"None of the characters I've played are really like me. That would be boring. It wouldn't be acting."
Anna Helene Paquin
Canadian-born New Zealander actress. Born Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on July 24, 1982, the daughter of two teachers.
Bursting onto the screen seemingly out of nowhere, Anna Paquin took home a surprise Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 1993 Academy Awards, for her part as "Flora" in The Piano. Overcome, she heaved for breath on stage for half a minute before gasping out a brief acceptance speech. She was the second-youngest Oscar winner, ever.
After receiving her Oscar, Paquin has somehow managed to avoid many of the pitfalls that beset the careers (and more importantly, the private lives) of child stars - though her parents did divorce, in 1995. Anna now lives with her mother in Los Angeles. She has starred in a score of films, with great style and success. Among her notable appearances is her performance as Rogue, the teenage mutant in the X-Men films. Though her character was substantially altered from the comic book original, Paquin's performance was well-received by even the most critical of X-Men fans.
Since August 2000, Anna Paquin is attending Columbia University, where one of her classmates is Julia Stiles (Hamlet, The Bourne Identity).