Thora Birch

Thora Birch, born March 11, 1982, is an American actress. Her debut in film was Purple People Eater (1988), where she won the Young Artist Award for "Best Young Artistress under nine years old". Birch rose to prominence as a child actress and appeared in films such as All I Want for Christmas (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Hocus Pocus (1993), Monkey Trouble (1994), Now and Then (1995) and Alaska (1996).Her breakthrough role came in 1999 when she played Jane Burnham in the highly well-received film American Beauty, for which she won an BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In the following year, she played in Ghost World (2001) as Enid. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. In 2003, Birch received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the title character in Homeless to Harvard The Liz Murray Story. Birch also starred on Dungeons & Dragons (2000) (2001), The Hole (2004), Silver City (2004), Dark Corners (2006) and Winter of Frozen Dreams (2009). Birch has also appeared in the role of Whisperer Maryor Gamma in the Walking Dead's Season 10. Birch was the eldest child born to Jack Birch (and Carol Connors) in Los Angeles. Birch her family's initial surname was Biersch, is of German-Jewish, Scandinavian, French-Canadian and Italian heritage. [6] Her name, "Thora," is derived from that of Norse god of lightning and thunder "Thor" and would be her name were she a boy. She has a younger brothernamed Kian Bolt Birch.Birch's parents are former adult film actors who both were in the film Deep Throat. Based on their own experiences in the entertainment field and their own experience, they were hesitant initially to promote Thora. But, her image was shown to agents after a babysitter saw her fake commercials. Birch got her first big break at four when her babysitter took her to an audition for an Quaker Oats commercial.