Shailene Diann Woodley (born November 15, 1991 in San Bernardino, California) is an American actress.
She began her career at the age of ten, acting in various commercials and small parts on television (including the part of Kaitlin Cooper on The O.C., which was 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, noted as a standout among critics despite the show's tepid reception. She made her feature film debut playing the daughter of George Clooney in The Descendants.
Woodley rose to stardom in The New '10s starring in films based on Young Adult Literature, namely The Spectacular Now, Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars, which earned her both attention and acclaim. As she entered her mid-twenties, she sought to distance herself from such roles and pursue new experiences as an actor; her later roles included 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.
Outside of acting, Woodley is an avid environmental activist, having co-founded the All It Takes organization, a non-profit 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
in support of environmental issues. She also supports LGBT+ causes, and says she's attracted to people based on personality rather than gender, but does not use any label for herself.
In February 2021, the news broke that Woodley had been in a relationship with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers for several months, followed shortly by the news that the pair were engaged. However, the marriage never took place as they ultimately ended their relationship in early 2022.
Selected filmography:
- Crossing Jordan (2001 — 2004) as Young Jordan Cavanaugh
- The District (2001 — 2003) as Kristin Debreno
- Without a Trace (2003) as Young Clare Metcalf
- The O.C. as Kaitlin Cooper (2003 — 2004) note
- Everybody Loves Raymond (2004) as Snotty Girl #2
- Jack & Bobby (2004 — 2005) as Chloe Benedict
- Felicity: An American Girl Adventure (2005) as Felicity Merriman
- Once Upon a Mattress (ABC, 2005) as Molly
- My Name Is Earl (2006) as Young Gwen
- CSI: NY (2007) as Evie Pierpont
- Final Approach (2007) as Maya Bende (voice only)
- Cold Case (2007) as Sarah Gunden
- The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008 — 2013) as Amy Juergens
- The Descendants (2011) as Alexandra "Alex" King
- The Spectacular Now (2013) as Aimee Finecky
- White Bird in a Blizzard (2014) as Katrina "Kat" Connors
- The Divergent Series (2014 — 2016) as Beatrice "Tris" Prior
- Divergent (2014)
- The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015)
- The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016)
- The Fault in Our Stars as Hazel Grace Lancaster (2014)
- Snowden (2016) as Lindsay Mills
- Big Little Lies (2017 — 2019) as Jane Chapman
- Adrift (2018) as Tami Oldham
- The Last Letter From Your Lover (2021) as Jennifer Stirling
- The Fallout (2022) as Anna
- To Catch a Killer (2023) as Eleanor
- Dumb Money (2023) as Caroline Gill
- Ferrari (2023) as Lina Lardi
Actor tropes contains examples of:
- Actor-Inspired Element: She wouldn't wear make-up for The Spectacular Now, feeling it didn't fit Aimee's character.
- Bifauxnen: After chopping her hair off for the role in The Fault In Our Stars, her new look earned her some comparison to a young pretty boy.
- Billing Displacement: She plays Anna the therapist appears in two scenes in The Fallout, but is billed third.
- Cast Incest: She and Ansel Elgort played siblings in Divergent, then lovers in The Fault in Our Stars just a few months later. Both joked about this while accepting their MTV Movie Award for Best Onscreen Kiss in 2015.
- Creator Backlash:
- Has some toward The Secret Life of the American Teenager, claiming she didn't agree with a lot of the messages the show was preaching.
- She has voiced some displeasure regarding Neil Burger's replacement by Robert Schwentke in the director role after the first installment of Divergent, as she's signed up due to Burger's visions and the series ended up changing its direction as a result of his departure.
- Dawson Casting: For The Spectacular Now, part of White Bird in a Blizzard, Divergent, and The Fault in Our Stars, she was in her early twenties playing teenagers. She did state that Hazel Grace would be the last teen role she played, and she has indeed pursued age appropriate characters since.
- Also the case for her in Felicity: An American Girl Adventure, as she played the nine-year-old Felicity while being in her early teens at the time of the film's release.
- Deleted Role: She filmed scenes playing Mary Jane Watson for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but they were cut.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- Dyed her brown hair red to play the title character in Felicity: An American Girl Adventure and blonde for her role as Tris in Divergent.
- She cut her waist-length hair short for The Fault in Our Stars. She went even further to pixie cut for Insurgent.
- Dyed her hair black and gained weight to play a single mother in Big Little Lies.
- Went blonde again for Adrift and lost considerable weight to play someone lost at sea and starving, subsisting on only six-hundred calories a day.
- 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, seems to be a step in the right direction.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Her short hair for roles on The Fault In Our Stars and the Divergent series has led to some androgynous boyish comparisons.
- Memetic Mutation: 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.
- Ms. Fanservice: Despite her I Am Not Pretty attitude, she's not shy about appearing naked in her films when they call for it.
- The Other Darrin: She was replaced with Willa Holland for The O.C. from Season 3 onwards.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With her The Spectacular Now and Divergent co-star Miles Teller; Teller and Woodley have even vacationed together, accompanied by their respective wife and fiancé.
- Reality Subtext: Aimee Finicky's I Am Not Pretty attitude parallels Shailene's own issues with beauty and body image.
- Star-Making Role: The one-two punches of Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars brought her to worldwide fame.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's 5'8.
- Their First Time: She's filmed this kind of scene four times. Apparently the one in The Spectacular Now is the favorite scene she's ever filmed.
- Those Two Actors: 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.
- Unkempt Beauty: Has a predisposition toward roles that show her with light make-up, if any. This includes The Spectacular Now, The Fault In Our Stars, and Adrift.
- What Could Have Been:
- She's very selective about the roles she accepts. Among the films she's turned down include Tomorrowland, Carrie, 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. (The film has since died in Development Hell.)
- 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.
- See Deleted Role above. It's unclear whether she would have been asked to play Mary Jane again had The Amazing Spider-Man Series continued.
