Alison Marion Lohman (born September 18, 1979) is an American actress. She made her mark on Hollywood in 2002 with a leading role in the drama White Oleander. She has since starred in several Hollywood films, including Matchstick Men, Big Fish and Flicka. She also had roles on several television shows, like 7th Heaven, Crusade, Tucker and Pasadena. She has also voiced the title character in the english version of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Biography
Early life
Lohman was born and raised in Palm Springs, Riverside County, California, the daughter of Diane (née Dunham), a French bakery owner, and Gary Lohman, an architect.1 She has one younger brother, Robert (born 1982).2 She is a vegetarian and has two cats, Monk and Clint.34 Her family had no industry connections, but at age nine, she played Gretyl in The Sound of Music at the Palm Desert's McCallum Theater. Two years later, she won the Desert Theater League's award for "Most Outstanding Actress in a Musical" for the title role in Annie. By the age of 17, Lohman had appeared in 12 different major productions and had been a backing singer for the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and the Desert Symphony.
As a senior, she was an awardee of National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and was offered the chance to attend the Tisch School of the Arts, but declined.
Career
In 1997, after graduating from high school, Lohman moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue her acting career.4 For the next few years, her work consisted of science fiction B-movies (such as Kraa! The Sea Monster and Planet Patrol), television productions (including the made-for-TV movie Sharing the Secret) and children's films (such as Delivering Milo and The Million Dollar Kid). Also included was the dark urban drama White Boy.
Lohman starred in White Oleander, an adaptation of Janet Fitch’s novel, alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Wright-Penn and Renée Zellweger. Though the film was unsuccessful at the box office (it opened to $5.6 million in 1,510 theaters5), Lohman's performance met with wide critical acclaim and has been described as her "breakthrough role" by media sources.4
The following year, she appeared in Matchstick Men, directed by Ridley Scott. She starred with Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell, and though it was not a box office success either, Lohman continued to gain praise. Later that year, she appeared in Tim Burton’s Big Fish, which continued her trend of appearing in films of high acclaim, but little success.
She had no theatrical features in 2004, though she did voice the lead character in the re-dubbing of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. In 2005 she appeared in Atom Egoyan's Where the Truth Lies. The film originally received an NC-17 rating for its graphic sexual content,6 and failed at the box office afterwards.7 Some critics (such as Roger Ebert) felt that she was well-suited for the role.8 Her next feature, The Big White, featured her alongside actors including Robin Williams, Holly Hunter and Tim Blake Nelson), but nevertheless went direct-to-video.
Lohman's next film was the drama Flicka, which was released on October 20, 2006. In the film, Lohman plays a 16-year-old girl who befriends a wild mustang. Lohman had never ridden a horse prior to filming and trained rigorously for a month. She said that she was "constantly thrown emotionally and physically" while working with the horses for this role.4 Flicka went on becoming a surprise hit in DVD market.
She next played a recovering heroin addict in Things We Lost in the Fire.
The actress has been signed to replace Oscar nominee Ellen Page in a new Sam Raimi horror film, Drag Me to Hell, that was set to begin filming on March 31, 2008.
Lohman, who is frequently cast as a teenager, has said that she believes she "look[s] younger and act[s] younger" than her age.4
Awards and nominations
In 2003 she was nominated for the PFCS Award at the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards for Best Newcomer for White Oleander (2002) and in the same year she won the Young Hollywood Award at the Young Hollywood Awards for Superstar of Tomorrow, the ShoWest Award at the ShoWest Convention, USA for Female Star of Tomorrow and the Supporting Actress of the Year award at the Hollywood Film Festival.
Filmography
Film
Television
- 7th Heaven (1998).... Pregnant Teen
- Crusade (1999) .... Claire
- Sharing the Secret (2000) .... Beth Moss
- Tucker (2000) .... McKenna Reid
- Pasadena (2001) .... Lily McAllister
References
External links
