Maggie Grace Biography

Margaret Grace Denig (born September 21, 1983), known professionally 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 opposite Liam Neeson as Kim Mills in Taken in 2008. She reprised the role, four years later, in Taken 2 (2012). She played the lead role, 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. In 2013, she appears in the sixth season of Californication (TV series). She portrays Faith, a groupie and a muse to the stars, who captures the eye of Hank Moody played by David Duchovny.

Early life

Grace was born Margaret Grace Denig in Worthington, Ohio, the second of three children of parents Valinn (née Everett) 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 2000 Gallery Players production of The Crucible, at a local Jewish Community Center (though she is not Jewish). Her parents divorced "amicably" when she was 16 years old, and 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 Denig and Marissa Palatas (married to Nick Palatas) 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 Creek 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.

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 Maxims 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 "geeked 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 played the lead in Simon Fellows' 2009 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 Lost's 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 Part 1 and 2.

In December 2012, it was announced Grace would be making her Broadway debut in Picnic. The play opened for previews on December 14, running at the American Airlines Theatre. Sebastian Stan co-stars with Grace in the Pulitzer Prize winning play.

She also made her first appearance as a guest star in the Showtime Series Californication in January 2013 where she plays a groupie and muse to the rock and roll world as well as the personal interest of Hank Moody, starring David Duchovny.

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 Holloway 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, dated 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.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Rachel's Room	Rachel Reed	Web based series
2002	Shop Club
2002	Murder in Greenwich	Martha Moxley	Television film
2003	Twelve Mile Road	Dulcie Landis	Television film
2004	Creature Unknown	Amanda
2005	'	Elizabeth Williams
2007	Suburban Girl	Chloe
2007	'	Allegra
2008	Taken	Kim Mills
2009	Malice in Wonderland	Alice
2010	Flying Lessons	Sophie Conway
2010	Knight and Day	April Havens
2010	'	Bay
2010	Faster	Lily
2011	'	Irina
2012	Lockout	Emilie Warnock
2012	'	Irina
2012	Taken 2	Kim Mills
2012	Decoding Annie Parker	Sarah

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Septuplets	Hope Wilde	TV series
2003	CSI: Miami	Amy Gorman	Episode: "Spring Break"
2003	'	Haley Dugan	Episode: "Beach House"
2003	Miracles	Hannah Cottrell	Episode: "Mother's Daughter"
2004	Cold Case	Renee	Episode: "Volunteers"
2004	Oliver Beene	Elke	8 episodes
2004	Like Family	Mary	Episode: "My Two Moms"
2004	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Jessie Dawning	Episode: "Obscene"
2004"10	Lost	Shannon Rutherford	32 episodes; starring 2004-2005; special guest star 2007, 2010
2013	Californication	Faith	10 episodes
2013	'	Sarah Fuller	Episode: "Pilot"

Internet

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Susanna	Susanna Goodwin	WIGS Production