Thora Birch

Thora Birch, born March 11, 1982 is an American actress. Her film debut was in Purple People Eater (1988) which earned her an Young Artist Award for "Best Young Actress Under Nine Years of Age". Birch became a household name as when she was a child actor with films like All I Want for Christmas (1991), Patriot Games (92), Hocus Pocus (93), Monkey Trouble (1994), Now and Then (1995) and Alaska (1996). In 1999, she was nominated for an BAFTA nomination. After that, she starred in Ghost World (2001) as Enid. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. In 2003, Birch received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the title role in Homeless to Harvard The Liz Murray Story. Birch has also starred in Dungeons & Dragons (2000) and The Hole (2001), Silver City (2004) and Dark Corners (2006). She was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2003. Birch was also the Whisperer Mary/Gamma in season 10 of The Walking Dead (2019-202). Birch was the eldest child born to Jack Birch (and Carol Connors) in Los Angeles. Birch, whose family originally had the surname Biersch is German-Jewish, and Scandinavian. Birch also has French-Canadian, French-Canadian, and Italian ancestry.  Her name, "Thora," is the name that comes from Thora, the Norse god of thunder and lightning ("Thor"), which would be her name had she were a boy. She has a younger brother, Kian Bolt Birch.Birch's parents are former adult film actors, who both participated in the film Deep Throat. Due to their personal experience in the entertainment industry, they were reluctant to encourage her, but were persuaded by Thora's picture to agents by a babysitter who noticed her imitation of commercials. Her first break came at the age of four after her babysitter brought her to an audition for a Quaker Oats commercial.