Thora Birch

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Date of Birth : Mar 11th 1982

Thora Birch was born to Jack and Carol Birch in Los Angeles, California. Her name is derived from the name of the Norse god of thunder and lightning, Thor. Thora was her parents’ first child, and even at a very young age she displayed qualities of a budding actress.

When she was a toddler, Thora was encouraged to audition for commercials and successfully landed parts in several of them, including advertisements and TV commercials for Quaker Oats and Vlasic Pickles. But it was in 1988 that her acting career really started to take off. She was cast as Molly in the short-lived television series “Day By Day”, and she also landed quite an important role as Molly in the children’s movie Purple People Eater which also starred Ned Beatty and Neil Patrick Harris. Thora even won a Youth In Film Award for her performance in the film.

In 1990, Thora got the part of Taylor in “Parenthood”, a television series based on the 1989 film by the same name. In this short-lived sitcom, she replaced Alisan Porter who had played Taylor in the movie. And an interesting fact about Thora’s first three roles is that she was credited as simply ‘Thora’, and her last name wasn’t added until 1991. Also, in 1990 Thora’s brother, Bolt, was born. He is her only sibling.

In 1991, Thora was cast in her first, real break-though role. She played Billie Pike in the movie Paradise along with Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith and Elijah Wood. Thora won this role after the director, Mary Agnes Donoghue, interviewed over 4,000 other young hopefuls, so it was quite a big achievement. Her successful portrayal of a young tomboy landed her parts in many other movies including All I Want for Christmas that same year, Hocus Pocus and the big-budget films Patriot Games in 1992 and it’s sequel, Clear and Present Danger in 1994. And also in 1994, Thora starred in the family film Monkey Trouble, in which her co-stars included four different monkeys who shared the role of Dodger in the movie.