Life and career

Brown was born in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Brown has been acting since the age of five. She set a record at age nine as the youngest actress to appear in three Broadway shows: Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, Les Miserables and Show Boat.

From December 22, 1993 - July 13, 1998 she portrayed Marah Lewis on Guiding Light, In which she received an Outstanding Younger Actress nomination at the Daytime Emmy Awards in 1996. She voiced the title character in the English dub of the Japanese horror manga series Vampire Princess Miyu, and also played the title character's bratty niece in Ellen Foster.

In 1998 she played the lead Marnie alongside Debbie Reynolds in the Disney Channel Original Movie Halloweentown. The film received positive reviews, It has no critic reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, however, it has an audience score of 72%. Complex Magazine put Halloweentown as number nine on their "The 25 Best Disney Channel Original Movies" list. BuzzFeed stated the first three movies are one of the best things about Halloween.

The next year Brown costarred alongside Janet McTeer in the comedy-drama film Tumbleweeds. The film received positive reviews as did Brown. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone stated, "McTeer and Brown make magic in a film that is wonderfully funny, touching and vital."

In 2000 she had a main role In the original Disney channel movie Quints, portraying an older sister dealing with now having a set of quintuplets as siblings. The film received positive reviews and MTV put it as number five on their list "14 Forgotten Disney Channel Original Movies You Need To Rewatch ASAP". While in 2001, Brown returned as Marnie Piper in Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge. She also played Annie Wheaton in Stephen King's Rose Red (miniseries), which aired on ABC. While in 2003 she co-starred alongside Steve Martin and Queen Latifah in the film Bringing Down The House, playing Martin's daughter and older child.

In 2004 she returned as Marnie in the third installment in the Halloweentown series, Halloweentown High. The film became the Highest-rated Disney Channel Original Movie of the year, and received positive reviews. With many noting the return of the more family-friendly tone after the previous installment received criticism for being too dark. In 2005 she played John Travolta and Uma Thurman's assistant in Be Cool.

For a few months in 2006 she returned as Marah Lewis on Guiding Light, and went on to play the female lead in the werewolf-themed horror film Big Bad Wolf. The same year a fourth and final installment in the Halloweentown series was being released. However, It was later revealed that Disney chose to re-cast Marnie for the fourth film, despite Brown being available for the shoot. Fans and Brown have publicly stated their disappointment with the recasting. BuzzFeed stated that the fourth film was "best left ignored". While MTV said everyone should pretend Return to Halloweentown never happened, due to the recasting.

In 2010 she costarred in the independent film Friendship!. In 2013 she had a recurring role on Low Winter Sun, a series that aired on AMC from August 11 to October 6, 2013, before being canceled On December 6, 2013. The same year she began performing improv with the improvisational comedy group The Second City, as well as writing and performing with the Improv Conservatory program.

In September 2015, Brown announced she would go to St. Helens, Oregon and kick off an annual event titled The Spirit Of Halloween. A festival held there that celebrates the film Halloweentown. “I am honored, not only that St. Helen’s does this for the movie…but that they asked me up to celebrate the film,” Brown stated.

Filmography

• 1990: The Baby-Sitters Club as Amanda Delaney
• 1993-2006: Guiding Light as Marah Lewis (26 episodes)
• 1993: The Good Son as Additional Voice
• 1994: Princess Caraboo as Unknown
• 1996: Christmas in Cartoontown as Voice
• 1997: Ellen Foster as Dora
• 1997: Vampire Princess Miyu as Miyu Yamano
• 1998: Unhappily Ever After as Helena/Girl # 1
• 1998: A Bug's Life as Additional Voices
• 1998: Halloweentown as Marnie Piper
• 1998: Two of a Kind as Nicole
• 1999: Touched by an Angel as Amy
• 1999: Tumbleweeds as Ava Walker
• 2000: Quints as Jamie Grover
• 2001: Der kleine Eisbär as Lona
• 2001: Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge as Marnie Piper
• 2001: The Blue Diner as Unknown
• 2002: Rose Red as Annie Wheaton (3 episodes)
• 2002: My Sister's Keeper as Young Christine Chapman
• 2003: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Jessica Morse
• 2004: Halloweentown High as Marnie Piper
• 2004: Switched! as Herself
• 2004: Bringing Down the House as Sarah Sanderson
• 2005: Be Cool as Tiffany
• 2006: Big Bad Wolf as Samantha "Sam" Marche
• 2010: Friendship! as Dorthee
• 2013: Low Winter Sun as Shana Taylor.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]