Early life

Birch was born in Los Angeles, the eldest child of Jack Birch and Carol Connors. Her parents, who have been her business managers throughout her acting career, are former adult film actors; both appeared in the film Deep Throat. Birch is of German Jewish, Scandinavian, and Italian ancestry. The family's original surname was Biersch. Her name, Thora, is derived from the name of the Norse god of thunder and lightning, Thor; she has a younger brother named Bolt. Because of their own experience with the entertainment industry, Birch's parents were reluctant to encourage her, but they were persuaded to show her photograph to agents by a babysitter who noticed her imitating commercials. She appeared in commercials in the late 1980s for Burger King, California Raisins, Quaker Oats and Vlasic Pickles.

Career

1988-1995

Birch made her film debut in Purple People Eater, for which she won a Youth In Film Award. She also played Molly in the short-lived television series Day By Day. She was credited as "Thora". Birch played "tomboy" Billie Pike in Paradise, which starred Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith and Elijah Wood. During the 1990s, she starred in All I Want for Christmas (1991), Hocus Pocus (1993) and Monkey Trouble (1994). She appeared in Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), as the daughter of Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford). Birch starred in Now and Then (1995) with Gaby Hoffmann, Christina Ricci, Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell and Melanie Griffith.

1996-2001

In 1996, she landed a leading role in the adventure film Alaska (1996). After guest-starring in The Outer Limits, Promised Land and Touched by an Angel, Birch took a break from acting.

In 1999, she returned in the made-for-TV film Night Ride Home and also took a small uncredited role in the Natalie Portman film Anywhere but Here. Later, Birch won critical praise playing the role of Jane Burnham in American Beauty and was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award. The film itself went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. As Birch was 16 at the time she made the film, and thus classified as a minor in the United States, her parents had to approve her brief topless scene in the film. They and child labor representatives were on the set for the shooting of the scene. After supporting roles in The Smokers (2000), where Birch was called "a scene-stealer" by The Hollywood Reporter, and Dungeons & Dragons (2000), she landed the lead role alongside Keira Knightley in the horror film The Hole (2001). The film was released in theaters in the UK, and went direct-to-video in the US almost two years later and gained divided reviews. BBC.co.uk wrote: "Given that she has a much leaner role than the one she enjoyed in "American Beauty", the qualities which made her flourish in that multi-Oscar-winner are still abundantly clear".

Birch landed the leading role in Ghost World (2001), with Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi and Brad Renfro. Her performances gained positive response from film critics and she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. In his review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott praised her: "Thora Birch, whose performance as Lester Burnham's alienated daughter was the best thing about American Beauty, plays a similar character here, with even more intelligence and restraint". In his Chicago Reader review, Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote, "Birch makes the character an uncanny encapsulation of adolescent agonies without ever romanticizing or sentimentalizing her attitudes, and Clowes and Zwigoff never allow us to patronize her". However, in his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris disliked Birch's character of Enid and remarked: "I found Enid smug, complacent, cruel, deceitful, thoughtless, malicious and disloyal".

2002-2012

Birch played Liz Murray in the television film Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003), for which she received an Emmy nomination. The next year, she played Karen in Silver City (2004), written and directed by John Sayles, which after premiering at that year's Cannes Film Festival, received a mixed reception.

In 2006, Birch starred in the low-budget horror film Dark Corners, as a troubled young woman who wakes up one day as a different person—someone who is stalked by creatures. Tony Sullivan, for Eyeforfilm.co.uk, found Birch "convincing as the two halves of this split personality". She also had the leading role in the 2008 slasher Train.

She starred alongside Brittany Murphy in the psychological thriller Deadline. The film first premiered directly-to-video in October 2009 in the U.K. before being released in December in the U.S. In 2009. She starred in the mystery film Winter of Frozen Dreams. A controversy during filming involving Birch's father and his forced presence during Birch's taping of a sex scene for the film made tabloid headlines. In January 2010, Birch played Sidney Bloom in the Lifetime movie The Pregnancy Pact.

Birch was cast and scheduled to make her American stage debut in the off Broadway revival of Dracula, but was fired for the behavior of her father, her manager at the time, who physically threatened one of the show's cast members. Reflecting on the incident in January 2014, Birch revealed that not only was she in a "state of shock," but later accepted that she had upset a lot of people and those around her wanted her to "be not fine."

In 2012, she appeared as the lead character in Petunia, in which she also produced and one that received a limited release. About the film, Birch said: "I think it's just something that's a little bit different from your standard summer fare. It's a little bit more intimate. It's also a very modern tale. I think it's actually honest."

2015-present

After resuming her acting career, Birch portrays software engineer Morgan in the Carlton Cuse series Colony. She is also starring in the independent film The Etruscan Smile with Brian Cox, which recently wrapped shooting in San Francisco and Scotland and set for release in 2017. Birch has also just started filming Above Suspicion, a thriller adapted from the book by New York Times columnist Joe Sharkey, and co-starring Jack Huston, Emilia Clarke, and Johnny Knoxville.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Purple People Eater	Molly Johnson
1991	Paradise	Billie Pike
1991	All I Want for Christmas	Hallie O'Fallon
1992	Patriot Games	Sally Ryan
1992	Itsy Bitsy Spider	Leslie McGroarty (voice)	Short film
1993	Hocus Pocus	Dani Dennison
1994	Monkey Trouble	Eva Gregory
1994	Clear and Present Danger	Sally Ryan
1995	Now and Then	Tina "Teeny" Tercell
1996	Alaska	Jessie Barnes
1999	American Beauty	Jane Burnham
1999	Anywhere but Here	Mary	Uncredited
2000	The Smokers	Lincoln Roth
2000	Dungeons & Dragons	Empress Savina
2001	The Hole	Elizabeth "Liz" Dunn
2001	Ghost World	Enid
2004	Silver City	Karen Cross
2004	The Dot	Narrator (voice)	Short film
2005	Slingshot	April
2006	Dark Corners	Susan Hamilton / Karen Clarke
2008	Train	Alexandra "Alex" Roper
2009	Winter of Frozen Dreams	Barbara Hoffman
2009	Deadline	Lucy Woods
2012	Petunia	Vivian Petunia
2017	The Etruscan Smile	Emily
2017	Above Suspicion	Jolene

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988-89	Day by Day	Molly	Recurring role (21 episodes)
1989	Doogie Howser, M.D.	Megan	Episode: "Vinnie Video Vici"
1990	Dark Avenger	Susie Donovan	Television film
1990	Married People	Emily	Episode: "To Live and Drive in New York"
1990-91	Parenthood	Taylor Buckman	Main role (12 episodes)
1991	Amen	Brittany	Episode: "Nothing Says Lovin'..."
1994	Monty	Ann Sherman	Episode: "Here Comes the Son"
1995	The Outer Limits	Aggie Travers	Episode: "The Choice"
1997	Promised Land	Allison Rhodes	Episode: "Running Scared"
1997	Touched by an Angel	Erin	Episode: "The Pact"
1999	Night Ride Home	Clea Mahler	Television film
2002	Night Visions	Susan Thornhill	Episode: "The Maze"
2003	Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story	Elizabeth "Liz" Murray	Television film
2005	My Life as a Teenage Robot	Vega (voice)	Episode: "Escape from Cluster Prime"
2010	The Pregnancy Pact	Sidney Bloom	Television film
2016	Colony	Morgan	Recurring role

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
1989	Young Artist Award	Best Young Actor/Actress Ensemble in a Television Comedy, Drama Series or Special	Day by Day	Nominated
		Best Young Actress Under Nine Years of Age	Purple People Eater	Won
1990		Outstanding Performance by an Actress Under Nine Years of Age	Day by Day	Nominated
1991		Best Young Actress Supporting or Re-Occurring Role for a TV Series	Parenthood	Nominated
1992		Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture	Paradise	Won
1993		Best Young Actress Under Ten in a Motion Picture	Patriot Games	Nominated
		Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture	All I Want for Christmas	Nominated
1994		Best Youth Actress Leading Role in a Motion Picture Comedy	Hocus Pocus	Won
1996		Best Performances by a Young Ensemble - Feature Film or Video	Now and Then	Nominated
1997		Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress	Alaska	Nominated
1999	SDFCS Award	Best Supporting Actress	American Beauty	Won
2000	BAFTA Film Award	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role		Nominated
	OFCS Award	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	OFCS Award	Best Ensemble Cast Performance		Won
	Blockbuster Entertainment Award	Favorite Supporting Actress - Drama		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture		Won
	Young Hollywood Award	Best On-Screen Chemistry		Won
	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress		Won
	YoungStar Award	Best Young Actress/Performance in a Motion Picture Drama		Won
2001	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress	Dungeons & Dragons	Nominated
	Golden Space Needle Award	Best Actress	Ghost World	Won
	TFCA Award	Best Performance, Female		Won
	Deauville Film Festival	Best Female Performance		Won
	SDFCS Award	Best Actress		Won
2002	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy		Nominated
	VFCC Award	Best Actress		Nominated
	Young Hollywood Award	Talent for Charity		Won
	Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award	Female	Dungeons & Dragons and Ghost World	Nominated
	OFCS Award	Best Actress	Ghost World	Nominated
	CFCA Award	Best Actress		Nominated
	MTV Movie Awards	Best Line		Nominated
	MTV Movie Award	Best Dressed		Nominated
	Golden Satellite Award	Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical		Nominated
2003	Young Hollywood Award			Won
	DVD Premiere Award	Best Supporting Actress	The Smokers	Nominated
	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie	Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story	Nominated
2007	Nellie Tayloe Ross Award			Won

Charities

Thora Birch supports the following charitable causes: Drug Abuse, AIDS, Women's Issues, Alcohol Prevention, Pediatric AIDS.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]