The Stunning Transformation Of Anna Paquin
Very few child actors can say they've had the career that Anna Paquin has had. Since making her acting debut at 9 in "The Piano," Paquin earned has herself a credible position as one of the more influential actresses of the past three decades. Following her breakout performance, Paquin began snagging roles in films like "Fly Away Home" and "Hurlyburly." Her teenage years continued to serve her well as she found work in countless projects, such as "X-Men" and "25th Hour." Most notable, however, was her six-year run on the HBO vampire series "True Blood," which further solidified her place in Hollywood.
Although most people — even Paquin herself — would base her success on timing and luck, her efforts to keep focus on her acting career can't be ignored. In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, Paquin prided herself on maintaining positive public perception, stating: "I work, I now have a family, I'm married, I work, I do CrossFit. ... I mean, maybe someone could try to make me sound more exciting by creating a scandal for me, but I am pretty good without the drama. I like the drama to stay on-screen." Whether she's advocating for gay rights, taking part in controversial projects, or simply leading a life that successfully balances motherhood and a strong marriage, the New Zealand-raised actress has effortlessly transitioned from a shy preteen to the legendary actress we know today. To learn more about her incredible metamorphosis, here's the stunning transformation of Anna Paquin.
As a child, Anna Paquin initially had other aspirations
On July 24, 1982, Anna Paquin was born in Winnipeg, Canada, to Brian and Mary Paquin. When she was only 4, she and her two siblings, Andrew and Katya, would relocate to New Zealand, which is where she spent most of her pre-fame childhood. For many actors, the love of the craft can develop at a young age. Paquin, however, was an anomaly to this. Although she fell in love with acting later in life, Paquin previously stated that being an actor wasn't something she aspired to be.
According to her 2000 interview with The Guardian, an early interest in acting didn't lead Paquin down that path initially. In primary school, Paquin took a small part in her primary school play, in which she played a skunk. "I leaped on stage and then skipped off," she said. While this may have seemed like a sign of things to come, she didn't perceive it as such at the time. In a 1998 interview with the New York Daily News, Paquin told the publication that she had other aspirations outside of acting. "I wanted to be prime minister of New Zealand for a while," she stated. "Then I wanted to be a lawyer."
Her acting debut broke records
An actor's breakout role is rarely also their acting debut. For Anna Paquin, this was a feat that immediately drew her into the world of acting. When her sister and a friend happened upon a New Zealand ad looking for child actors in 1992, Paquin took an interest in auditioning herself. "Though I never acted before, when I heard both of them were trying out, I wanted to go, too. My father said if I was interested, I'd have to ring up myself. ...They needed to find girls who looked the right way," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. Despite her introverted demeanor as a 9-year-old child, Paquin found she had little difficulty preparing for the audition and beat out 5,000 other actresses to get the role of Flora McGrath in Jane Champion's "The Piano."
While the 1993 historical drama received critical acclaim for its impactful story, Paquin's portrayal of Ada McGrath's articulate daughter caught the eyes of the public. By the time she was 11, Paquin made history at the Oscars in 1994 when she won an Oscar for best actress in a supporting role. In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, Paquin spoke about how shocked she was to win. "At the Academy Awards, when I won with 'The Piano,' I was just confused that everyone knew who I was," she stated. "I was just some kid from a small town in New Zealand."
Anna Paquin experienced a surge of popularity due to her inclusion in X-Men
From 1997 onward, Anna Paquin worked with other big names, such as Steven Spielberg ("Amistad") and Sean Penn ("Hurlyburly"). By 2000, Paquin would reach new heights of fame following her inclusion in "X-Men." Based on the popular Marvel comics, the 16-year-old portrayed Rogue, a super mutant with life absorbing abilities. After its release, Paquin experienced an increase in popularity, which, according to her interview with Fox in 2000, surprised her. "I'd heard of the comic books, but I had no idea that they had this sort of huge following," she stated.
As Marvel expanded its cinematic universe, Paquin continued to reprise her role as Rogue in "X2" and "X-Men: The Last Stand." According to a 2003 interview with ComicBookMovie.com, Paquin suggested that her popularity never wavered the more she was involved in the "X-Men" universe. "It's just gotten a lot more intense in terms of people actually recognizing me," she stated. "I'm always surprised when people recognize me because I don't think I would really notice if I saw some person who'd just been in a movie walking down the street." Her stint as Rogue wouldn't last forever. The 2014 release of "X-Men: Days of Future Past" saw the actress get cut from its lineup. Although this decision caused an uproar among Marvel fans online, Paquin told People in 2019 that she was okay with their decision, stating, "It wasn't really, like, a big deal for me."
She continued to pursue higher education despite her early success as an actress
Given her immediate success in acting, most would imagine Paquin dropping out of school to continue pursuing a career as an actress. According to her 2017 appearance on "Q With Tom Power," her parents taught her that acting was simply a privilege, not a career set in stone. "My family life was very not swayed by the kind of acting industry thing of it all," she stated. "It was something I was allowed to do if I was still doing my own school [work], and it wasn't, like, in any way negatively impacting my life."
After attending Wellington Girls' College in New Zealand and earning her high school diploma from Windward School in Los Angeles, Paquin attended Columbia University in 2000. There, the actress attempted to maintain a balance between acting and school. After a year, however, Paquin dropped out to focus on her career. Despite this, Paquin told The New York Times in 2011 that she was grateful for her short-lived college experience. "I had a great time my year at college, don't get me wrong. No parents, no job. School, as it turns out, is a lot easier when you're not pulling a 12-hour day in the middle of trying to get your work done," she stated. "Living on a college campus is possibly the best way to send teenagers into the world that you could come up with."
Anna Paquin found comfort in portraying Sookie Stackhouse on True Blood
With a career filled with film roles ranging from historical dramas to romantic comedies, it's hard to pinpoint which part of Anna Paquin's career garnered her the most notoriety. While her portrayal of Flora McGrath in "The Piano" earned her an Oscar and her inclusion in the "X-Men" franchise brought her more popularity, many may recognize Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse from HBO's vampire drama based on "The Southern Vampire Mysteries" novels, "True Blood."
Following her first appearance on the show's pilot in 2008, Paquin starred in the series for seven seasons. Given the explicit contents of the show stemming from characters' sexual fantasies, Paquin was well known for appearing naked multiple times throughout the show's lifespan. Although her dedicated fans felt indifferent about it, Paquin seemed comfortable playing the role.
When asked about the excessive nudity on the show in a 2011 New York Times interview, the New Zealand actress expressed that while Sookie is a step above her prior roles, she was okay with appearing naked on-screen if it made sense for the character and storyline. "Considering the books were about the sexual awakening of a 25-year-old who has 25 years' worth of pent-up frustration and then is supposed to have lots of hot vampire sex," she explained. "And also, it was not something that I was uncomfortable with."
She married Stephen Moyer in 2010
In "True Blood," Anna Paquin's character, Sookie Stackhouse, developed a strong connection with the character of Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer) partly due to his sense of mystery. Their on-screen romance found its way off-screen, and the two actors became an item during their run on the vampire drama. While Moyer declared that it was love at first sight, Paquin has since stated otherwise. From first meeting during a screen test for the show, they began secretly dating in 2008. According to Moyer, the two kept their off-screen romance a secret because they didn't want it to interfere with their work (via Daily Mail). "It was very important to me that the cast and crew we were working with didn't feel it was fickle. ... We didn't want to take anything away from the show," he stated.
In 2009, Moyer proposed to Paquin, and in 2010, the two tied the knot in a private ceremony in Malibu, California. Multiple sources in attendance said the couple seemed happy, and Paquin said she was blessed to have married Moyer. "It's great to have the freedom to enjoy your work and not feel like you're leaving your other life behind," she said (via People). "It's a pretty sweet setup."
Anna Paquin publicly declared her sexuality in a We Give a Damn campaign
In 2010, Anna Paquin made headlines for seemingly embracing her truth in a True Colors Fund LGBTQ+ campaign titled We Give a Damn, stating, "I'm bisexual." She had just married Stephen Moyer, and the New Zealand actress faced an onslaught of misconceptions surrounding her sexuality, which she continued to defend over the years. In 2012, Paquin informed Zooey magazine about the matter (via HuffPost). "I'm sure for some people, saying they're bisexual feels less scary than making a statement that they're gay," she explained. "For me, it's not really an issue because I'm someone who believes being bisexual is actually a thing. It's not made up. It's not a lack of decision."
Whether on social media or in an interview with Larry King, Paquin has continued to speak her truth no matter the reaction from the public. In a 2021 interview with SiriusXM, Paquin seemingly has no regrets about coming out in the 2010 campaign. "I felt like it was being my authentic self. ... It just felt weird being assumed to be straight because I was married to a man," she stated.
She gave birth to twins Charlie and Poppy in 2012
In April 2012, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer announced they were expecting their first child together. While Moyer had two children from his previous relationship, the actor was seemingly excited for this new journey. In June of the same year, Paquin welcomed her twins, Charlie and Poppy, with close sources stating that the couple were "overjoyed" by their birth (via Entertainment Tonight). Aside from their birth, however, not much is known about the twins due to Paquin's desire to keep them out of the spotlight. It took a harmless mistake by Moyer in an E! News interview for the public to even learn their names.
As a new mother at the time, Paquin understood that there are secrets in her life that are relatively fine to reveal publicly. There are other things, however, that she intends to keep private. While it may seem unnecessary to some, Paquin suggested to "Today" in 2018 that her experience in the public eye as a child influenced her decision to keep her children away from it. "You won't find any pictures of my children. That's a choice we made very specifically," she said. "I want the right to say that they're not fair game."
Motherhood changed Anna Paquin's perception of future roles
Aside from small roles in romantic comedies, Paquin built her reputable acting career on the backs of fictional characters with depth and starred in projects with darker themes. While Paquin may look back on those roles with great fondness, motherhood led her to reconsider the roles she wanted to take on in the future.
In 2015, Paquin — who rarely acted in films tailored for children — lent her voice to Disney's "The Good Dinosaur" to portray Ramsey, a T. rex. Coming off of her explicit performance in "True Blood," this was a nice change of pace for the actress. Despite her claim that "The Good Dinosaur" was still "too intense" for her children to see at the time, it was definitely more kid-friendly than her other roles. In an interview with Too Fab in 2015, the New Zealand actress suggested that this was the result of becoming a parent. "Having kids makes me kind of more aware of what kind of entertainment I want to put into the world that is going to be seen by younger viewers," she said. "It would be nice to do something that my kids can actually see. There will be some stuff that they will never see."
She fell in love with the art of filmmaking
While Anna Paquin cemented her name among acting legends before becoming a full-grown adult, the New Zealand actress is no stranger to taking creative risks to push her career forward. Eventually, Paquin's creative curiosity allowed her to transition to working as a producer on various films. After producing "Blue State" alongside her brother — who's also a filmmaker — Paquin went on to start a production company with her husband Stephen Moyer and produced independent projects such as "Free Ride," "Bellevue," "The Parting Glass," "Flack," and "A Bit of Light."
Following the release of "The Parting Glass" in 2018, Paquin told Variety her long list of production credits was possible due to her love of filmmaking. "We wouldn't do it if we weren't passionate about it," she stated. "You don't produce independent film because you're looking for fame, finance, and glory. You do it because of the love of the art and because of stories that you passionately want to tell." Paquin relayed this same message in 2019 during her interview with BUILD Series promoting her series "Flack," in which she played a problematic PR agent representing clients who are just as flawed. "I mean, there's not that many amazing scripts with incredibly flawed, interesting, complicated female protagonists just kind of lying around," she explained. "I mean, that's part of the reason that I started producing my own things."
Anna Paquin defended her lack of lines in The Irishman
In 2019, Anna Paquin joined the star-studded cast of "The Irishman." The Italian crime drama was the fictional depiction of the life of notorious hitman Frank Sheeran and his ties to the Bufalino family. In it, Paquin played Peggy Sheeran, Frank's daughter, who was mute for most of the movie. While this seems to be a callback to her prior work in "The Piano," fans couldn't help but notice her lack of lines in the critically acclaimed film.
With legendary actors like Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and Joe Pesci involved — and Martin Scorsese directing — it seemed like a perfect opportunity for the New Zealand actress to show off her acting chops among the legendary cast. Instead, Paquin only utters seven words throughout the three-hour film, causing fans to take to social media to express their disappointment in her performance. Shortly after the film's release, Paquin took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to respond to a now-deleted post critiquing her role in the movie. "Nope, nobody was doing any 'ordering,'" she responded. "I auditioned for the privilege of joining the incredible cast of ['The Irishman'] and I'm incredibly proud to get to be a part of this film."
She helped produce a documentary tackling racism
Throughout her career, Anna Paquin has been known to take part in several charities, including Make-A-Wish and Elton John's AIDS Foundation. In addition to advocating against gun ownership and supporting the Writers Guild strike, Paquin took an opportunity to produce a noteworthy documentary in 2022 discussing the status of racism in America.
In 2022, Regina Jackson and Saira Rao set out to create "Deconstructing Karen," a documentary that follows a Race2Dinner event where the two invite several white women to discuss their role in either perpetuating or preventing racism. According to She Does the City, Paquin joined its team of creators because it was something she felt was necessary to discuss.
"We white women can and must participate in dismantling racism, but first we need to look at ourselves and how we contribute consciously and unconsciously to systems of racism every single day," she explained. "Passivity and 'good intentions' change nothing." Amid the documentary's controversial criticism, Paquin stood by Jackson and Rao in 2023 when a clip of their appearance on The Social went viral on Instagram. "This clip of Saira Rao and Regina Jackson discussing their extraordinary contribution to anti-racism education — through Race2Dinner, the documentary I'm [an executive] producer on ... and their book ['White Women'] — is making the rounds again but the ladies aren't being tagged and so I just wanted to rectify that oversight," she wrote.