Early life and career
Birch was born in Los Angeles, California, the eldest child of Jack Birch and Carol Connors. Both her parents (who have managed her career and remain her managers right up to the present day) were former adult film actors and her mother appeared in the notorious pornographic film, Deep Throat. Birch, who has a brother named Bolt Birch, is of Jewish, Nordic, and Italian descent. The family's original surname was "Biersch", coming from her German Jewish ancestors. The name 'Thora' is a feminized form of the name Thor, the God of the Sky and of Thunder in Norse mythology. From an early age, Birch was encouraged by her parents to audition for commercials. She landed several parts representing companies such as Quaker Oats and Vlasic Pickles. In 1988, she broke into acting when landing the role of Molly in the short-lived television series Day By Day in which she was billed simply as "Thora." That same year she played an important role in the movie Purple People Eater opposite Ned Beatty and Neil Patrick Harris for which she won a Youth In Film Award for her performance.
Paradise
Birch's breakthrough role came in 1991 when she was cast as 'tomboy' Billie Pike in the movie Paradise which also starred Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith and Elijah Wood. To obtain the role, she had to compete with more than 4,000 other young hopefuls who auditioned for it. Birch received enormous praise for her performance and her career thereafter went from strength to strength.
1991-1995
Thora's ability to portray herself as a young tomboy landed her several parts during the period 1991-1995, including the role of Dani in Hocus Pocus (1993). Her acting ability moreover continued to attract much praise and she won leading roles in such films as All I Want For Christmas (1991) and Monkey Trouble (1994). She also appeared in two big-budget blockbuster Harrison Ford films, Patriot Games (1992) and its sequel, Clear and Present Danger (1994).
Now & Then
Birch's performance in the 1995 film Now and Then is generally regarded as one of her best performances to date. It also starred Gaby Hoffmann, Christina Ricci, Demi Moore and Melanie Griffith. Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, the film is about four friends who have been so preoccupied with their own lives that they have not seen one another for some time until the impending birth of one of their babies reunites them. Upon reuniting, they reminisce about events during the summer of 1970 when they were 12 which were ultimately influential in shaping their lives. It was during that summer, a mixture of both happy and sad events, that they realized that adulthood was fast approaching, that they began to work out what life was about and what they wished to do with their own lives. They also promised to be there for another, hence the reason why they were reuniting for the birth of the baby. The film, a female take on the film Stand By Me, was an enormous success and Birch won great critical acclaim for her performance.
Alaska
By 1996, Thora was one of leading child actresses of her generation. She consolidated her position with a leading role in the adventure film, Alaska (1996) in which she plays the role of Jessie Barnes who has moved to Alaska with her father (played by Dirk Benedict) and brother after the death of her mother. Her father is a former airline pilot and upon moving to Alaska, he starts earning a living by delivering supplies to small towns in the Alaskan wilderness in his light aircraft. Whilst making a delivery, his plane crashes into a mountainside. Concluding that not enough was being done to locate him, Jessie and her brother set out on a successful attempt to find him with the help of a baby polar bear.
1996-1999: break from acting
After guest-starring appearances in the The Outer Limits, Promised Land and Touched By An Angel, Thora took a break from acting for a couple of years. In 1999, she returned in the made-for-TV movie Night Ride Home and also took a small uncredited role in the Natalie Portman film Anywhere But Here. She also was initially cast in the role of Tammy Metzler in the dark-comedy Election, but ended up leaving after only the third day of filming after disagreements with director/writer Alexander Payne. Jessica Campbell was then given the role of Metzler.
American Beauty
Later in 1999, Birch won enormous critical praise playing the role of Jane Burnham in American Beauty and was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award. The movie itself went on to win the Oscar (i.e. Academy Award) for Best Picture. As Birch was barely 17 at the time she made the film, and thus classified as a minor in the United States, her parents had to approve her brief topless scene in the movie and they and child labor representatives were on the set for the shooting of it.
Ghost World
After leading roles in The Smokers (2000), Dungeons & Dragons (2000), and The Hole (2001), Birch landed the leading role in Ghost World alongside Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi and Brad Renfro and was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress for her performance.
The film concerns best friends Enid (played by Birch) and Rebecca who graduate from high school and find themselves forced to enter the 'real world'. Enid is a counter-culture rebel who hates 'frauds' and 'losers' and therefore has trouble acquiring and retaining a job. One day, she and Rebecca play a prank on a lonely middle-aged 'loser' named Seymour which backfires. Enid then becomes obsessed with Seymour, at first feeling sorry for him, and then hero worshipping him on the basis that he is a man who has remained true to himself and his own principles unlike the 'frauds' she despises. She then resolves to help him acquire a girlfriend on the basis that she "can't stand the thought of a world where a guy like [Seymour] can't get a date". However, in obsessing about Seymour, Enid is avoiding the challenge of building a life of her own in the 'real world' she is now having to confront post graduation.
2001 to 2006
Birch's most notable roles since 2001 have been that of Liz Murray in Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003), which earned her an Emmy nomination, and April in Slingshot (2005). Her most recent film (which premiered on the 10th November 2006) was Dark Corners in which she appears in the lead role as a woman who wakes up one day as a different person and ends up being stalked by gruesome creatures.
Current Projects
Thora has lead roles in two movies, Shamrock Boy and Tainted Love, which are scheduled for release in 2007. Pre-production has also begun on two further films, Frail and Winter of Frozen Dreams.
Future Ambition
Birch has indicated that she has aspirations to become a director and has recently begun directing short video sketches for a sketch comedy troupe called The Doomed Planet. The sketches can be seen on her official website
