Anna Paquin is a New Zealand-Canadian actress and activist. She is best known for her leading role in HBO’s True Blood, and for being the second-youngest Oscar winner of all-time for her supporting role in The Piano (1993) at age 11.

ANNA PAQUIN BIOGRAPHY: AGE, EARLY LIFE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

Anna Paquin was born on July 24, 1982 (Anna Paquin age: 39) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. Her mother, Mary Paquin, is an English teacher from New Zealand and her father, Brian Paquin, is a high school physical education teacher from Canada. Paquin has two older siblings: a brother, Andrew Paquin, and a sister, Katya Paquin (married to former co-leader of the Green Party of New Zealand Russel Norman).

When Paquin was four years old, her family relocated to New Zealand. There, she attended the Raphael House Rudolph Steiner School until she was nine years old before finishing her intermediate education at Hutt Intermediate School. She began her secondary education at Wellington Girls’ College.

In 1995, Paquin’s parents divorced and she moved with her mother to the United States. She completed her high school diploma at the Windward School in Los Angeles, graduating in June 2000. Paquin then attended Columbia University for a year before dropping out to pursue acting full-time.

ANNA PAQUIN BIOGRAPHY: CAREER IN TELEVISION & MOVIES

Paquin’s first professional acting experience was at the age of nine when she played Flora in Jane Campion‘s 1993 period drama The Piano. When the film was released, Paquin won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 11, making her the second-youngest Academy Award winner in history.

Paquin’s next big-screen appearances were in 1996 when she played parts in the films Jane Eyre and Fly Away Home. She had roles throughout her teenage years in films such as She’s All That and Almost Famous.

Her next big role was the superhero Rogue in X-Men (2000), X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). In 2007, Paquin starred in the romantic comedy Blue State. The film was produced by her production company Paquin Films which she formed with her brother, Andrew Paquin.

Paquin began her most iconic role in 2008 as Sookie Stackhouse in HBO’s True Blood. The show ran for seven seasons, concluding in 2014 with an Emmy and a Best Actress in a Drama Satellite Award for Paquin.

In 2009, Paquin starred in the Holocaust biopic The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. In 2010, Paquin starred alongside Katie Holmes and Elijah Wood in the romantic comedy The Romantics.

In 2018, Paquin starred in her husband Stephen Moyer‘s feature directorial debut The Parting Glass. She worked with Moyer again in 2021 on the show Flack (2019), which they both serve as executive producers on. Moyer also served as director for a couple of episodes in the second season of the Amazon show.

ANNA PAQUIN BIOGRAPHY: PERSONAL LIFE

Paquin married her True Blood costar, Stephen Moyer, in April of 2010 in Malibu, California. The couple shares fraternal twins Charlie and Poppy, born in 2012, as well as stepchildren Billy and Lilac. The family currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

ANNA PAQUIN BIOGRAPHY: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON FLACK, WORKING WITH HUSBAND MOYER

In June of 2021, Paquin sat down for an exclusive conversation with uInterview about her show Flack, including the experience of working with husband Stephen Moyer.

Paquin explained that being directed by Moyer was not a new experience – he had directed several episodes of True Blood, as well as the 2018 film The Parting Glass, which she had starred in. The level of trust intrinsic in their relationship as spouses allows them to have a shared intuition when it comes to their creative projects.

“We just have a level of trust and connection and shorthand where he doesn’t have to say much,” the actress said. Paquin was glowing in her praise, saying, “I’ve worked with some extraordinarily gifted directors, and he’s an incredibly gifted director, but I also have the absolute perk of him just knowing me better than anyone else on the planet.”

When it came to filming Flack, Paquin explained that Moyer made her feel comfortable enough to take on the more “dark, twisty material.”

“[There’s] that thing that as an actor, when you’re going to quite dark places emotionally, that you feel quite vulnerable and it’s hard to gauge whether or not we actually nailed that, did we get that, do we need another take, and having someone who you completely implicitly trust be like ‘No, we got that, we can move on’.”

Paquin didn’t limit her praise to her husband. She explained during her interview how the close relationships of the cast create a safe space for everyone involved.

“We all are such a close creative but also in-real-life friend group,” Paquin said. “[There’s a] level of support and safety and trust we all have when each other’s characters are having to go into the dark places… you feel completely safe and completely protected, and also that isn’t the case on every single set.”

She described the cast and crew as a “tight little family behind the scenes”, and that intimacy allows the show to explore darker and more “gnarly” themes.

Check out the full interview below.

ANNA PAQUIN BIOGRAPHY: ACTIVISM

In 201, Paquin publicly came out as bisexual as part of the Give a Damn campaign for Cyndi Lauper‘s True Colors Fund. She’s since spoken in many interviews and on social media about her bisexuality and in defense of LGBTQ+ rights.