Heather Matarazzo

Infobox actor


birthdate = birth date and age|1982|11|10
birthplace = Long Island, New York

Heather Amy Matarazzo [http://www.filmreference.com/film/7/Heather-Matarazzo.html Heather Matarazzo Biography (1982-) ]

Link title] (born November 10, 1982) is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was as a geeky girl in the film "Welcome to the Dollhouse". Besides "Dollhouse", she's best known for her role as Lilly in "The Princess Diaries" and "".

Her other movies include "Sorority Boys", "Scream 3", "Saved!", and "".

Early life and career

Matarazzo was born and raised in Oyster Bay, New York, the daughter of Camille, a homemaker, and Ray Matarazzo, a data processing manager for a bakery chain. Matarazzo is of fully Irish descent, [ [http://www.eonline.com/gossip/planetgossip/detail/index.jsp?uuid=dd63c9e2-8d39-440c-b629-ca88988c9b06 Planet Gossip - Chatting with Heather Matarazzo ] ] and was adopted and raised by the Matarazzos, a strict Catholic Italian American family. She attended Oyster Bay High School, as well as the BOCES Cultural Arts Center High School.

Matarazzo broke into acting at age 6; upon commandeering the microphone at an AIDS benefit for children, she was given the card of a talent manager whom she would remain with for ten years. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2004_Oct_12/ai_n6358371/pg_2 Welcome to the house, doll! In an exclusive interview, Heather Matarazzo traces her path from Welcome to the Dollhouse to costarring in The Princess Diaries, coming out in the Daily News, and winning the right to marry the love of her life | Advocate, The | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] In 1997, she won an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in "Welcome to the Dollhouse". Matarazzo has expressed pleasure with getting to play interesting characters, some of which whom "are ostracized for various reasons." She is most proud of her performance in 1999's "Our Guys", in which she played a mentally challenged girl who is raped by football players. [http://www.afterellen.com/People/2006/2/matarazzo.html Welcome to the New Heather Matarazzo | AfterEllen.com ] ]

Personal life

Matarazzo came out as a lesbian in 2004. She recently became engaged to her girlfriend, Carolyn Murphy. [cite web|url= http://www.afterellen.com/people/2008/8/matarazzo-engaged|title= Heather Matarazzo Officially Engaged to Carolyn Murphy|accessdate= 2008-08-07|author= Sarah Warn|date= 2008-08-01|publisher= AfterEllen.com]

Filmography

Film

*"Welcome to the Dollhouse" (1995) - Dawn Wiener
*"Hurricane Streets" (1997) - Ashley
*"The Devil's Advocate" (1997) - Barbara
*"54" (1998) - Grace O'Shea
*"Outrage in Glen Ridge (1998) - Leslie
*"The Hairy Bird" also known as "All I Wanna Do" and "Strike!" (1998) - Theresa 'Tweety' Goldberg
*"Scream 3" (2000) - Martha Meeks
*"The Princess Diaries" (2001) - Lilly Moscovitz
*"Sorority Boys" (2002) - Katie
*"The Pink House" (2003) - Charlotte
*"Saved!" (2004) - Tia
*"Freshman Orientation" (2004) - Jessica
*"" (2004) - Lilly Moscovitz
*"Believe In Me" (2005) - Cindy Butts
*"" (2007) - Lorna
*"Scream 4" (2010) - Martha Meeks

Television

*"The Adventures of Pete and Pete" (1993) - Natasha, a neighborhood friend of Pete
*"Townies" (1996) - Bethany
*"Roseanne" (1997) - Heather, DJ's girlfriend
*"Law & Order" (1998) - Stephanie Sutter in one episode, "Burden"
*"Now and Again" (1999) - Heather Wiseman
*"Strangers with Candy" (2000) - one of Jerri's friends in the episode "Is My Daddy Crazy?"
*"The L Word" (2006) - Stacey Merkin, a reporter interviewing Jenny Schecter
*"Exes and Ohs" (2007) - Crutch
*"Indie Sex: Teens" [ [http://www.ifc.com/static/sections/indiesex/teens.html About IFC Indie Sex: Teens ] ] [ [http://www.epgn.com/072707/3IFCsex072707.htm Indie sex series spotlights queer film ] ] (2007) - as herself

Trivia

* Auditioned for the role of Lex Murphy in "Jurassic Park" (1993). The role eventually went to Ariana Richards.
* Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1995" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 47. [1995]
* Turned down the role of Denise Fleming in "Can't Hardly Wait" (1998).
* Arrested in New York in 2006 (August) for defending the rights of the sans papiers.
* Member of the jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005.

References

External links

*imdb name|name=Heather Matarazzo|id=0000525
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/p/heather_matarazzo/ Rotten Tomatoes summary]
* [http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/220477p-189548c.html NY Daily News: From geek to oh, my goodness]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2004_Oct_12/ai_n6358371 The Advocate: October 2004 interview with Heather Matarazzo]
* [http://www.afterellen.com/People/2006/2/matarazzo.html AfterEllen.com: Welcome to the New Heather Matarazzo]
* [http://www.myspace.com/heathermatarazzo Her Profile] at MySpace