Shailene Diann Woodley (born November 15, 1991) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Amy Juergens in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–2013) and for co-starring alongside George Clooney in the critically acclaimed 2011 film The Descendants, for which she won the Independent Spirit Award Best Supporting Female and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture.For her performance in the film The Spectacular Now, she won the Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In 2014, Woodley starred as Beatrice "Tris" Prior in the film adaptation of Veronica Roth's novels Divergent, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, and The Divergent Series: Allegiant. She played Hazel Grace Lancaster in the film adaptation of John Green's novel The Fault in Our Stars.
Early life[]
Woodley was born in Simi Valley, California. Her mother, Lori Woodley (née Victor), was a middle school counselor, and her father, Lonnie Woodley, was a school principal.She has a younger brother, Tanner. She began her career through commercial modeling at the age of four. When she was 15 and a freshman, her parents divorced and she was also diagnosed with scoliosis. She was put in a chest-to-hips plastic brace to straighten her spine. Before landing the role of Amy Juergens in The Secret Life of the American Teenager (where her character got pregnant), Woodley thought of studying interior design at New York University after high school. She attended Simi Valley High School.
Career[]
In 2002, she appeared in small television roles on Without a Trace and The District. In 2005, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award (YAA) in the Category: Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special—Leading Young Actress for her role in A Place Called Home California Ford. She also originally played Kaitlin Cooper in The O.C. She appeared as Felicity Merriman in Felicity: An American Girl Adventure, for which she received a Young Artists award nomination in the Category: Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special (Comedy or Drama). This is one of two TV specials that Woodley appeared in with John Schneider. She did some acting classes with Anthony Meindl She appeared on Crossing Jordan as a young Jordan, as well as other television series including Everybody Loves Raymond, My Name Is Earl, CSI:NY, and Close To Home. In 2007, Woodley appeared in Cold Case as Sarah Gunden, the murder victim's younger Amish sister, who originally brought the case to the investigators' attention. Woodley starred in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager as Amy Juergens, a 15 year old who discovers she is pregnant. The show explores the effects of her pregnancy on her family, friends and herself as well as life at Ulysses S.Grant High School in California.
In 2011, Woodley made her feature film debut in a breakout performance in The Descendants, for which she received critical acclaim and has been nominated for a Golden Globe and more than a dozen other awards.She also won the Independent Spirit Award. In this film, she starred alongside George Clooney as Alexandra King, the troubled daughter of Clooney's character.People named her one of 2012 Most Beautiful at Every Age. Woodley was also considered one of the 55 faces of the future by Nylon Magazine's "Young Hollywood Issue".
Woodley starred in the film adaptation of Tim Tharp's novel, The Spectacular Now. She played a social
outcast girl trying to plan for the future who meets a boy who is a senior in high school who likes to party and live in the moment. Production of the film occurred in the summer of 2012 and it premiered at Sundance in January 2013. She has also recently signed on to star in White Bird, an independent film about a troubled young woman whose life is upended following the mysterious disappearance of her mother, directed by Gregg Araki. In October 2012, it was announced that Woodley was offered the role of Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider- Man 2.On June 19, 2013, it was announced that Mary Jane was cut from the film. Director Marc Webb told The Hollywood Reporter that the cut was "a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship," and that everyone loved working with Woodley.
On March 19, 2013, it was announced that Woodley had accepted the role starring as Hazel Grace Lancaster in the film adaptation of John Green's novel The Fault in Our Stars. Green added via Twitter about Woodley; "There were so many amazing auditions for the role of Hazel, but Shailene's love for the book and her understanding of Hazel blew me away." The film, directed by Josh Boone, will be released on June 6, 2014.
Woodley starred as Tris Prior in the movie Divergent, an adaptation of Veronica Roth’s young adult novel. The movie was released on March 21, 2014. Woodley reprised her role as Tris in the sequel of Divergent, with Insurgent released on March 20, 2015. She reprised her role again in part one of the two-part finale of the franchise, Allegiant — Part 1 and Part 2, better known as the Allegiant and Ascendant movies, with Part 1 released on March 18, 2016 and Part 2 on which was set to be released on March 24, 2017, it was than said to skip the big screen and turn the last movie into a TV show, but was later canceled due to lack of interest from the original cast, and the failure of the last movie, Allegiant.
External links[]
- Shailene's Twitter
- Shailene's Instagram
- Shailene's Wikipedia
- Shailene's IMDb
- Shailene's Facebook
- Shailene's Personal website
Filmography[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | Moola | Ashley Hedges | |
2011 | The Descendants | Alexandra "Alex" King | |
2013 | The Spectacular Now | Aimee Finecky | |
2014 | White Bird in a Blizzard | Kat Connor | |
2014 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Mary Jane Waston | Deleted scenes |
2014–2016 | Divergent series | Beatrice "Tris" Prior | |
2014 |
The Fault in Our Stars |
Hazel Grace Lancaster |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | Replacing Dad | Little Girl | TV film |
2001–03 | The District | Kristin Debreno | Recurring role; 3 episodes |
2001–04 | Crossing Jordan | Young Jordan Cavanaugh | Recurring role; 4 episodes |
2003 | Without a Trace | Young Clare Metcalf | Episode: "Clare de Lune" |
2003–04 | The O.C. | Kaitlin Cooper | Recurring role; 6 episodes |
2004 | Everybody Loves Raymond | Snotty Girl #2 | Episode: "Party Dress" |
2004 | A Place Called Home | California "Cali" Ford | TV film |
2004–05 | Jack & Boddy | Chloe Benedict | Recurring role; 2 episodes |
2005 | Felicity: An American Girl Adventure | Felicity Merriman | TV film |
2005 | Once Upon a Mattress | Molly | TV film |
2006 | My Name Is Earl | Young Gwen | Episode: "BB" |
2007 | CSI:NY | Evie Pierpont | Episode: "A Daze of Wine and Roaches" |
2007 | Close to Home | Gaby Tursi | Episode: "Getting In" |
2007 | Final Approach | Maya Bender | TV film |
2007 | Cold Case | Sarah Gunden | Episode: "Running Around" |
2008-13 | The Secret Life of the American Teenager | Amy Jurergens | Lead role; 121 episodes |
2016 | Big Little Lies | Jane | Lead role |