Bio
Anna Paquin is a Canadian-born New Zealand actress best known for her Oscar-winning role in The Piano (1993) as well as for her role as Rogue in the X-Men trilogy and for her starring role as telepathic faerie waitress Sookie Stackhouse in the supernatural horror drama series True Blood, from 2008-2014.
She received an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Elaine Goodale Eastman in HBO's original movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, opposite Adam Beach and Aidan Quinn. Directed by Yves Simoneau and produced by Dick Wolf, the film received a record 17 nominations.
In 2006, Paquin produced Blue State with her brother, Andrew Paquin, under their banner Paquin Films. Blue State is a political romantic comedy about a Democratic campaigner played by Breckin Meyer, who follows through on his promise to move to Canada if George "Dubya" Bush is re-elected. This was the first collaboration between Anna Paquin and her brother. Blue State premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
In 2007 she appeared in Michael Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat, a thriller about four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween.
Paquin also appeared on Kenneth Lonnergan's Margaret, as the lead, opposite Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo and Matthew Broderick. Paquin plays Lisa, a girl who witnesses a bus accident and is caught up in the aftermath. Margaret was produced by Scott Rudin and Sydney Pollack and executive-produced by Anthony Minghella and Dan Halsted.
In 2006, she reprised her role as Rogue in Brett Ratner's X-Men 3. Twentieth Century Fox released the film worldwide on May 26th 2006, and it grossed over $130-million on opening weekend.
Additional film credits include Noah Baumbach's The Squid and The Whale, winning Best Ensemble Cast at the 2005 IFP Gotham Awards; X-Men 2; Spike Lee's 25th Hour opposite Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rosario Dawson; Buffalo Soldiers opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Ed Harris; and Gus Van Sant's Finding Forester with F. Murray Abraham and Sean Connery for Columbia Pictures.
She also starred in Cameron Crowe's Academy-Award-winning Almost Famous; X-Men for director Bryan Singer; Hurlyburly; Robert Iscove's She's All That; A Walk on the Moon for Dustin Hoffman's Punch Productions; Keith Stern's All the Rage; Steven Spielberg's Amistad; Carroll Ballard's Fly Away Home with Jeff Daniels; and Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre.
In 2010 she starred in The Romantics and Open House; the following year she appeared in Scream 4 and Margaret. In 2013 she appeared in the features Straight A's, Free Ride and Black Wings Has My Angel.
On stage Paquin received a Drama Desk nomination as Best Lead Actress for her stage debut in Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living for director Phillip Seymour Hoffman at New York's MCC Theater.
She followed that critically acclaimed performance with the first West End production of Kenneth Lonergan's This is Our Youth, co-staring Jake Gyllenhaal and Hayden Christensen in London.
Other stage credits include After Ashley, directed by Terry Kinney at The Vineyard Theatre and Neil Labute's dark drama The Distance from Here (Drama Desk Award for "Best Play" and won for "Best Cast Ensemble").
Paquin stunned the world in 1993 with her film debut as the daughter of the bride of an arranged marriage in Jane Campion's The Piano. Paquin's performance opposite cast members Holly Hunter (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress), Sam Neill, and Harvey Keitel led to her winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 11 years old.
Paquin currently spends her time between Los Angeles and New York.