Anna Helene Paquin (pronounced /ˈpækwɪn/; born 24 July 1982) is a Canadian-born New Zealand actress. Paquin's first critically successful film was The Piano, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1993 at the age of 11 – the second youngest winner in history. Her acting career took off almost half a decade later when she appeared in a string of successful films including She's All That, Almost Famous and the X-Men franchise.
Paquin has received critical acclaim for her role as Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO series True Blood, for which she won the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama.
Paquin returned to worldwide prominence with her role as the mutant superheroine Rogue in the Marvel Comics movie X-Men in 2000, its sequel X2 in 2003, and its third instalment, X-Men: The Last Stand, in 2006.
Paquin in 2006
In the fall of 2006, she completed filming Blue State. She was the executive-producer of the film, the film having been made by Paquin Films, a production company formed by both her and her brother, Andrew Paquin. In November 2006, she completed the film Margaret, which was released in 2011.
In 2007, Paquin received an Emmy Award nomination for Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for her role as Elaine Goodale in HBO's made-for-TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, based on Dee Brown's best-seller. She also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations in similar categories.
In 2008, Paquin appeared as waitress Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO series True Blood, her first role in a TV series. The show is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, set in the fictional town of Bon Temps, LA. Paquin won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series for her role in the show, and also won a Satellite Award in a similar category. She was also nominated for the same category in the 2009 Golden Globe Awards. The second season of True Blood premiered in the US in June 2009. Season three premiered in June 2010, and season 4 in June 2011.
In 2009, Paquin played Irena Sendler, a Polish woman hailed as a heroine of the Holocaust, in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, a CBS TV film biographical film based on the book Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Irena Sendler Story, by Anna Mieszkowska. The film was made in Latvia, and was a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation for the network. Paquin's performance earned her a 2010 nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Film.
Paquin's film The Romantics, a romantic comedy with Josh Duhamel and Katie Holmes, was released in the US at selected theatres in September 2010.
Paquin was cast in a cameo role in Scream 4, which was released in 2011.
Her next film is Straight A's, co-starring Ryan Phillippe, due for release in 2012.
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