Gather ’round my Little Monsters, gather ’round! That midweek celebration of a wonderful Woman of Horror is here for your reading pleasure. With this particular actress you’ll have folks that know her as Rogue and those who know her as Sookie, but regardless of how you know of her you have to admit Anna Paquin is a versatile talent.
Anna was born a Canuck in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as the youngest of Mary and Brian Paquin’s three children. At four years of age, she and her family relocated to Wellington, New Zealand, where she spent several years growing up as a Kiwi. It was during her family’s time in New Zealand that Anna would earn her life changing acting role. Jane Campion’s film, The Piano, was set to roll cameras in New Zealand, and the role of young Flora still needed to be cast. Anna auditioned for the role and beat out thousands of other young hopefuls, including her own older sister, for the role. Yes you read that right. Thousands…in the neighborhood of 5000, to be honest. This small independent film would go i to receive high critical praise within the industry, and it would also earn Anna the highest honor one can earn in the industry. As a supporting actress, she was nominated for a Golden Globe, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award and an Academy Award. Anna would win the latter, making here the second youngest winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, behind Tatum O’Neal, who won at the age of 10 for her performance as Addie in Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 film, Paper Moon. Coincidentally, both actresses won this award for their debut film performances.
Following her big win, she and her family were actually looking to avoid the becoming intertwined with the acting community. In fact, Anna’s dream when she was younger was to be Prime Minister of New Zealand, not an actress. there was even a time when she began attending Columbia University, but put her education on an indefinte hold after on year to continue her pursuit of acting. But luckily for us she did eventually let the acting bug take hold and in 1996, having moved to Los Angeles with her mother, Anna returned to the big screen with roles in the movies Fly Away Home and Jane Eyre. She continued on for the next few years with roles in films like Amistad, A Walk on the Moon, She’s All That, Finding Forrester and Almost Famous. There was a time when she began attending Columbia University, but put her education on an indefinite hold after on year to continue her pursuit of acting.
In 2000, Bryan Singer brought one of the most iconic comic book teams to the big screen, when he assembled that squad of superhuman mutant heroes for his film, X-Men. Appearing in the role of Marie D’Ancanto aka “Rogue”, Anna’s star power definitely began to rise. Finally, in 2002, Anna took the plunge into the horror genre when she starred in Jaume Balagueró’s film, Darkness. Her next genre appearance came as sort of a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” in Michael Dougherty’s 2007 anthology film, and Halloween movie list staple, Trick ‘r Treat. Her next “stab” at horror would come in the form of a cameo, opposite Kristin Bell, at the beginning of Scream 4. Of course Anna’ most well known contribution to the genre is obviously her starring role of Sookie Stachouse on the seven season series run (sorry about the alliteration) of the HBO series, True Blood, which was based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris entitled The Southern Vampire Mysteries.
Recently, Anna provided the voice of Ramsey, in the animated film, The Good Dinosaur, and also appeared on television starring as Annie Ryder in the CBC (that’s the Canadian Broadcasting Company to you and me, Rusty) series Bellevue, as well as starring in an episode of Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams and portraying Nancy Holt in the mini-series Roots. She is set to star in the film Tell It to the Bees, which is currently filming. She will also soon be appearing in a lead role in Stephen Moyer’s feature film directorial debut, The Parting Glass.
You can also add a bevy of stage acting credits to her resume as well. Anna has Appeared Off Broadway, Off-off Broadway and even in London’s West End. Between 2001 and 2006 she appeared in nearly a dozen stage productions which include titles like The Glory of Living, This is Our Youth, Manuscript, Drug Buddy, Roulette, The Distance From Here, The 24 Hour Plays: South Of The Border, After Ashley, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead and The 24 Hour Plays:The Blizzard.
Anna and the aforementioned Stephen Moyer were married in August of 2010…as if you didn’t already know. The couple have two children together, a son named Charlie and a daughter named Poppy, who are fraternal twins. She also has two step children, Billy and Lilac, by way of Moyer through prior relationships.
She also is active philanthropically and actively supports many charitable foundations which include the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and The Art of Elysium. One particular organization she supports, the True Colors Fund, who advocate for LGBTQ rights and equality, hits closer to home since announcing her bisexuality in 2010.
Would you say that Anna’s run on True Blood combined with the few genre film appearances should garner her a spot as a genre icon? I don’t know if I would go quite that far, but it does gain her entry into that group consisting of those wonderful Women of Horror. I would definitely like to see her get some more genre work on her resume, as i feel she definitely has the chops for it…and no jokes about the gap in her teeth. Frankly I think it is endearing an gives her character, much like Lauren Hutton.
Well, my Little Monsters, it’s that time when I take my leave and tell you to go forth and find out more about Anna on your own. I could try and tell you everything you wish to know, but that wouldn’t be any fun. Would it? As always, you can find out what projects Anna is working on or has completed by simply visiting her official IMDb page. Then again you can always give her a follow over at her official Twitter account or over at her official Instagram account. And who knows, maybe if you keep checking up on BBC News they may get photo-bombed by more nude images of Anna in the background. Of course with the internet…who really needs to wait for the BBC to show us.
Anyhow, I’ll just leave you Little Monsters with these words of wisdom. Ready? What doesn’t kill you DOESN’T only make you stronger. Sometime it leaves you in a lot of pain, asking yourself, “what the fuck was I thinking?” or possibly making empty promises that “I will NEVER do that again (until the next time I do it).”
Jennifer Elm…this one’s for you.
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