Maggie Grace
Encyclopedia
Margaret Grace Denig best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington
, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the web-based video series Rachel's Room in 2001. She went on to earn a Young Artist Award
nomination in 2002 with her portrayal of 15-year-old murder victim Martha Moxley
in the television movie Murder in Greenwich
.
In 2004, Grace was cast as Shannon Rutherford
in the television series Lost
, on which she was a main cast member for the first two seasons, winning a Screen Actors Guild Award shared with the ensemble cast
. Leaving the series, Grace was keen to work more prominently in film having starred opposite Tom Welling
in The Fog
in 2005. She appeared in Suburban Girl, The Jane Austen Book Club
(both 2007), and Taken
(2008). She has the lead role of Alice in Malice in Wonderland
, a modern take on Lewis Carroll
's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
. Grace reprised the role of Shannon in two more episodes of Lost, including the series finale
.
, Ohio, the second of three children to parents Valinn and Rick Denig, who ran a family jewelry business. Her family lived in a 200-year-old house, the first saltbox
house in central Ohio. She attended Worthington Christian Schools from kindergarten through ninth grade and briefly attended Thomas Worthington High School
, where she began acting in school plays and community theater, including a Jewish Community Center
's Gallery Players' 2000 production of The Crucible
. Her parents divorced "amicably" when she was 16 years old, but her mother sought a "fresh start". Grace dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles, California with her mother, while her younger siblings Ian and Marissa continued to live with their father. In Los Angeles, Grace and her mother moved around often as they struggled financially, taking out short-term rents rather than paying for permanent residence while eating a basic diet, as it was all they could afford.
executive producer Paul Stupin
. Her next role was on the 2002 television series Septuplets, which was cancelled before the first episode had aired. Her breakout role was on 2002's television movie Murder in Greenwich
, based on the true story of 15-year-old Martha Moxley
's murder. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award
for her portrayal of Moxley in the Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special – Leading Young Actress category, but lost to Clara Bryant
for Tru Confessions
. She went on to feature in minor roles on the television series CSI: Miami
, The Lyon's Den
, Miracles
, Like Family
, Cold Case and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
, and the films Twelve Mile Road and Creature Unknown, before appearing in 2011's semi hit Zookeeper with Kevin James.
In mid-2004, Grace's agent sent her the script for the pilot episode
of Lost
; she was given the role of Shannon Rutherford
after a successful audition. She was nominated in 2005 for a Teen Choice Award
for Choice TV Breakout Performance – Female for her role on Lost, but lost to Desperate Housewives
Eva Longoria
. She lived in Hawaii during the filming of the show's first season, and signed on to star opposite Tom Welling
in The Fog
, a 2005 remake of the 1980 horror film of the same name
, as a character originally played by Jamie Lee Curtis
. Though the filming of Lost was supposed to have ended before The Fog began, the productions coincided due to Losts extended season finale
and Grace flew between the two sets, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu
and on Bowen Island
in British Columbia, Canada. After ranking at #27 on Maxim
s Hot 100 list of 2005, she returned for Losts second season. Her character was killed off the series in the season's eighth episode, "Collision
" when the series' writers began to feel that the character's "story avenues [were] limited". Executive producer Carlton Cuse
said that Grace's departure from the show was "sort of a win-win" as she was eager to enter a full-time career in film. After leaving the series, she nevertheless joined the other principal Lost cast members of season 2 onstage at the 12th Screen Actors Guild Awards where Lost won the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
Variety
reported in May 2005 that Grace was in negotiations to play X-Men
character Kitty Pryde
in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand
, but in July, auditions were reportedly being held for her replacement. The role ultimately went to Ellen Page
, and Grace later revealed that she had never been contacted about the role and was surprised to read that she was up for the part in question. Grace's next role was in the 2007 independent film
Suburban Girl, alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar
and Alec Baldwin
. In 2007, she starred in The Jane Austen Book Club
, based on Karen Joy Fowler
's novel of the same name
. She is a fan of Jane Austen
and had read Fowler's novel when it was released in 2004. When she was given the film's script, she met with the director Robin Swicord
, with whom she says she "geek
ed out", and was given the role of Allegra, an openly lesbian 20-year-old. After the filming of The Jane Austen Book Club was completed, Grace briefly returned to Hawaii to shoot a guest spot on the Lost season 3 episode "Exposé
". She starred in the 2008 thriller film Taken
with Liam Neeson
, who was at the top of a list of male actors Grace wished to work with that she had written just two months before she was cast. She recently played the lead in Simon Fellows' Malice in Wonderland
, a modern adaptation of Lewis Carroll
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
. In 2010, Grace starred in the drama Flying Lessons, and appeared opposite Tom Cruise
and Cameron Diaz
in James Mangold
's film Knight and Day, as well as in Faster
, with Dwayne Johnson. Grace's busy schedule prevented her from returning as Shannon in "LA X
", the season premiere for Losts sixth and final season
, but she eventually returned for the series finale "The End
". On September 2010, it was revealed that Grace was chosen to play Irina in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn
.
once offered to help her select dates from a portfolio of male models with whom he previously worked. Grace and Ian Somerhalder
, her onscreen stepbrother
, were rumored to be dating in April 2006 after both had left Lost. When asked about Somerhalder in August, she stated, "Ian's great, I adore him, although I'm only 22 – far too young to even think about having a serious relationship." While still working on Lost, Grace and Somerhalder adopted a feral cat named Roo which they found "literally dying" in the jungle on the set. She said that the cat is now her "travel buddy." In 2008 and 2009, she dated Blake Mycoskie, a contestant on the second season
of The Amazing Race
and founder of TOMS Shoes
.
Grace says that the person she is most inspired by is her mother. When asked about her closest friend, she said that she and her mother were more like sisters and that she is "lucky to have an exceptionally cool mum." She is a self-proclaimed anglophile
, having written to a pen pal
in the Lake District
from the age of eight, having first visited England at 13 years old, and admiring a number of British poets as well as William Shakespeare
. She calls herself very clumsy, claiming to "trip over my legs all the time," and was jokingly nicknamed "Maggie Graceless" by one of her former castmates. She plays in a Los Angeles kickball
league with her friends.
Worthington, Ohio
-Dissolution of the Company:By August 11, 1804 the plat maps were completed, payments or notes promising payments collected and deeds prepared for all sixteen thousand acres of the Scioto Company's purchase...
, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the web-based video series Rachel's Room in 2001. She went on to earn a Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...
nomination in 2002 with her portrayal of 15-year-old murder victim Martha Moxley
Martha Moxley
Martha Elizabeth Moxley was a 15-year-old murder victim in a case that attracted worldwide publicity owing to a "Kennedy connection"....
in the television movie Murder in Greenwich
Murder in Greenwich (film)
Murder in Greenwich is a 2002 American television film directed by Tom McLoughlin. The teleplay by Dave Erickson is based on the 1998 book of the same title by Mark Fuhrman....
.
In 2004, Grace was cast as Shannon Rutherford
Shannon Rutherford
Shannon Rutherford is a fictional character played by Maggie Grace on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Shannon is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepsister of fellow crash survivor Boone Carlyle . She is...
in the television series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, on which she was a main cast member for the first two seasons, winning a Screen Actors Guild Award shared with the ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
. Leaving the series, Grace was keen to work more prominently in film having starred opposite Tom Welling
Tom Welling
Thomas John Patrick "Tom" Welling is an American actor, director, producer, and former model, best known for his portrayal of Clark Kent in the WB/CW series Smallville....
in The Fog
The Fog (2005 film)
The Fog is a 2005 horror film directed by Rupert Wainwright and starring Tom Welling, Selma Blair and Maggie Grace. It is a remake of John Carpenter's 1980 film of the same name, but this time made more in the vein of a "teen horror film" .Both Carpenter and Debra Hill The Fog is a 2005 horror film...
in 2005. She appeared in Suburban Girl, The Jane Austen Book Club
The Jane Austen Book Club (film)
The Jane Austen Book Club is a 2007 American romantic drama film written and directed by Robin Swicord. The screenplay, adapted from the 2004 novel of the same name by Karen Joy Fowler, focuses on a book club formed specifically to discuss the six novels written by Jane Austen...
(both 2007), and Taken
Taken (film)
Taken is a 2008 action thriller film produced by Luc Besson, starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Famke Janssen. The screenplay is written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and was directed by Pierre Morel...
(2008). She has the lead role of Alice in Malice in Wonderland
Malice in Wonderland (2009 film)
Malice In Wonderland is a 2009 British fantasy adventure film directed by Simon Fellows and written by Jayson Rothwell. It is roughly based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The film was released on DVD in the UK on February 8, 2010....
, a modern take on Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
. Grace reprised the role of Shannon in two more episodes of Lost, including the series finale
The End (Lost)
"The End" is the series finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 17th and 18th episodes of season 6. It is also the 120th and 121st episodes overall...
.
Early life
Grace was born Margaret Grace Denig in WorthingtonWorthington, Ohio
-Dissolution of the Company:By August 11, 1804 the plat maps were completed, payments or notes promising payments collected and deeds prepared for all sixteen thousand acres of the Scioto Company's purchase...
, Ohio, the second of three children to parents Valinn and Rick Denig, who ran a family jewelry business. Her family lived in a 200-year-old house, the first saltbox
Saltbox
A saltbox is a building with a long, pitched roof that slopes down to the back, generally a wooden frame house. A saltbox has just one story in the back and two stories in the front...
house in central Ohio. She attended Worthington Christian Schools from kindergarten through ninth grade and briefly attended Thomas Worthington High School
Thomas Worthington High School
Thomas Worthington High School is located in Worthington, Ohio, TWHS has historically been among the top performing high schools in Ohio in terms of academics. The school was formerly named Worthington High School until the 1991 opening of Worthington Kilbourne High SchoolThomas Worthington is the...
, where she began acting in school plays and community theater, including a Jewish Community Center
Jewish Community Center
A Jewish Community Center or Jewish Community Centre is a general recreational, social and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities...
's Gallery Players' 2000 production of The Crucible
The Crucible
The Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists...
. Her parents divorced "amicably" when she was 16 years old, but her mother sought a "fresh start". Grace dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles, California with her mother, while her younger siblings Ian and Marissa continued to live with their father. In Los Angeles, Grace and her mother moved around often as they struggled financially, taking out short-term rents rather than paying for permanent residence while eating a basic diet, as it was all they could afford.
Career
Grace acquired an agent within a week of relocating to Los Angeles and enrolled in acting classes. She landed her first role in Rachel's Room, a 2001 web-based video series about the affairs inside a teenage girl's bedroom that was created by Dawson's CreekDawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
executive producer Paul Stupin
Paul Stupin
- Biography :After graduating from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Stupin went to Los Angeles to work for NBC in series development. In 1986 he became a vice president for production at Tri-Star Pictures, overseeing such films as Steel Magnolias, and Short Circuit...
. Her next role was on the 2002 television series Septuplets, which was cancelled before the first episode had aired. Her breakout role was on 2002's television movie Murder in Greenwich
Murder in Greenwich (film)
Murder in Greenwich is a 2002 American television film directed by Tom McLoughlin. The teleplay by Dave Erickson is based on the 1998 book of the same title by Mark Fuhrman....
, based on the true story of 15-year-old Martha Moxley
Martha Moxley
Martha Elizabeth Moxley was a 15-year-old murder victim in a case that attracted worldwide publicity owing to a "Kennedy connection"....
's murder. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...
for her portrayal of Moxley in the Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special – Leading Young Actress category, but lost to Clara Bryant
Clara Bryant
Clara Bryant is an American actress. She is an alumna of Columbia University.-Film:-Television starring role:*Billy playing Annie MacGregor...
for Tru Confessions
Tru Confessions
Tru Confessions is a 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie. Tru Walker aspires to be a famous filmmaker. She has a twin brother Eddie , who is mentally disabled, and becomes the subject of Tru's documentary for a film contest she enters...
. She went on to feature in minor roles on the television series CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
, The Lyon's Den
The Lyon's Den
The Lyon's Den is a 2003 television series set in Washington, D.C. The legal drama starred Rob Lowe as a lawyer called Jack Turner, newly appointed as partner of a long-established law firm that, as the plot revealed, harbored some dark secrets...
, Miracles
Miracles (TV series)
Miracles is an American drama television program starring Skeet Ulrich and Angus Macfadyen. Created by Richard Hatem and Michael Petroni, the series has sometimes been dubbed a "spiritual version of The X-Files" by its creators...
, Like Family
Like Family
Like Family is an American sitcom that aired on The WB in 2003. The series starred Holly Robinson Peete and Kevin Michael Richardson and lasted one season...
, Cold Case and 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...
, and the films Twelve Mile Road and Creature Unknown, before appearing in 2011's semi hit Zookeeper with Kevin James.
In mid-2004, Grace's agent sent her the script for the pilot episode
Pilot (Lost)
"Pilot" constitutes the first and second episodes of the first season of ABC television series Lost, with "Part 1" premiering on September 22, 2004 and Part 2 on September 29, 2004. The episodes were directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by him along with Damon Lindelof, based on a story by them and...
of Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
; she was given the role of Shannon Rutherford
Shannon Rutherford
Shannon Rutherford is a fictional character played by Maggie Grace on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Shannon is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepsister of fellow crash survivor Boone Carlyle . She is...
after a successful audition. She was nominated in 2005 for a Teen Choice Award
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...
for Choice TV Breakout Performance – Female for her role on Lost, but lost to Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria
Eva Jacqueline Longoria is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...
. She lived in Hawaii during the filming of the show's first season, and signed on to star opposite Tom Welling
Tom Welling
Thomas John Patrick "Tom" Welling is an American actor, director, producer, and former model, best known for his portrayal of Clark Kent in the WB/CW series Smallville....
in The Fog
The Fog (2005 film)
The Fog is a 2005 horror film directed by Rupert Wainwright and starring Tom Welling, Selma Blair and Maggie Grace. It is a remake of John Carpenter's 1980 film of the same name, but this time made more in the vein of a "teen horror film" .Both Carpenter and Debra Hill The Fog is a 2005 horror film...
, a 2005 remake of the 1980 horror film of the same name
The Fog
The Fog is a 1980 horror film directed by John Carpenter, who also co-wrote the screenplay and composed the music for the film. It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins and Janet Leigh...
, as a character originally played by Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
. Though the filming of Lost was supposed to have ended before The Fog began, the productions coincided due to Losts extended season finale
Exodus (Lost)
"Exodus" is the first season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 23rd through 25th episodes of the first season and the show overall. The episodes were directed by Jack Bender, and written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. "Part 1" first aired on May 18, 2005 and "Part 2"...
and Grace flew between the two sets, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
and on Bowen Island
Bowen Island
Bowen Island, British Columbia, is an island municipality in Howe Sound, is part of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and is an island included within the jurisdiction of the Islands Trust . Approximately 6 km wide by 12 km long, the island at its closest point is about 2 km...
in British Columbia, Canada. After ranking at #27 on Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
s Hot 100 list of 2005, she returned for Losts second season. Her character was killed off the series in the season's eighth episode, "Collision
Collision (Lost)
"Collision" is the 33rd episode of Lost and the eighth episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Stephen Williams, and written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Leonard Dick. It first aired on November 23, 2005 on ABC...
" when the series' writers began to feel that the character's "story avenues [were] limited". Executive producer Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse is an AmericanEmmy Award winning screenwriter and producer, most famous as executive producer andscreenwriter for the American television series Lost for...
said that Grace's departure from the show was "sort of a win-win" as she was eager to enter a full-time career in film. After leaving the series, she nevertheless joined the other principal Lost cast members of season 2 onstage at the 12th Screen Actors Guild Awards where Lost won the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported in May 2005 that Grace was in negotiations to play X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
character Kitty Pryde
Kitty Pryde
Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 and was created by writer-artist John Byrne....
in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men: The Last Stand is a 2006 superhero film and the third in the X-Men series. It was directed by Brett Ratner and stars an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones,...
, but in July, auditions were reportedly being held for her replacement. The role ultimately went to Ellen Page
Ellen Page
Ellen Philpotts-Page , known professionally as Ellen Page, is a Canadian actress. Page received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for her role as the title character in the film Juno...
, and Grace later revealed that she had never been contacted about the role and was surprised to read that she was up for the part in question. Grace's next role was in the 2007 independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
Suburban Girl, alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
and Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
. In 2007, she starred in The Jane Austen Book Club
The Jane Austen Book Club (film)
The Jane Austen Book Club is a 2007 American romantic drama film written and directed by Robin Swicord. The screenplay, adapted from the 2004 novel of the same name by Karen Joy Fowler, focuses on a book club formed specifically to discuss the six novels written by Jane Austen...
, based on Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the nineteenth century, the lives of women, and alienation....
's novel of the same name
The Jane Austen Book Club
The Jane Austen Book Club is a 2004 novel by American author Karen Joy Fowler. The story, which takes place near Sacramento, California, centers around a book club consisting of five women and one man who meet once a month to discuss Jane Austen's six novels...
. She is a fan of Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
and had read Fowler's novel when it was released in 2004. When she was given the film's script, she met with the director Robin Swicord
Robin Swicord
Robin Swicord is an American screenwriter and film director. She wrote the screenplay for the film Memoirs of a Geisha, based on the novel of the same name by Arthur Golden...
, with whom she says she "geek
Geek
The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to...
ed out", and was given the role of Allegra, an openly lesbian 20-year-old. After the filming of The Jane Austen Book Club was completed, Grace briefly returned to Hawaii to shoot a guest spot on the Lost season 3 episode "Exposé
Exposé (Lost)
"Exposé" is the 14th episode of the 3rd season and 63rd episode overall of the American Broadcasting Company 's serial drama television series Lost. It was aired as on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada on March 28, 2007...
". She starred in the 2008 thriller film Taken
Taken (film)
Taken is a 2008 action thriller film produced by Luc Besson, starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Famke Janssen. The screenplay is written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and was directed by Pierre Morel...
with Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
, who was at the top of a list of male actors Grace wished to work with that she had written just two months before she was cast. She recently played the lead in Simon Fellows' Malice in Wonderland
Malice in Wonderland (2009 film)
Malice In Wonderland is a 2009 British fantasy adventure film directed by Simon Fellows and written by Jayson Rothwell. It is roughly based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The film was released on DVD in the UK on February 8, 2010....
, a modern adaptation of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
. In 2010, Grace starred in the drama Flying Lessons, and appeared opposite Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
and Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
in James Mangold
James Mangold
James Allen Mangold is an American film director and screenwriter. He is perhaps best known for Walk the Line which he co-wrote and directed.-Life and career:...
's film Knight and Day, as well as in Faster
Faster (2010 film)
Faster is a 2010 American action film directed by George Tillman, Jr. It stars Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Moon Bloodgood, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Maggie Grace. It was released in the United States on November 24, 2010.-Plot:...
, with Dwayne Johnson. Grace's busy schedule prevented her from returning as Shannon in "LA X
LA X
"LA X" comprises the 104th and 105th episodes of the American Broadcasting Company's Lost, marking the premiere of the sixth and final season. It was written by show runners/executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and directed by executive producer Jack Bender...
", the season premiere for Losts sixth and final season
Lost (season 6)
The sixth and final season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing in the United States and Canada on February 2, 2010. The sixth-season premiere was the first to climb in the ratings year-over-year since the second season, drawing 12.1 million viewers. The season...
, but she eventually returned for the series finale "The End
The End (Lost)
"The End" is the series finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 17th and 18th episodes of season 6. It is also the 120th and 121st episodes overall...
". On September 2010, it was revealed that Grace was chosen to play Irina in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, commonly referred to as Breaking Dawn, is a 2011/2012 two-part romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon and based on the novel Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. The two parts form the fourth and final installment in the The Twilight Saga series...
.
Personal life
Grace lived in Honolulu, Hawaii while working on Lost, saying "I love it here, but it's not a place you can really pursue acting." She claimed that, while living in Hawaii, her Lost co-stars would introduce her to men and that some "would probably have me with a different guy every night." She said that her male co-stars were "mostly very protective" and "very opinionated" when deciding whether she should date certain men; actor Josh HollowayJosh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
once offered to help her select dates from a portfolio of male models with whom he previously worked. Grace and Ian Somerhalder
Ian Somerhalder
Ian Joseph Somerhalder is an American model, actor and producer, best known for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama Lost and Damon Salvatore in the TV drama The Vampire Diaries.-Early life:...
, her onscreen stepbrother
Boone Carlyle
Boone Carlyle is a fictional character played by Ian Somerhalder on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the south Pacific. Boone is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepbrother of fellow crash survivor Shannon Rutherford...
, were rumored to be dating in April 2006 after both had left Lost. When asked about Somerhalder in August, she stated, "Ian's great, I adore him, although I'm only 22 – far too young to even think about having a serious relationship." While still working on Lost, Grace and Somerhalder adopted a feral cat named Roo which they found "literally dying" in the jungle on the set. She said that the cat is now her "travel buddy." In 2008 and 2009, she dated Blake Mycoskie, a contestant on the second season
The Amazing Race 2
The Amazing Race 2 is the second installment of the reality television show The Amazing Race. The Amazing Race 2 featured 11 teams of two with a pre-existing relationship in a race around the world...
of The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams...
and founder of TOMS Shoes
TOMS Shoes
TOMS Shoes is a for-profit company based in Santa Monica, California, that also operates a non-profit subsidiary, Friends of TOMS. The company was founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie, an entrepreneur from Arlington, Texas. The company designs and sells lightweight shoes based on the Argentine...
.
Grace says that the person she is most inspired by is her mother. When asked about her closest friend, she said that she and her mother were more like sisters and that she is "lucky to have an exceptionally cool mum." She is a self-proclaimed anglophile
Anglophilia
An Anglophile is a person who is fond of English culture or, more broadly, British culture. Its antonym is Anglophobe.-Definition:The word comes from Latin Anglus "English" via French, and is ultimately derived from Old English Englisc "English" + Ancient Greek φίλος - philos, "friend"...
, having written to a pen pal
Pen pal
Pen pals are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail.-Purposes:A penpal relationship is often used to practice reading and writing in a foreign language, to improve literacy, to learn more about other countries and life-styles, and to make friendships...
in the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
from the age of eight, having first visited England at 13 years old, and admiring a number of British poets as well as William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. She calls herself very clumsy, claiming to "trip over my legs all the time," and was jokingly nicknamed "Maggie Graceless" by one of her former castmates. She plays in a Los Angeles kickball
Kickball
Kickball is a playground game and competitive league game, similar to baseball, invented in the United States in the first half of the 20th Century. Kickball may also be known as kick baseball, base soccer, soccer-base, or soccer-baseball...
league with her friends.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Rachel's Room | Rachel Reed | |
| 2002 | Shop Club | ||
| Septuplets | Hope Wilde | TV series | |
| Murder in Greenwich Murder in Greenwich (film) Murder in Greenwich is a 2002 American television film directed by Tom McLoughlin. The teleplay by Dave Erickson is based on the 1998 book of the same title by Mark Fuhrman.... |
Martha Moxley Martha Moxley Martha Elizabeth Moxley was a 15-year-old murder victim in a case that attracted worldwide publicity owing to a "Kennedy connection".... |
TV movie | |
| 2003 | CSI: Miami CSI: Miami CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.... |
Amy Gorman | Episode: "Spring Break" |
| Twelve Mile Road Twelve Mile Road Twelve Mile Road is a 2003 drama film based on the book Mystery Ride by Robert Boswell. It was directed and written for teleplay by Richard Friedenberg... |
Dulcie Landis | TV movie | |
| Haley Dugan | Episode: "Beach House" | ||
| Miracles Miracles (TV series) Miracles is an American drama television program starring Skeet Ulrich and Angus Macfadyen. Created by Richard Hatem and Michael Petroni, the series has sometimes been dubbed a "spiritual version of The X-Files" by its creators... |
Hannah Cottrell | Episode: "Mother's Daughter" | |
| 2004 | Cold Case | Renee | Episode: "Volunteers" |
| Creature Unknown | Amanda | ||
| Oliver Beene Oliver Beene Oliver Beene is an American sitcom that premiered on Fox on March 9, 2003. The show was created by Howard Gewirtz. Set in 1962 and 1963, the show chronicled the trials and tribulations of the 11-to-12-year-old Oliver Beene , in first person perspective... |
Elke | 8 episodes | |
| Like Family Like Family Like Family is an American sitcom that aired on The WB in 2003. The series starred Holly Robinson Peete and Kevin Michael Richardson and lasted one season... |
Mary | Episode: "My Two Moms" | |
| 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... |
Jessie Dawning | Episode: "Obscene" | |
| 2004–2005, 2007, 2010 | Lost Lost (TV series) Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island... |
Shannon Rutherford Shannon Rutherford Shannon Rutherford is a fictional character played by Maggie Grace on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Shannon is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepsister of fellow crash survivor Boone Carlyle . She is... |
35 episodes |
| 2005 | Elizabeth Williams | ||
| 2007 | Suburban Girl | Chloe | |
| Allegra | |||
| 2008 | Taken Taken (film) Taken is a 2008 action thriller film produced by Luc Besson, starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Famke Janssen. The screenplay is written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and was directed by Pierre Morel... |
Kim Mills | |
| 2009 | Malice in Wonderland Malice in Wonderland (2009 film) Malice In Wonderland is a 2009 British fantasy adventure film directed by Simon Fellows and written by Jayson Rothwell. It is roughly based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The film was released on DVD in the UK on February 8, 2010.... |
Alice | |
| 2010 | Flying Lessons | Sophie Conway | |
| Knight and Day | April Havens | ||
| Bay | |||
| Faster Faster (2010 film) Faster is a 2010 American action film directed by George Tillman, Jr. It stars Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Moon Bloodgood, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Maggie Grace. It was released in the United States on November 24, 2010.-Plot:... |
Lily | ||
| 2011 | Irina | Completed | |
| 2012 | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 | Irina | Completed |
| Lockout | Emilie Warnock | Post-production | |
| Relative Insanity | Nina | Pre-production | |
| Decoding Annie Paker | Sarah | Filming | |
| Taken II | Kim Mills | Pre-production |