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Anna Paquin

Born 1982-07-24 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
An Actor

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In Brief:

Anna Helene Paquin (born July 24, 1982) is an Academy Award-winning and Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated New Zealand actress who was born in Canada. Her breakthrough performance was in The Piano, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting actress as the second youngest winner in history. She was nine years old when the movie was made, and has continued acting since.

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Bio:

Paquin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the child of Brian, a Canadian high school physical education teacher, and Mary (née Brophy) Paquin, an English teacher and native of Wellington, New Zealand. Paquin moved to New Zealand when she was four. Her musical childhood hobbies in New Zealand included playing the viola, cello and piano. She has also done gymnastics, ballet, swimming and downhill skiing, but she didn't have hobbies related to acting.

Her big-screen debut happened when she attended the open audition for Flora for The Piano. Her sister was going to the audition, and she wanted to go too. The director was impressed by nine-year-old Paquin's performance of the monologue about Flora's father, and she was chosen among the 5000 candidates.

When the The Piano was released in 1993 it was lauded by critics, won prizes at a number of film festivals, and eventually became a popular movie among a wide audience. Paquin's debut performance in the film earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of eleven, making her the second-youngest Oscar winner in history after Tatum O'Neal.

The Piano was made as a small independent movie and wasn't supposed to be widely known, and Paquin and her family didn't plan to continue in the acting circles. However, she was invited to the prestigious William Morris Agency, and she kept receiving offers for new roles. She systematically refused them, but she did appear in three commercials for the phone company MCI (currently WorldCom).

While in New Zealand, Paquin attended Hutt Intermediate School from 1994-1995, where she completed Form 1 and 2. Having begun her secondary education in Wellington, New Zealand, she completed her high school diploma at Windward School in Los Angeles, where she moved with her mother following her parents' divorce. In 1996, she appeared in two movies. First one was a smallish role as young Jane in Jane Eyre. The other one was a lead part in Fly Away Home playing a young girl who, after her mother dies, moves in with her father and finds solace in taking care of orphaned goose chicks.

As a teenager, she had roles in several small films, such as The Member of the Wedding, Amistad, Hurlyburly and She's All That. She graduated from Windward School in West Los Angeles, California in June 2000 and completed the school's community service requirement by working in an LA soup kitchen and at a special education center. She studied at Columbia University for one year, but has since been on a leave of absence in order to continue her acting career. In 2001, she acquired New Zealand citizenship.

Paquin returned to worldwide prominence with her role as Rogue in the blockbuster X-Men movie in 2000, its sequel X2: X-Men United in 2003, and its third installment X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006. Paquin made her stage debut in 2001 in a production of The Glory of Living at the MCC Theater. She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, and won a Theatre World Award for her performance. In 2002, Paquin appeared on the West End stage in a production of This is Our Youth. In the summer of 2006, she completed filming Blue State which she also executive-produced. In November 2006, she completed Margaret, scheduled for release by Fox Searchlight in 2007.

In July 2007, Paquin received a Emmy Award nomination for Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for her role as Elaine Goodale in the HBO's Made-for-TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, based on Dee Brown's bestseller.

Paquin lives in the West Village in New York City.

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Awards:

• 1994 - Academy Award - Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Piano.

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Filmography:

• Burn My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)
• Trick 'r Treat (2007)
• Mosaic (2007)
• Blue State (2007)
• Margaret (2006)
• X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
• The Squid and the Whale (2005)
• Steamboy (2004) (Voice)
• Castle in the Sky (2003) (Voice)
• X2: X-Men United (2003)
• 25th Hour (2002)
• Darkness (2002)
• Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
• Finding Forrester (2000)
• Almost Famous (2000)
• X-Men (2000)
• All The Rage (1999)
• She's All That (1999)
• A Walk on the Moon (1999)
• Hurlyburly (1998)
• Amistad (1997)
• Fly Away Home (1996)
• Jane Eyre (1996)
• The Piano (1993)

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