Thora Birch

Thora Birch Headshot

Actress • Producer

Birth Date: March 11, 1982

Age: 42 years old

Birth Place: Los Angeles, California

A pretty, rambunctious child actress who began acting in commercials at the age of four, Thora Birch appeared opposite Wilford Brimley (in 14 Quaker Oats spots) and Jimmy Stewart (for Campbell's Soup), not to mention turning up in the "Just Say No" to drugs campaign. Early in her career, when she was a pretty blonde moppet, she was billed simply as 'Thora' in such efforts as her regular series roles in "Day by Day" (NBC, 1988-89) and "Parenthood" (NBC, 1990) and for her feature acting debut "Purple People Eater" (1988). The tot utilized her full name in the role that first attracted real attention, the precocious young neighbor of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith in "Paradise" (1991), which she followed with the hollow holiday-themed "All I Want for Christmas" (also 1991). Birch went on to portray Harrison Ford's daughter in the thriller "Patriot Games" (1992), then appeared as one of three children who must contend with a trio of witches in the Disney comedy "Hocus Pocus" (1993).

Birch joined the ranks of child film stars when she carried the family adventure "Monkey Trouble" (1994), holding her own opposite a rascally monkey and an irascible Harvey Keitel. She reprised her role as Ford's daughter in the sequel "Clear and Present Danger" (1994) before playing the wild girl who grows up to be Melanie Griffith in the coming-of-age film "Now and Then" (1995). She subsequently traveled to British Columbia to portray a teenager searching for her missing father in the adventure "Alaska" (1996). Hitting an awkward age, Birch more or less retreated from acting for a couple of years, although she kept her toe in with guest appearances on the CBS series "Touched By an Angel" and its spin-off "Promised Land." By 1999, though, with darker hair, she had resumed her career, gaining notice as Everyteen Clea in the thoughtful and sensitive "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation "Night Rider Home" (CBS), an examination of a family coping with grief. But it was her big-screen turn as the angst-ridden daughter of Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening in that year's Academy Award-winning Best Picture "American Beauty" that kicked her career to a new level. Appearing in a somewhat controversial topless scene (she turned 17 during the film's shoot), Birch created a memorable portrait of a disaffected teenage girl. She almost blew it with her follow-up choices, though. Neither her turn as a punk rocker who suggests who dares her older sister and two of her friends to play a game of Russian Roulette in the festival-screened, direct-to-video release "The Smokers" nor her work as the democratically-minded Empress Savina in the laughable "Dungeons and Dragons" (2000) pleased critics and viewers. On the other hand, both reviewers and audiences embraced Birch in her next role as Enid, the eccentric, somewhat negative, bespectacled teen hipster and aspiring artist struggling to find herself after high school graduation, in "Ghost World," the Terry Zwigoff-directed black comedy based on a graphic novel. That same year, British audiences watched her play an English girl who accompanies classmates into an abandoned WWII bunker from which only one will emerge in the mystery-thriller "The Hole."

Credits

The Gabby Petito StoryStream

Actor
Nichole Schmidt
Movie
2022

The Gabby Petito StoryStream

Director
Movie
2022

13 MinutesStream

Actor
Jess
Movie
2021
27%

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Actor
Becca
Movie
2019

Above Suspicion

Actor
Jolene
Movie
2019

Kindred Spirits

Actor
Chloe
Movie
2019

The Competition

Actor
Lauren
Movie
2018

The Competition

Producer
Movie
2018

Affairs of State

Actor
Callie Roland
Movie
2018

The Etruscan Smile

Actor
Emily
Movie
2018

ColonyStream

Guest Star
Morgan
Series
2016
92%

Petunia

Actor
Vivian Petunia
Movie
2012

Petunia

Producer
Movie
2012

Talking DeadStream

Guest
Talk
2011

The Pregnancy Pact

Actor
Sidney Bloom
Movie
2010

Winter of Frozen Dreams

Actor
Barbara Hoffman
Movie
2009

Capitalism: A Love Story

Self
Movie
2009

Deadline

Actor
Lucy
Movie
2009

Train

Actor
Alex
Movie
2008

Dark Corners

Actor
Karen Clarke/Susan Hamilton
Movie
2006

Slingshot

Actor
April
Movie
2005

Silver City

Actor
Karen Cross
Movie
2004

Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray StoryStream

Actor
Liz Murray
Movie
2003

Banzai

Guest Star
Show
2002

Shadow Realm

Actor
Susan Thornhill
Movie
2002

Ghost WorldStream

Actor
Enid
Movie
2001
93%

The Hole

Actor
Liz Dunn
Movie
2001

The Smokers

Actor
Lincoln Roth
Movie
2000

Dungeons & Dragons

Actor
Empress Savina
Movie
2000

Night Ride Home

Actor
Clea Mahler
Movie
1999

American BeautyStream

Actor
Jane Burnham
Movie
1999
87%

Promised Land

Guest Star
Series
1996

Alaska

Actor
Jessie Barnes
Movie
1996

The Outer LimitsStream

Actor
Aggie Travers
Series
1995

Now and Then

Actor
Teeny
Movie
1995

Touched by an AngelStream

Guest Star
Series
1994

Monkey Trouble

Actor
Eva
Movie
1994

Clear and Present DangerStream

Actor
Sally Ryan
Movie
1994
81%

Hocus PocusStream

Actor
Dani
Movie
1993
40%

Patriot GamesStream

Actor
Sally Ryan
Movie
1992
72%

Paradise

Actor
Billie Pike
Movie
1991

All I Want for Christmas

Actor
Hallie O'Fallon
Movie
1991

Parenthood

Actor
Taylor Buckman
Show
1990

Day by Day

Actor
Molly
Series
1988

The Purple People Eater

Actor
Molly Johnson
Movie
1988

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