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Trivia
Has a Blue Belt in Karate
Her parents
thought that she would be a boy, and planned on naming
their child Thor, after the Norse God of Thunder and
Lightening. When she was born, however, her parents
decided to feminize the name and call her Thora
Does her
own stunts.
Lives on
a ranch in East LA
Was fired
from Election (1999) due to differences with the director.
Brother is
Bolt Birch
Gained 20
lbs. for her role in Ghost World.
Personal quotes
"I haven't had many opportunities to fulfill a
lot of dares but I can be a little saucy."
"For
me, romance isn't an over-the-top act. It's someone
offering to help and to support me. Or if that person
thinks I'm making the wrong decision, he'll tell me.
I want him to be honest, because being that honest takes
a lot of guts."
" It
gave me a lot of opportunities to do a lot of different
things, which I was kind of surprised about. I thought
I'd only get offers for very sullen, depressed teens,
but actually the opposite happened. A lot of people
put emotions in Jane that maybe weren't even there,
and they took her to all the extremes. They saw me as
being someone very sweet and innocent and young to someone
who's very mature and old. So it was a great range of
projects that I got to look at. American Beauty became
the film that took me from kids roles to adult roles."
"The
role of Liz in The Hole. The gamut of emotions was so
broad and there were so many layers and facets to Liz
that I was really surprised. I thought, 'Wow, they watched
American Beauty and thought that I might be good at
this?"
"Actually
the real challenge was trying to figure which one was
the real Liz. At first I had broken her into three characters
but then I realised there were really about five. Sometimes
she's two or three of them in the same moment. I came
to the conclusion that the first time we ever see her,
when she's just come out of the hole and has a little
scream, is the only real Liz that there is. The others
are kind of degrees of her. "
"Throughout
shooting the film I maintained that she was genuinely
in love. Then everyday we would get subtle revisions
from the writers, and one day we got a new scene completely
and it had this speech which I thought was one of the
best speeches in the film. It was this speech where
she says that doing things this way, Mike never cheats
on her, leaves her, or grow old. That's when I realised
it wasn't love; she was just completely and utterly
obsessed."
"Enid
is definitely an outsider but I don't think Liz is.
But when I said that before that was just my mood, actually.
I wasn't really so much an outsider at school but post-American
Beauty I was like, 'Yeah, I'm a rebel! I never got on
with anyone' and kind of relishing in that. But I've
got to be honest it was an act. I wasn't a cheerleader
or anything but I did get along with kids and I still
have some of my friends. An outsider? That's an awful
term. No one's really an outsider. When I said those
things in previous interviews I thought it sounded very
actorly. But I read it just recently and I was I like,
'You're a lying tart, Thora'."
"Yeah,
I mean a lot of things that you don't realise you're
saying are suddenly in the written word and to me the
most powerful thing is the written word, because ever
since I was a little girl that is how I'd memorise my
lines. I actually saw the words in my mind and that
would help me remember them. So now when I see some
of the stuff I've said, I tell myself, 'No, we're not
going to go down that road again'."
" It's
really uncomfortable. It's not fun It was a stressful
shoot - kind of - but I'd really rather shoot the whole
film again than face some of it. That's not to say that
I don't like it and that I'm not happy with it, though,
because actually I am proud of it. I think it came out
well."
Thora Birch - Filmography
Below is a complete filmography
(list of movies she's appeared in)
Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003) (TV)
.... Liz Murray
Shadow Realm (2002) (TV) .... Susan Thornhill
Hole, The (2001) .... Elizabeth Dunn
... aka After the Hole (2001) (USA)
Dungeons & Dragons (2000) .... Empress Savina
... aka Dungeons & Dragons: The Movie (2001) (UK:
promotional title)
Ghost World (2000) .... Enid
Smokers, The (2000) .... Lincoln Roth
Anywhere
But Here (1999) (uncredited) .... Mary Girling
American Beauty (1999) .... Jane Burnham
Night Ride Home (1999) (TV) .... Clea Mahler
Alaska (1996) .... Jessie Barnes
Now and Then (1995) .... Young Tina 'Teeny' Tercell
Clear and Present Danger (1994) .... Sally Ryan
Monkey Trouble (1994) .... Eva
... aka Pet (1994)
Hocus Pocus (1993) .... Dani Dennison
Itsy Bitsy Spider, The (1992) (voice)
Patriot Games (1992) .... Sally Ryan
All I Want for Christmas (1991) .... Hallie O'Fallon
Paradise (1991) .... Billie Pike
Dark Avenger (1990) (TV) (as Thora) .... Susie Donovan
"Parenthood" (1990) TV Series (as Thora) ....
Taylor Buckman
Purple People
Eater (1988) (as Thora) .... Molly Johnson
"Day by Day" (1988) TV Series (as Thora) ....
Molly
Thora Birch - Notable TV Guest
Appearances
"Night Visions" (2001) playing
"Susan Thornhill" in episode: "The Maze"
(episode # 1.21) 19 September 2002
"Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, The" (1999)
playing "Herself" 18 July 2001
"Touched by an Angel" (1994) playing "Erin"
in episode: "The Pact" (episode # 4.6) 26
October 1997
"Promised Land" (1996) playing "Allison
Rhodes" in episode: "Running Scared"
(episode # 1.15) 4 February 1997
"Rosie O'Donnell Show, The" (1996) playing
"Herself" 15 August 1996
"Outer Limits, The" (1995) playing "Aggie
Travers" in episode: "The Choice" (episode
# 1.6) 28 April 1995
"Monty" (1994) playing "Ann Sherman"
in episode: "Here Comes the Son" (episode
# 1.1) 11 January 1994
"Married People" (1990) playing "Emily"
in episode: "To Live and Drive in LA" (episode
# 1.14) 26 December 1990
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