Thora Birch

3.1. Child stardom (1988-1998)

Birch began her career appearing in commercials for brands such as Burger King, California Raisins, Quaker Oats, and Vlasic Pickles in the late 1980s. Her feature film debut came in 1988 with the science fiction comedy Purple People Eater, where she played Molly Johnson. For this role, she received a Young Artist Award in the "Best Young Actress Under Nine Years of Age" category. In the same year, she made a guest appearance in an episode of Doogie Howser, M.D. and secured a regular role as Molly in the NBC sitcom Day By Day, which ran for two seasons and earned her two additional Young Artist nominations.

In 1990, Birch took on a principal role as Taylor Buckman in Parenthood, a sitcom based on the 1989 film of the same name, which aired for one season on NBC. She co-starred as Billie Pike in the 1991 drama Paradise, with film critic Roger Ebert praising her performance for its "strong, simple charm". That same year, she appeared in the festive comedy All I Want for Christmas, playing a girl who devises a plan to reunite her divorced parents. While it achieved moderate financial success upon release, the film later gained a significant audience through television broadcasts and home video. Birch then co-starred as Sally Ryan, the daughter of Jack Ryan, in the 1992 spy thriller Patriot Games, a commercial hit that grossed 178.00 M USD worldwide.

At the age of 11, Birch starred as Dani Dennison in the 1993 Halloween-themed fantasy film Hocus Pocus, portraying the younger sister of a teenager who accidentally revives a trio of witches. Despite earning 39.00 M USD in the U.S. against a budget of 28.00 M USD, and thus not being considered a financial success at the time, Hocus Pocus quickly developed a substantial cult following due to robust home video sales and frequent television re-runs. Birch later reflected on the surreal experience of the film's growing popularity, calling the production "the most amount of fun I've ever had on a set".

In the 1994 comedy Monkey Trouble, Birch played a girl who befriends a Capuchin monkey. Marjorie Baumgarten of the Austin Chronicle lauded Birch's "nuanced performance (a rarity amongst child performers)" for lending a "realistic touch" to the film. That same year, she reprised her role as Sally Ryan in Clear and Present Danger, the sequel to Patriot Games, which grossed over 215.00 M USD globally. She was then cast as Tina "Teeny" Tercell in the 1995 coming-of-age drama Now and Then. Although initially dismissed by critics, the film has since been recognized as a significant work within its genre. Birch subsequently headlined the 1996 adventure film Alaska, portraying one of two siblings who traverse the Alaskan wilderness in search of their missing father. The Austin Chronicle described it as a "decent kids' adventure movie" featuring an "impeccable" performance by Birch. For the following two years, she primarily appeared in television, guest-starring in episodes of Promised Land and Touched by an Angel.

3.2. Transition to adult roles (1999-2003)

In 1999, Birch appeared in several projects that marked her transition to more mature roles. She first starred in the made-for-television film Night Ride Home, portraying a teenager coping with the loss of her older brother. David Kronke of Variety praised the film as a "thoughtful and sensitive examination of how a family copes with grief," noting Birch's competent performance alongside De Mornay and Burstyn. She also had a small, uncredited role as Mary in Anywhere but Here.

Birch's breakthrough into adult-oriented roles came with her portrayal of the insecure teenager Jane Burnham in American Beauty (1999), Sam Mendes' dark dramedy exploring the struggles of a middle-class family. Her performance was widely praised by critics, with Peter Travers of Rolling Stone remarking that she "glimmered with grown-up radiance." This role earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The film itself won the 1999 Academy Award for Best Picture and became the biggest commercial success of Birch's career to date, grossing over 356.00 M USD worldwide. Birch later described the intense preparation for the film, noting the "therapy involved" and how each actor brought personal experiences to their characters, observing her co-stars Annette, Kevin, Wes, and Mena as "masters at their craft."

Following the success of American Beauty, Birch appeared in two films released in 2000: the low-budget drama The Smokers, where The Hollywood Reporter called her a "scene-stealer," and Dungeons & Dragons, a poorly received adaptation of the fantasy role-playing game. In 2001, she starred in the British horror film The Hole as Elizabeth Dunn, a manipulative schoolgirl who traps her friends in an underground bunker. While Derek Elley of Variety found Birch's performance "effectively creepy," he criticized the film's "clunky" attempt to blend psychological thriller and teen movie genres.

Birch's next significant project was the satirical 2001 comedy Ghost World, directed by Terry Zwigoff and based on the graphic novel of the same name. The film received enthusiastic critical acclaim and developed a devoted cult following. James Berardinelli considered Birch's role as Enid Coleslaw her "first effectively developed role" since American Beauty, commending her portrayal's "quirkiness [and the] underlying sense of melancholy and ennui." A. O. Scott, writing for The New York Times, noted that Birch played a similar character to her role in American Beauty "with even more intelligence and restraint," highlighting Enid's unlimited capacity for scorn and sarcastic delivery. Birch received numerous accolades for Ghost World, including a nomination for the 2002 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.

In 2003, she starred as the title character in the biographical television film Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story. The film depicted a young woman who, after becoming homeless at 15 amidst personal tragedies, resolves to complete her education. Birch's compelling performance earned her a nomination for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress that year.

3.3. Independent films and hiatus (2004-2012)

In 2004, Thora Birch played a supporting role as whistleblower Karen Cross in Silver City, a political satire directed by John Sayles, which premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Despite mixed reviews for the independent feature, Angie Errigo of Empire lauded Birch's portrayal as "terrific." The following year, she co-starred as April in the crime drama Slingshot.

Birch took on a dual role as Susan Hamilton and Karen Clarke in Dark Corners (2006), a psychological horror-thriller about a young woman who awakens as a different person. The film received a mixed reception, with Adam DiLeo of IGN praising its surreal, David Lynch-style elements but criticizing Birch's performance. She subsequently appeared in two more genre films: Train (2008), a loose remake of the 1980 slasher film Terror Train, and the psychological thriller Deadline. In Deadline, Birch co-starred with Brittany Murphy, who passed away shortly after the film's December 2009 release; Birch later expressed concern about Murphy's well-being during filming.

In the 2009 true crime drama Winter of Frozen Dreams, Birch portrayed Barbara Hoffman, a Wisconsin prostitute convicted of murder in the first-ever televised murder trial. John Marrone of Bloody Disgusting highlighted Birch's "alluring" performance as the film's strongest aspect. She then took on the role of journalist Sidney Bloom in The Pregnancy Pact, a Lifetime movie released in 2010. This film was based on the true story of a group of high schoolers in Gloucester, Massachusetts, who conspired to become pregnant simultaneously and raise their children communally. The film garnered 5.9 million viewers upon its premiere in January 2010. Later that year, Birch was cast as Lucy in an off-Broadway revival of Hamilton Deane's Dracula, which would have marked her stage debut. However, she was subsequently dismissed from the production due to the alleged behavior of her father, who was her manager at the time, and reportedly physically threatened a cast member during a rehearsal.

In 2012, Birch played Vivian in Petunia, an independent dramedy about the lives and romantic relationships of a dysfunctional New York family. Birch was also credited as one of the film's producers, describing the "intimate [and] honest" feature as "a little bit different." Despite receiving a limited theatrical release in the U.S. and mixed reviews, Birch and the rest of the ensemble cast were praised for their performances. Following Petunia, Birch took a break from acting to pursue academic studies, during which she earned a degree in legal studies through Kaplan University.

3.4. Return and recent work (2013-present)

After her academic pursuits, Thora Birch returned to acting in 2015 with a recurring role as software engineer Morgan on the first season of USA Network's Colony. However, she did not return for the second season due to a scheduling conflict, and her role was recast.

In 2018, Birch starred as a left-wing activist in the political thriller Affairs of State, which Noel Murray of The Los Angeles Times found "refreshingly smart." Luke Y. Thompson of Forbes, in a less favorable review, noted that cinematographer Horacio Marquinez filmed everything like an art movie but questioned a scene where Birch was shot "unflatteringly." That same year, she headlined and co-produced The Competition, an independent romantic comedy. Birch also starred in the 2018 drama The Etruscan Smile, an adaptation of José Luis Sampedro's novel, which was filmed in Scotland and received strong reviews.

The following year, she played a supporting role as Jolene in the crime thriller Above Suspicion, marking her third collaboration with director Phillip Noyce after Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger in the 1990s. In a positive review for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw commented on Birch's "interesting cameo."

Birch's cameo appearance in The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019), a drama about a young man's quest to reclaim his grandfather's Victorian home, was considered crucial to the film's success. Director Joe Talbot praised Birch, stating that her work had partly inspired him to make films, particularly her performance in Ghost World which made him "feel seen as a teenager." He noted the symbolic nature of her character's appearance in his film, almost as if she "kept riding [the bus] all these years, and somehow wound up in the Bay Area working a tech job she loathed." Her brief exchange with the main character, Jimmie, became one of the most discussed and quoted parts of the film. The Last Black Man in San Francisco premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2019, winning awards for Best Directing and a Special Jury Prize for Creative Collaboration, and was theatrically released in the U.S. by A24.

Between 2019 and 2020, Birch appeared as Mary, also known as "Gamma," in the tenth season of AMC's post-apocalyptic horror series The Walking Dead. Collider noted that she brought "emotional depth" to the role, and Birch herself described the experience as "a fun, massive thing to have been a part of." In the independent drama 13 Minutes (2021), she played a single mother striving to keep her family together after a destructive tornado. Rex Reed of The New York Observer felt the film succeeded due to its "compelling" and "likable" ensemble, singling out Birch as a highlight.

Also in 2022, Birch played Audrey Beach in the ten-part fictional podcast Overleaper, an espionage-style thriller about a female soldier on a top-secret mission. Birch was drawn to the project by the concept of a "return to the old radio dramas" of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the opportunity to act solely with her voice, avoiding the "harsh physical positions that the character is in."

6.1. Film

6.2. Television

6.3. Podcasts

6.4. Music videos