Alison Lohman

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Alison Lohman
Born
September 18, 1979 (age 27)
Palm Springs, California, USA
Occupation
Actress
Career milestones
White Oleander (2002)
Matchstick Men (2003)
Where the Truth Lies (2005)
Flicka (2006)

Alison Marion Lohman (born September 18, 1979) is an American movie actress. She became known in 2002, after a leading role in the drama White Oleander, and has since starred in several Hollywood films, including Matchstick Men, Big Fish and Flicka. She played several minor television show roles, like 7th Heaven, Crusade, Tucker and Pasadena.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Lohman was born and raised in Palm Springs, California to Gary Lohman and Diane Dunham. She has one younger brother, Robert (born 1982).[1] She has two cats, Monk and Clint.[2] Her family had no industry connections, but at age nine, she played Gretyl in The Sound of Music at the Palm Desert's McCallum Theater. Two years later, she won the Desert Theater League's award for "Most Outstanding Actress in a Musical" for the title role in Annie. By the age of 17, Lohman had appeared in 12 different major productions and had been a backup singer for the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and the Desert Symphony.

As a senior, she was an awardee of National Foundation of the Advancement of the Arts and was offered the chance to attend the Tisch School of the Arts, but declined.

[edit] Career

In 1997, after graduating from high school, Lohman moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue her acting career.[2] For the next few years, her work consisted of science fiction B-movies (such as Kraa! The Sea Monster and Planet Patrol), television productions (Including the made-for-TV movie Sharing the Secret) and children’s films (such as Delivering Milo and The Million Dollar Kid). Also included was the dark urban drama White Boy.

Lohman starred in White Oleander, an adaptation of Janet Fitch’s novel, alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Wright-Penn and Renée Zellweger. Though the film was a box office failure (it opened to $5.6 million in 1,510 theaters[3]), Lohman's performance met with wide critical acclaim and has been described as her "breakthrough role" by media sources.[2]

The following year, she appeared in Matchstick Men, directed by Ridley Scott. She starred with Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell, and though it was not a box office success either, Lohman continued to gain praise. Later that year, she appeared in Tim Burton’s Big Fish, which continued her trend of appearing in films of high acclaim but little success.

She had no theatrical features in 2004, though she did voice the lead character in the re-dubbing of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. In 2005 she appeared in Atom Egoyan’s Where the Truth Lies. The film originally received an NC-17 rating for its graphic sexual content[4], and failed at the box office afterwards.[5] Her performance in particular was heavily criticized. Her next feature, The Big White, featured her alongside some very big stars (including Robin Williams, Holly Hunter and Tim Blake Nelson), but nevertheless went direct-to-video.

Lohman's most recent film is the drama Flicka, which was released on October 20, 2006. In the film, Lohman plays a sixteen-year old girl who befriends a wild mustang horse. Lohman had never ridden a horse prior to filming and trained rigidly for a month; she has also said that she was thrown "emotionally and physically" and felt "tension" and "energy" working with horses in the role.[2]

Lohman will also make an appearance at the Sundance Film Festival for her role in the romantic-comedy Delirious co-starring Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt.

Lohman, who is frequently cast as teenagers, has said that she believes she "look[s] younger and act[s] younger" than her age.[2] She will next play a recovering heroin addict in Things We Lost in the Fire.

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role
2007 Beowulf Ursula
Things We Lost in the Fire
2006 Delirious K'harma Leeds
Flicka Katy
2005 The Big White Tiffany
Where the Truth Lies Karen O'Connor
2003 Big Fish Sandra Templeton Bloom
Matchstick Men Angela
2002 White Oleander Astrid Magnussen
White Boy Amy
2001 Alex in Wonder Camelia
Delivering Milo Ms. Madeline
2000 The Million Dollar Kid Courtney Hunter
1999 Planet Patrol Patrolman Curtis
The Auteur Theory Teen Rosemary - Elliot's Film
The Thirteenth Floor Honey Bear Girl
1998 Kraa! The Sea Monster Curtis
1994 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (voice: Nausicaa-English version)

[edit] Television

  • Pasadena (2001) .... Lily McAllister
  • Tucker (2000) .... McKenna Reid
  • Sharing the Secret (2000) .... Beth Moss
  • Crusade (1999) .... Claire

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External link

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