Early life

Dziena was born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 of Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

, Italian and Polish

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 descent. She attended the private Saint Ann's School alongside her Bringing Rain

Bringing Rain

Bringing Rain is a 2003 independent film written and directed by Noah Buschel. It premiered on May 10, 2003 at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released on DVD on September 20, 2005...

(2003) costar, Paz de la Huerta

Paz de la Huerta

María de la Paz Elizabeth Sofía Adriana de la Huerta , better known by her professional name Paz de la Huerta, is an American actress and model...

. She spent many of her summers growing up in the small South Jersey

South Jersey

South Jersey comprises the southern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the lower Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation is a colloquial one, reflecting not only geographical but perceived cultural differences from the northern part of the state, with no official...

 shore town of Sea Isle City

Sea Isle City, New Jersey

Sea Isle City is a city in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 2,114. Visitors raise the population to as much as 40,000 during the peak summer season from Memorial Day...

. Also, during high school, she attended classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts

American Academy of Dramatic Arts

The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...

 and appeared in plays there as well.

Career

Dziena made her acting debut in TNT

Turner Network Television

Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...

's Witchblade

Witchblade (TV series)

Following a pilot film in August 2000, the cable network TNT premiered a Witchblade television series based on the Witchblade Top Cow Productions comic book series in 2001. Some of the episodes were written by Ralph Hemecker, Marc Silvestri and J.D...

. One of her first major roles was in the Lifetime Channel original She's Too Young

She's Too Young

She's Too Young is a made-for-TV movie released in 2004, starring Marcia Gay Harden as the mother of a 14 year old daughter who is involved in sexual acts hidden from her parents...

, in which she portrayed a sexually active teenager alongside Miriam McDonald

Miriam McDonald

Miriam Katherine McDonald is a Canadian actress and occasional dancer. She is best known for playing Emma Nelson on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation.-Career:...

 of Degrassi: The Next Generation

Degrassi: The Next Generation

Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979. Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, and follows The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and...

fame.

She also played the role of Heather, a sexually frustrated young woman in a loving relationship, who takes part in a couple swap as part of therapy in the film Sex and Breakfast

Sex and Breakfast

Sex and Breakfast is a 2007 dark comedy independent film starring Macaulay Culkin, Eliza Dushku, Alexis Dziena and Kuno Becker. Shooting took place in September 2006. The film opened in Los Angeles November 30, 2007, and was released on DVD on January 22, 2008 by First Look Pictures. The film was...

. The film also starred Eliza Dushku

Eliza Dushku

Eliza Patricia Dushku is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse...

 and Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Carson Culkin is an American actor. He became widely known for his portrayal of Kevin McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. He is also known for his roles in Richie Rich, Uncle Buck, My Girl, The Pagemaster, and Party Monster...

.

In the ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 television series Invasion

Invasion (TV series)

Invasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and...

she played the sheriff's daughter Kira Underlay. Dziena also appeared frequently on the sixth season of the HBO series Entourage

Entourage (TV series)

Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

. She also co-starred in the 2008 films Fool's Gold and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Sollett and starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. Written by Lorene Scafaria and based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the story tells of teenagers Nick and Norah , who meet when...

.

In addition to acting, Dziena is a budding playwright and drummer.

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2003	Season of Youth
	Mimic 3: Sentinel Mimic 3: Sentinel Mimic 3: Sentinel is a 2003 science fiction horror film, directed by JT Petty, with a script inspired by a short story of the same name by Donald A. Wollheim...	Rosy Montrose
	Bringing Rain Bringing Rain Bringing Rain is a 2003 independent film written and directed by Noah Buschel. It premiered on May 10, 2003 at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released on DVD on September 20, 2005...	Lysee Key	Direct-to-DVD Direct-to-video Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
	Rhinoceros Eyes	Bird Girl
	Wonderland	Gopher's Girlfriend	Scenes deleted
2004	She's Too Young She's Too Young She's Too Young is a made-for-TV movie released in 2004, starring Marcia Gay Harden as the mother of a 14 year old daughter who is involved in sexual acts hidden from her parents...	Hannah Vogul	Lifetime movie
2005	Strangers with Candy Strangers with Candy (film) Strangers with Candy is a 2005 comedy film released by THINKFilm, first screened at the Sundance Film Festival. It serves as a prequel to the TV series of the same name...	Melissa
	Stone Cold	Candace Pennington	aka Jesse Stone: Stone Cold Jesse Stone novels Jesse Stone is the lead character in a series of detective novels initially written by Robert B. Parker. They were among his last works, and the first series in which the novelist used the third-person narrative...
	The Great New Wonderful The Great New Wonderful The Great New Wonderful is a 2005 film written by Sam Catlin and directed by Danny Leiner.-Plot:The Great New Wonderful is a series of vignettes of incidents taking place concurrently around Manhattan. The only other thing linking the incidents is the month in which they occur: September 2002...	Angie	Scenes deleted
	Broken Flowers Broken Flowers Broken Flowers is a 2005 French/American comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and produced by Jon Kilik and Stacey Smith. The film focuses on an aging "Don Juan" who embarks on a cross-country journey to track down four of his former lovers after receiving an anonymous letter...	Lolita
	Pizza Pizza (film) Pizza is a 2005 film written and directed by Mark Christopher, filmed in and around Milford, Pennsylvania in 2003. It was screened at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 27, 2005 and had a limited release on January 20, 2006...	Emily
	Havoc Havoc (film) Havoc is a 2005 American film about the lives of wealthy Los Angeles, California teenagers whose exposure to hip hop culture inspires them to imitate the gangster lifestyle...	Sasha
2007	Sex and Breakfast Sex and Breakfast Sex and Breakfast is a 2007 dark comedy independent film starring Macaulay Culkin, Eliza Dushku, Alexis Dziena and Kuno Becker. Shooting took place in September 2006. The film opened in Los Angeles November 30, 2007, and was released on DVD on January 22, 2008 by First Look Pictures. The film was...	Heather
2008	Fool's Gold Fool's Gold (2008 film) Fool's Gold is an 2008 American adventure/romance film from Warner Bros. Pictures about a married couple who rekindle their romantic life while searching for a lost treasure. The film was directed by Andy Tennant and reunites the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days stars Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson...	Gemma Honeycutt
	Tenderness Tenderness (film) Tenderness is a 2009 American crime film directed by John Polson, which stars Jon Foster, Sophie Traub, Russell Crowe, and Laura Dern. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Cormier.-Plot:...	Maria
	Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Sollett and starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. Written by Lorene Scafaria and based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the story tells of teenagers Nick and Norah , who meet when...	Tris
2010	When in Rome	Joan

Television

Year	Series	Role	Episodes
2002	Witchblade Witchblade (TV series) Following a pilot film in August 2000, the cable network TNT premiered a Witchblade television series based on the Witchblade Top Cow Productions comic book series in 2001. Some of the episodes were written by Ralph Hemecker, Marc Silvestri and J.D...	Bola	"Parabolic"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...	Mia Van Wagner	"Pandora Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 4) This article contains a list of episodes for season 4 of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.B. D. Wong is added to the opening credits this season as Dr. George Huang.-Cast:*Christopher Meloni as Det. Elliot Stabler... "
	Law & Order Law & Order Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...	Lena Parkova	"House Calls"
2005	Joan of Arcadia Joan of Arcadia Joan of Arcadia is an American television fantasy/family drama telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi , who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on Fridays, 8-9 p.m...	Bonnie	"Secret Service"
			"Trial and Error"
2005- 2006	Invasion Invasion (TV series) Invasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and...	Kira Underlay	21 episodes
2007	One Life to Live One Life to Live One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...	Pretty Girl	Episode #1.9839
2009	Entourage Entourage (TV series) Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...	Ashley Brooks	Recurring character

External links