Thora Birch

Birch was born in Los Angeles, California, to Jack Birch and Carol Connors, ex-pornographic film actors who both appeared in 1972's Deep Throat.

She is of German-Jewish, Scandinavian, French-Canadian and Italian ancestry.

Her forename is derived from that of Norse god of Thunder and Lightning, "Thor", which would have been her name if she had been born a boy.

She has a younger brother, Bolt Birch.

Because of their own experience with the entertainment industry, Birch's parents were reluctant to encourage her to act, but were persuaded to show Birch's photograph to talent agents by a babysitter who noticed her imitating commercials.

Birch got her first big break at the age of four, when the babysitter accompanied her to a successful audition for a Quaker Oats commercial.

Birch appeared in commercials in the late 1980s for Burger King, California Raisins, Quaker Oats, and Vlasic Pickles.

Thora Birch (born March 11, 1982) is an American actress, producer, and director.

She made her feature film debut in 1988 with a starring role in Purple People Eater, for which she received a Young Artist Award for "Best Actress Under Nine Years of Age".

She made her film debut as Molly Johnson in the 1988 science fiction comedy Purple People Eater, for which she received a Young Artist Award in the category of "Best Young Actress Under Nine Years of Age".

That same year, she guest-starred in an episode of Doogie Howser, M.D., and was cast in the regular role of Molly on the NBC sitcom Day By Day.

The show ran for two seasons and earned Birch a further two Young Artist nominations.

Birch rose to prominence as a child star during the 1990s through a string of parts in films such as Paradise (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Hocus Pocus (1993), Monkey Trouble (1994), Now and Then (1995), and Alaska (1996).

In 1990, Birch was cast in a principal role on Parenthood, a sitcom based on the 1989 film of the same name, which ran for a single season on NBC.

Next, she co-starred as Billie Pike in the 1991 drama Paradise, with Roger Ebert commenting in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times that Birch played the role with "strong, simple charm".

She appeared in the festive comedy All I Want for Christmas that same year, playing a girl who schemes to reunite her divorced parents.

The film was a moderate financial success, but found an audience on television and home video in subsequent years.

She then co-starred as the daughter of Jack Ryan in the spy thriller Patriot Games (1992), a commercial success which grossed US$178 million at the worldwide box office.

At age 11, Birch appeared in the Halloween-set fantasy film Hocus Pocus (1993), playing Dani Dennison, the younger sister of a teenage boy who inadvertently resurrects a trio of witches.

Making US$39 million in the U.S. (against a budget of US$28 million), Hocus Pocus was not considered a financial success, but quickly developed a sizeable cult following due to strong home video sales and television re-runs.

"I think the most surreal thing is that it keeps getting more popular instead of the other way around", Birch later said, while admitting the experience was "the most amount of fun I've ever had on a set".

In the 1994 comedy Monkey Trouble, Birch portrayed a girl who befriends a Capuchin monkey.

In a positive review for the Austin Chronicle, Marjorie Baumgarten observed that Birch's "nuanced performance (a rarity amongst child performers) no doubt lends Monkey Trouble its realistic touch".

That same year, she reprised her Patriot Games role in its sequel, Clear and Present Danger, which grossed over US$215 million globally.

She was then cast as "Teeny" Tercell in the 1995 coming-of-age drama Now and Then.

The film was largely dismissed by critics upon release, but has since been recognised as a milestone of its genre.

Next, Birch headlined the adventure film Alaska (1996), playing one of two siblings who cross the Alaskan wilderness in search of their lost father.

The Austin Chronicle found it to be a "decent kids' adventure movie" with an "impeccable" performance by Birch.

For the next two years, she did not appear on film but guest-starred in episodes of Promised Land and Touched by an Angel.

Her breakthrough into adult-oriented roles came with her portrayal of Jane Burnham in American Beauty (1999), for which she earned a nomination for that year's BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress.

Birch appeared in several projects in 1999: firstly, the made-for-television film Night Ride Home, where she played a teenager grieving the loss of her older brother.

Writing for Variety, David Kronke called it "a thoughtful and sensitive examination of how a family copes with grief", and said of the performances, "De Mornay … digs deep and comes up with a character that seems true; Burstyn and Birch competently complement [her]".

Next, she played the small, uncredited role of Mary in Anywhere but Here.

Birch's portrayal of insecure teenager Jane Burnham in American Beauty, Sam Mendes' dark dramedy about the struggles of a middle class household, was roundly praised by critics, with Peter Travers of Rolling Stone writing that she with grown-up radiance". The performance earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress, while the film was the recipient of the 1999 Academy Award for Best Picture and grossed over US$356 million worldwide, emerging as the biggest commercial success of Birch's career to date. She later said of the experience, "There was a lot of therapy involved … A lot of opening up and sharing things from our own lives about why we related to these characters.

Further film credits included Dungeons & Dragons (2000), The Hole (2001), Silver City (2004), Dark Corners (2006), and Petunia (2012).

Birch received more acclaim—and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress—for starring as Enid Coleslaw in the cult hit Ghost World (2001), and was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work in the television film Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story.

Birch took a break from acting between 2012 and 2016, but has since had parts in several independent features, such as The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019).

She played the role of Mary (aka "Gamma") on the tenth season of AMC's The Walking Dead (2019–2020).

In 2022, Birch made her directorial debut with the television movie The Gabby Petito Story for Lifetime.

She will make her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Mr. Paradise, making her the first woman to direct a Leonard adaptation.