Early life and career
Birch was born in Los Angeles, California, the eldest child of Jack Birch and Carol Connors. Both her parents (who have managed her career and remain her managers right up to the present day) were former adult film actors; her mother appeared in the notorious pornographic film Deep Throat. Birch, who has a brother named Bolt Birch, is of Jewish, Nordic, and Italian descent. The name 'Thora' is a feminized form of the name Thor, the God of the Sky and of Thunder in Norse mythology. From an early age, Birch was encouraged by her parents to audition for commercials. She landed several parts representing companies such as Quaker Oats and Vlasic Pickles. In 1988, she broke into acting when landing the role of Molly in the short-lived television series Day By Day in which she was billed simply as "Thora." That same year she played an important role in the movie Purple People Eater opposite Ned Beatty and Neil Patrick Harris for which she won a Youth In Film Award for her performance.
More about Thora Birch (From Wikipedia)
Early Life And Career
Birch was born in Los Angeles, California, the eldest child of Jack Birch and Carol Connors. Both her parents (who have managed her career and remain her managers right up to the read more...
Paradise
Birch's breakthrough role came in 1991 when she was cast as 'tomboy' Billie Pike in the movie Paradise which also starred Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith and Elijah Wood. To obtain read more...
1991-1995
Thora's ability to portray herself as a young tomboy landed her several parts during the period 1991-1995, including the role of Dani in Hocus Pocus (1993). Her acting ability moreover read more...
Now & Then
Birch's performance in the 1995 film Now And Then is generally regarded as one of her best performances to date.[citation needed] It also starred Gaby Hoffmann, Christina Ricci, read more...
Alaska
By 1996, Thora was one of leading child actresses of her generation. She consolidated her position with a leading role in the adventure film, Alaska (1996) in which she plays the read more...
1996-1999: Break From Acting
After guest-starring appearances in the The Outer Limits, Promised Land and Touched By An Angel, Thora took a break from acting for a couple of years. In 1999, she returned in the read more...
American Beauty
Later in 1999, Birch won enormous critical praise playing the role of Jane Burnham in American Beauty and was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award. The read more...
Ghost World
After leading roles in The Smokers (2000), Dungeons & Dragons (2000), and The Hole (2001), Birch landed the leading role in Ghost World alongside Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi read more...
2001 To 2008
Birch's most notable roles since 2001 have been that of Liz Murray in Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003) and April in Slingshot (2005). Recent films include Dark Corners read more...
Future Ambition
Birch has indicated that she aspires to become a director and has recently begun directing short video sketches for a sketch comedy troupe called The Doomed Planet. The sketches read more...