Shailene Diann Woodley (born November 15, 1991) is an American actress.
She began her career at the age of ten, acting in various commercials and small parts on television. She even played Kaitlin Cooper on
The O.C. - but the role got recast with Willa Holland when the character became a regular. Her first major role came as Amy Juergens on
The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Despite the show's tepid reception among critics, Shailene's performance was noted to be a standout. Sure enough, she made her feature film debut in an impressive way - playing the daughter of
George Clooney in
The Descendants.
She rose to stardom in
The New '10s starring in films based on
Young Adult Literature.
The Spectacular Now,
Divergent and
The Fault in Our Stars earned her both attention and acclaim. As she entered her mid-twenties, she sought to distance herself from teen films and YA roles. Playing Lindsay Mills, the real life girlfriend of Edward Snowden in Oliver Stone's
Snowden, and a young single mother in
HBO's
Big Little Lies appears to be helping her do just that.
Outside of acting, she's an avid environmental activist, and co-founder of the All It Takes organization - a non-profit organisation dedicated to teaching young people about conserving the environment. She also prefers to live out of a travel bag - after giving the house she owned to her grandmother - only drinks water she collects herself from springs, eats a tablespoon of clay a day to "remove metals from the body" and
openly protests
against certain issues.
Selected filmography:
- Actor-Inspired Element:invoked She wouldn't wear make-up for The Spectacular Now, feeling it didn't fit Aimee's character.
- Creator Backlash:invoked Has some towards The Secret Life of the American Teenager, claiming she didn't agree with a lot of the messages the show was preaching.
- Dawson Casting:invoked For The Spectacular Now, Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars she was in her early twenties playing teenagers. She did however state that Hazel Grace would be the last teen role she played - and she has pursued age appropriate characters since.
- Deleted Role:invoked She filmed scenes playing Mary Jane Watson both for The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel - but they were cut both times.
- Does Not Like Shoes: This article lists several occasions when she's gone barefoot during movie premieres or other public appearances.
- Dyeing for Your Art:invoked
- Dyes her brown hair blonde for her role as Tris in Divergent.
- She cut her waist-length hair short for The Fault in Our Stars.
- Dyed her hair black and gained weight to play a single mother in Big Little Lies.
- Went back blonde again for Adrift.
- Hollywood Hype Machine: Present ever since The Descendants but the hype really got behind her as Divergent proved to be a Sleeper Hit. Starring in another smash hit like The Fault in Our Stars, as well as critically acclaimed projects like Snowden and Big Little Lies seem to be a step in the right direction.
- Memetic Mutation:invoked She stars alongside Miles Teller and Ansel Elgort in Divergent, and plays their love interests in The Spectacular Now and The Fault In Our Stars respectively - leading to a lot of memes about Tris two-timing Four.
- The Other Darrin:invoked She was replaced with Willa Holland for The O.C. from Season 3 onwards.
- Playing Gertrude:invoked Plays the daughter of Eva Green in White Bird In A Blizzard, when there's only an eleven year difference between them.
- Rapunzel Hair: She was known for having hair well past her waist that she had to cut for The Fault in Our Stars. It's grown out since then but not to waist length.
- Reality Subtext:invoked Aimee Finicky's I Am Not Pretty attitude parallels Shailene's own issues with beauty and body image.
- Star-Making Role:invoked The one-two punches of Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars brought her to worldwide fame.
- Their First Time: She's filmed this kind of scene four times. Apparently the one in The Spectacular Now is the favourite scene she's ever filmed.
- Those Two Actors:invoked She's starred with her Divergent co-stars in other projects - Ansel Elgort in The Fault In Our Stars, Miles Teller in The Spectacular Now and Zoe Kravitz in Big Little Lies.
- What Could Have Been:invoked
- She's very selective about the roles she accepts. Among the films she's turned down include Tomorrowland, Carrie (2013), and Fifty Shades of Grey.
- She was willing to appear in the Ascendant film when it was going to be theatrically released. As soon as it was announced as a Made-for-TV Movie, she backed out.
- She claims she filmed more scenes at the prom in The Spectacular Now - notably Aimee getting drunk and jealous that Cassidy was dancing with Sutter, throwing up on her.
- She auditioned for I Am Sam - which ultimately proved a Star-Making Role for Dakota Fanning.
- She was meant to be reunited with Miles Teller a fourth time for Adrift but he had to drop out, and was replaced by Sam Claflin.
