starts earning a living by delivering supplies to small towns in the Alaskan wilderness in his light aircraft. Whilst making a delivery, his plane crashes into a mountainside. Concluding that not enough was being done to locate him, Jessie and her brother set out on a successful attempt to find him with the help of a baby polar bear.

[edit] 1996-1999: break from acting

After guest-starring appearances in the The Outer Limits, Promised Land and Touched By An Angel, Thora took a break from acting for a couple of years. In 1999, she returned in the made-for-TV movie Night Ride Home and also took a small uncredited role in the Natalie Portman film Anywhere But Here. She also was initially cast in the role of Tammy Metzler in the dark-comedy Election, but ended up leaving after only the third day of filming after disagreements with director/writer Alexander Payne. Jessica Campbell was then given the role of Metzler.

[edit] American Beauty

Later in 1999, Birch won enormous critical praise playing the role of Jane Burnham in American Beauty and was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award. The movie itself went on to win the Oscar (i.e. Academy Award) for Best Picture. As Birch was barely 17 at the time she made the film, and thus classified as a minor in the United States, her parents had to approve her brief topless scene in the movie and they and child labor representatives were on the set for the shooting of it.

[edit] Ghost World

After leading roles in The Smokers (2000), Dungeons & Dragons (2000), and The Hole (2001), Birch landed the leading role in Ghost World alongside Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi and Brad Renfro and was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress for her performance.

[edit] 2001 to 2008

Birch's most notable roles since 2001 have been that of Liz Murray in Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003) and April in Slingshot (2005). Recent films include Dark Corners (in which she appeared in the lead role as a woman who wakes up one day as a different person and ends up being stalked by gruesome creatures), Tainted Love, and Winter of Frozen Dreams.

Birch will next star in the film Train alongside her brother Bolt Birch. The movie entails a trip to Europe for a group of American college athletes who unknowingly board a train that is occupied by a brutal killer. Birch has also been negotiating to have a part in the 2009 film Frail. She will reportedly play Chloe, a mysterious young, naive girl from the Midwest. In the film, the Chloe character and a private-eye struggle to come to terms with their dark pasts.

[edit] Future ambition

Birch has indicated that she aspires to become a director and has recently begun directing short video sketches for a sketch comedy troupe called The Doomed Planet. The sketches can be seen on her official website.

[edit] Awards

  • 2001 - Toronto Film Critics Association Award - Ghost World
  • 2000 - Young Star Award - American Beauty
  • 2000 - Young Artist Award - American Beauty
  • 2000 - Young Hollywood Award - Best On-screen Chemistry - American Beauty (1999), shared with Wes Bentley
  • 2000 - YoungStar Award - Best Young Actress/Performance in a Motion Picture Drama - American Beauty (1999)
  • 1994 - Young Artist Award - Hocus Pocus
  • nominations
  • 2001 - Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical - Ghost World
  • 2000 - BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress - American Beauty
  • 2002 - MTV Movie Award Best Dressed - Ghost World (2001)

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2008 Train In post-production
2007 Dark Corners Karen/Susan Production Completed
2006 Shamrock Boy Nulla McGarvey Announced. Start of production
Boomerang Deal Announced. Start of production
2005 Slingshot April
2004 The Dot Narrator
Silver City Karen Cross
2003 Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story Liz Murray Television movie
2002 Shadow Realm Susan Thornhill Television movie
2001 The Hole Liz Dunn
Ghost World Enid
2000 Dungeons & Dragons Empress Savina
The Smokers Lincoln Roth
1999 Anywhere but Here Mary uncredited
American Beauty Jane Burnham
Night Ride Home Clea Mahler Television movie
1996 Alaska Jessie Barnes
1995 Now and Then Young Tina "Teeny" Tercell
1994 Clear and Present Danger Sally Ryan
Monkey Trouble Eva
1993 Hocus Pocus Dani Dennison
1992 Patriot Games Sally Ryan
The Itsy Bitsy Spider (voice)
1991 All I Want for Christmas Hallie O'Fallon
Paradise Billie Pike
1990 Dark Avenger Susie Donovan Television movie
Parenthood Taylor Buckham Television series
1988 Day by Day Molly Television series
Purple People Eater Molly Johnson
  • Music videos
    • Moby - "We Are All Made Of Stars"

From the album 18, released in 2002.

From the album Results May Vary, released in 2003.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Thora Birch. Actress of the Week. AskMen.com. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
  2. ^ "Getting her own thing going", The Sunday Times, 2002-03-22. Retrieved on 2006-07-15. 

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Birch, Thora
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION actress
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles, California, United States of America
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH