Ellen Page

Ellen Page
Page at Hollywood Life Magazine's 7th Annual Breakthrough Awards, December 2007
Born	Ellen Philpotts-Page February 21, 1987 (1987-02-21) (age 23) Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present

Ellen Philpotts-Page (born February 21, 1987), known professionally as Ellen Page, is a Canadian actress. Page received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for her role as the title character in the film Juno.

She is also known for her starring roles in Hard Candy, Inception, Smart People and Whip It, and as Katherine "Kitty" Pryde in X-Men: The Last Stand. In addition, Page received attention in Canada for award-winning roles in Pit Pony and Marion Bridge, as well as television shows Trailer Park Boys and ReGenesis.

In 2008, Page was nominated for Time's 100 Most Influential People list^[1] and placed #86 on FHM's Sexiest Women in the World list,^[2] and moved up to #70 for 2010.^[3] In June 2008, Page was named on Entertainment Weekly's future A-List stars list.^[4]

Early life

Page was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, the daughter of Martha Philpotts, a teacher, and Dennis Page, a graphic designer.^[5] She attended the Halifax Grammar School until grade 10, spent some time at Queen Elizabeth High School, and graduated from the Shambhala School in 2005. She also spent two years in Toronto, Ontario studying in the Interact Program at Vaughan Road Academy along with close friend and fellow Canadian actor Mark Rendall.^[6][7] Growing up, Page enjoyed playing with action figures and climbing trees.^[8]

Career

Page at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Page began acting at age 4, appearing in numerous school plays. She first acted in front of the camera in 1997 at age 10 in the CBC television movie Pit Pony, which later spun off into a television series. This led to more roles in a number of small Canadian films and television series, notably playing Treena Lahey in Season 2 of Trailer Park Boys. At 16, she was cast in Mouth to Mouth, an independent film shot in Europe. Page starred in the 2005 movie Hard Candy and gained praise for "one of the most complex, disturbing and haunting performances of the year".^[9] She also appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand as Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), a girl who can walk through walls. In the previous X-Men movies, the part had been used in brief cameos played by other actresses, but never as a main character. As the title character in Juno, Page garnered substantial praise; A. O. Scott of the New York Times noted her as being "frighteningly talented"^[10] and Roger Ebert said, "Has there been a better performance this year than Ellen Page's creation of Juno? I do not think so".^[11] Page was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Juno, but lost to Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose. The role, however, did win her several other awards, including a Canadian Comedy Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Satellite Award. Page also has starred in Smart People, which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Although released after Juno, Smart People was shot earlier.^[12] Her other film credits include An American Crime, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival; The Tracey Fragments, which was released in November 2007 in Canada and May 2008 in the U.S.; and The Stone Angel.

In 2007, she was attached to play the title character in an adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre^[13][14] and had planned to work on an as-yet unmade film entitled Jack and Diane opposite Olivia Thirlby, with whom she co-starred in Juno^[15] but it was announced in August 2009 that her role in Jack and Diane would now be played by the actress Alison Pill. Before his death in January 2008, Heath Ledger had discussed with Page the idea of starring in his directorial debut, The Queen's Gambit.^[16]

Page with co-star and director Drew Barrymore at the premiere of their film Whip It on September 13, 2009.

Page hosted Saturday Night Live on March 1, 2008^[17] and on May 3, 2009, she guest starred in the episode "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh" of the animated series The Simpsons as a character named Alaska Nebraska, a parody of Hannah Montana.^[18] She also starred in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It, alongside Juliette Lewis, Marcia Gay Harden, Drew Barrymore and Kristen Wiig.^[19] The film premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and had its wide release on October 2, 2009.^[20]

She features in Michael Lander's film Peacock, opposite Cillian Murphy, Susan Sarandon, Bill Pullman and Josh Lucas, which was released in 2010 despite an original release date of 2009.^[21][22][23] In August 2009, Page began shooting the thriller Inception, a film directed by Christopher Nolan and co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ken Watanabe.^[24] The film was released on July 16, 2010.

She is attached to star in the film Super,^[25] and will reportedly play Stacie Andree in an upcoming film about Laurel Hester.^[26]

As of 2010^[update], she serves as a spokesperson for Cisco Systems in a series of ads appearing in three commercials set in Page's "hometown" of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. On May 26, 2010 it was reported in a column on "Deadline Hollywood" and by Entertainment Weekly that Page will star in the new HBO series Tilda alongside Diane Keaton, who plays the title role. Tilda is based on the life of Nikki Finke, the founder of the influential Hollywood blog, DeadlineHollywood.com.^[27]

Personal life

Page resides in her hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia and has two dogs named Julie and Sprout.^[28][29] She is prone to walk and talk in her sleep.^[30] In 2008, Page was one of 30 celebrities who participated in an online ad series for U.S. Campaign for Burma, calling for an end to the military dictatorship in Burma.^[31] She describes herself as a pro-choice feminist.^[32]

In the fall of 2008 Page spent a month living in an eco-village, studying permaculture at the Lost Valley Educational Center outside Eugene, Oregon.^{[33][34][35][36]}

Filmography

Films

Television

Awards and nominations

• BAFTA
  • Nominated for the 2008 Orange Rising Star Award^[45][46]
• Academy Awards, USA
  • Nominated for the 2008 Oscar, Category: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Juno (2007) ^[47]

References

External links

• Ellen Page at the Internet Movie Database