Date of Birth
24 July 1982, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Birth Name
Anna Helene Paquin
Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)
Mini Biography
Anna Paquin is the
star of several major motion pictures, including her first Oscar winning
performance in The Piano (1993), the role of the young Jane in
the 1996 film Jane Eyre(1996),
and the role of Amy Alden in the charming family film, Fly Away Home (1996). With a well-developed
vocabulary and gentle sense of humor, Paquin proves herself to be the most
enchanting young talent working today. Paquin's rising stardom has often been a
cause of charming media shyness, where it is obvious that she is an ordinary
girl who happens to possess an extraordinary talent. She has two agents, Gail
Cowan in New Zealand, and the William Morris agency in Los Angeles, but neither
these nor her parents have much influence in deciding what she films. "In
the end", she says, "it's my decision". Paquin's parents
separated while she was filming Fly
Away Home (1996) in Canada. On
Oscar night in 1993, Anna Paquin was the surprise (and surprised) winner of the
Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actress. She stood, wide-eyed and gulping for breath at the microphone for a
full twenty-something-odd seconds before delivering a gracious, though rather
breathless thank-you speech.
Mini Biography
Anna Paquin, the young Canadian who grew
up in New Zealand and whose only acting experience was as a skunk at a school
play, stunned movie-goers from all over the world with her performance as Holly Hunter's angry young daughter in
the acclaimed film The Piano (1993). Anna, who received an Oscar
for her performance (the second youngest Oscar winner ever), has proven that The Piano (1993) was only the beginning of a
fabulous career.She starred in Carroll Ballard's Fly Away Home (1996) and in Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre (1996). After her parents' divorce, she moved to Los Angeles with her mother and sister in order to pursue more actively a career in acting. Soon enough, she made the transition from child-actress to teenage actress with her performance in Hurlyburly (1998) alongside Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey and Meg Ryan and in A Walk on the Moon(1999) alongside Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen and Liev Schreiber. Paquin, who has become an expert at portraying troubled teenagers, then starred in the popular science fiction film, the X-Men (2000). The same year, 2000, she also appeared in films such as Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000) and Gus Van Sant's Finding Forrester (2000). Anna, who was a student at Columbia University, moved to New York City and began a new career as a stage actress appearing both in New York and London.
Trade Mark
Gap in teeth
Trivia
She is a vegetarian.
While filming the
movie Amistad (1997) in Montreal during the summer,
she made a side-trip to Toronto to film 5 TV commercials for the telephone
company of her old hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She delivers the
commercials in a variety of costumes in her Canadian accent rather than her New
Zealand one. [1997]
She keeps her Oscar
in her bedroom closet so her friends won't see it and feel the need to comment
on it.
She enjoys
photography.
Family moved to New
Zealand when Anna was 4.
Has an older
brother, Andrew Paquin, a film
producer, with whom she is working on Blue
State (2007)), and a sister,
Katya.
She plays the cello.
Father, Brian, is a
physical education teacher. Mother, Mary, is an English teacher.
Her parents are
divorced.
Hobbies: rugby;
running; playing the piano; singing; gymnastics; swimming; downhill skiing;
reading and knitting.
Enjoys listening to
alternative music.
When she was
younger, she wanted to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand, or a lawyer.
She has 2 cats and 1
dog.
Speaks French.
Graduated from
Windward School in West Los Angeles, California in June 2000; she completed the
school's community service requirement by working in an LA soup kitchen and at
a special education center.
One of Teen People
Magazine's "25 Hottest Stars under 25". [2002]
College classmate of Julia Stiles at Columbia University.
Is a fan of the
alternative rock band Nine Inch
Nails and The Beatles.
She was the original
choice to play the character of Enola in Kevin
Costner's Waterworld (1995) but, eventually, the role fell
to Tina Majorino.
Attending Columbia
University. [2005]
When on a talk show,
the host told her he would give her $10,000 if she could shoot a basketball
into a hoop. She did, but he refused to pay. After bad press he gave her the
money which she donated to charity.
Played the daughter
of Jeff Daniels in Fly
Away Home (1996) and then his
romantic partner in The Squid and
the Whale (2005) nine years
later.
Was number 93 on
vh1's "100 Greatest Kid
Stars" (2005).
Has kept in close
contact with Shawn Ashmore (Iceman/Bobby Drake) and Aaron Stanford (John Allerdyce/Pyro) after filming X2 (2003).
Though she was born
in Canada she considers herself a Kiwi from New Zealand since she grew up
there.
Ranked #50 on the
Maxim magazine Hot 100 Women of 2008 list.
Announced her
engagement to Stephen Moyer,
having been in a relationship since February 2009 after meeting on the set of "True Blood"(2008), after he
proposed to her on a beach in Hawaii (5 August 2009).
Among the guests at
her wedding to Stephen Moyer were Alan
Ball, Ryan Kwanten, Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley, Carrie Preston and Elijah
Wood.
Mentioned on "Late Show with David Letterman:
Episode #16.176" (2009) that
she had recently seen her first movie The
Piano (1993) for the first time
in her life.
Went to Columbia
University in New York, but left after a year and did not graduate in order to
pursue acting.
Step-mother of Stephen Moyer's children Billy and
Lilac.
Was ranked #84 on
Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2010 list.
Ranked #51 in the
2011 FHM Australia list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
She is naturally
brunette but has kept her hair blonde since she's started playing Sookie
Stackhouse on "True
Blood" (2008).
