Thora Birch

Actor

• Born: March 11, 1982
• Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California

Contribution: Thora Birch is a film and television actress who began her career as a child, appearing in films such as Hocus Pocus (1993) and Monkey Trouble (1994) and continued working well into adulthood. She is best known for her work in films including American Beauty (1999) and Ghost World (2001). Some of her other works include appearances in movies like 13 Minutes (2021) and television shows like The Walking Dead (2019-20).

Background

Thora Birch was born in Los Angeles, California, on March 11, 1982. Her parents, actors Jack Birch and Carol Connors, were expecting a boy when Connors was pregnant and planned to name their son after the Norse god Thor, in honor of their Scandinavian heritage. When Connors gave birth to a daughter instead, they named her Thora, a feminized version of Thor.

Birch grew up both in Los Angeles and on her family’s ranch in the countryside outside the city. From her earliest years, Birch exhibited a very bubbly, outspoken personality that instantly caught the attention of everyone she met. When she was four years old, a friend of Birch’s parents suggested that their daughter might have some potential as a child actor. Though reluctant at first, Birch’s parents eventually relented and allowed her to begin appearing in television commercials. She quickly showed a notable aptitude for acting and went on to star in a wide variety of commercials, some for major national companies such as Quaker Oats and Campbell’s Soup, and worked with high-profile actors such as Wilford Brimley and Jimmy Stewart.

Birch’s numerous commercial appearances gave the young actor exposure and gradually brought her to the attention of Hollywood casting directors.

Career

After two years of doing commercials, Birch was experienced enough to start taking on more serious endeavors. Her first substantial part came as one of a group of youngsters who appeared in the daycare-themed sitcom Day By Day in 1988. That same year, Birch also made her feature film debut in Purple People Eater, alongside veteran actors Shelley Duvall and Ned Beatty and fellow child star Neil Patrick Harris. In the early 1990s, she appeared in the short-lived series Parenthood with the yet-to-be-discovered Leonardo DiCaprio.

Up to this point, Birch was typically credited only as “Thora” onscreen. It was not until she appeared with Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith in Paradise (1991) that she was billed using her full name. In the film, which featured one of her earliest breakthrough performances, Birch played Billie Pike, a young tomboy desperately searching for her long-lost father.

After tackling the holiday film All I Want For Christmas in 1991, Birch played Sally Ryan, the daughter of actor Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan, in the action thriller Patriot Games (1992), based on the novel by Tom Clancy. She followed that with one of her most memorable roles—that of Dani in the Disney Halloween-themed feature Hocus Pocus (1993). As Dani, Birch starred as one of three children who must save their hometown of Salem, Massachusetts, from a trio of resurrected witches.

The high-profile part she played in Hocus Pocus gave Birch a significant career boost and helped her to secure her first lead role in 1994’s Monkey Trouble alongside Harvey Keitel. Later that year, she revisited her Sally Ryan character in the Patriot Games sequel Clear and Present Danger.

As she started getting older, Birch began to branch into more mature film roles. The most notable of these roles was Birch’s turn as Jane Burnham in American Beauty (1999). Her performance in the film, which won the Academy Award in 2000 for best picture, was the subject of high critical praise and seemed to set up Birch for further career success.

A series of disappointing follow-ups such as The Smokers (2000) and Dungeons & Dragons (2000) nearly expelled the momentum she had built. She turned things around when she appeared as the lead in Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World (2001), based on the 1998 graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. Birch’s performance as Enid Coleslaw, an eccentric and alienated teen artist trying to find an identity for herself after high school, earned her a Golden Globe nomination, a Toronto Film Critics Association Award, and the Seattle International Film Festival’s Golden Space Needle Award.

Birch continued her success with the television movie Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003), which earned her an Emmy Award nomination for lead actress. In the years that followed, she appeared in a variety of feature films and television movies, but none of them garnered the acclaim she won with American Beauty. Some of these included Slingshot (2005), Train (2008), and The Pregnancy Pact (2010).

The actress then set her sights on stage work. She was to appear in the Off-Broadway revival of Dracula in 2010, but was fired before the start of the production, reportedly because of an incident involving her father. In 2012, Birch changed gears, starring in and producing the family drama Petunia.

After taking a few years largely away from acting to pursue other interests, such as academics, Birch was eventually offered a role in USA network's thriller series Colony, and she appeared in two episodes in the first season in 2016 before having her part recast reportedly due to scheduling conflicts. Two years later, she appeared in a number of films, including The Competition, The Etruscan Smile, and Affairs of State. Though her part in The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) was small, she was especially proud to have been involved with the film. Following roles in the films Kindred Spirits and Above Suspicion in 2019, she switched to television after it was announced that year that she had landed a role in the long-running horror series on AMC The Walking Dead.

Birch continued her film career with appearances in the 2021 disaster movie 13 Minutes and The Midway Point, a 2024 movie about a disillusioned high schooler on the autism spectrum. On the television front, she stepped behind the camera to both direct and act in the 2022 television movie The Gabby Petito Story. Birch also appeared in the 2024 television series Mayfair Witches.

Impact

Birch was able to turn her stellar run as a child actor in films such as Hocus Pocus and Monkey Trouble into a respectable career. The alienated and sophisticated teen characters she portrayed in American Beauty and Ghost World have prompted some fans to claim her as a hero for disaffected youth.

Personal Life

Birch has a younger brother, Bolt, who was born in 1990 and is also an actor. The two siblings have appeared together in The Pregnancy Pact and Petunia. Birch married her manager, Michael Benton Adler, in 2018. 

Bibliography

Birch, Thora. Interview by Todd Solondz. Interview Nov. 2002: 82+. Print.

Hart, Hugh. “Despite Outward Appearances, She Found the Role Becoming.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 17 July 2001. Web. 31 July 2013.

Healy, Patrick. “Actress Thora Birch Fired from ‘Dracula.’” New York Times. New York Times, 14 Dec. 2010. Web. 12 July 2013.

Hinckley, David. “Lifetime’s ‘Pregnancy Pact’ Treats Surge in Teen Pregnancy with Kid Gloves.” Daily News. NYDailyNews.com, 22 Jan. 2010. Web. 12 July 2013.

Lee, Linda. “A Night Out With: Thora Birch and Mena Suvari; Beauties on the Go.” New York Times. New York Times, 19 Sept. 1999. Web. 31 July 2013.

Marine, Brooke. "Where Has Thora Birch Been? Allow Thora Birch to Explain." W, 18 June 2019, www.wmagazine.com/story/thora-birch-ghost-world-last-black-man-in-san-francisco. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.

Pearson, Jennifer. “Mysterious Beauty! Thora Birch Emerges from Obscurity Looking a Lot More Mature.” Daily Mail. Assoc. Newspapers, 4 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 July 2013.

"Thora Birch." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0000301. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.