Thora Birch

Thora Birch (born March 11, 1982) is an American actress and producer. Her debut film was Purple People Eater (1988) and she won the Young Artist Award for "Best Young Artistress Under Nine Years old". Birch gained notoriety as a child star 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 first big role was in 1999 when she appeared as Jane Burnham in the highly popular film American Beauty, for which she earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress. After that, she starred 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 playing the lead role in Homeless to Harvard The Liz Murray Story. Birch was also featured in Dungeons & Dragons (2000) and The Hole (2001), Silver City (2004) and Dark Corners (2006). She was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2003. Birch also played the character of Whisperer Mary/ Gamma in the Walking Dead's season 10. Birch was born in Los Angeles, the eldest child of Jack Birch and Carol Connors. Birch her family's initial surname was Biersch is of German-Jewish, Scandinavian, French-Canadian and Italian ancestry. [6] Thora is her name. It is derived from the Norse god Thor, thunder and lightning. If she were a child, that would be the full name. Kian Bolt Birch is her younger brother. Both of her parents were former actors in adult films and appeared in Deep Throat. Based on their own experiences working in the entertainment business, they were not keen to promote the actress, but were convinced to show Thora's photograph to agents by a babysitter who noticed her imitation of commercials. The first time she got noticed was at the age of four, when her babysitter took her to auditions for a Quaker Oats commercial.