Mara Wilson mini-bio: When Mara was five years old, her eldest brother Danny started acting in television
adverts and she wanted to follow in his footsteps. She went on to appear in a number
of commercials including those advertising Texaco and the Bank of America. She also
appeared in a movie with Robin Williams in the film Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), which is
based on Anne Fine's novel 'Madame Doubtfire'. In the role, Mara proved herself to
be a talented young actress, who was mature for her tender years, and her acting
career went from strength-to-strength as she quickly become a favorite among
cinema-goers.
The following year, Mara played a small girl whose mother had suffered a major
stroke in A Time to Heal (1994) (TV). But her big break came with the remake of
Miracle on 34th Street (1994) where she had a starring role as the little cynical
girl who learned the magic of Santa Claus. Ironically, Mara is Jewish so was not
raised to believe in Santa Claus but this was a bonus in some ways since she was
able to empathize with her character's stance that there was no Santa.
At the age of nine, Mara was cast in the lead role in the film adaptation of Roald
Dahl's book Matilda (1996). Sadly, during filming, Mara lost her beloved mother to
breast cancer but she bravely pushed ahead with the film much to the amazement and
admiration of her adult co-stars.
Mara starred in three films over the following three years, the last of which was as
the granddaughter of Peter Fonda in the film version of the British children's
favorite Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000). Unfortunately, the film did not do
well in the box office and also signaled an end to Mara's childhood career as she
focused on her school career and just enjoying her teenage years.
In June 2005, Mara finished up at Burbank High School and has since gone on to
attend New York University where she is studying drama so perhaps the big screen has
not seen the last of her!
ruqiya10posted 515 days ago
