BIOGRAPHY
Abigail Kathleen Breslin (born April 14, 1996) is an American actress and singer. Abigail Breslin at a young age has compiled an impressive list of roles and characters in major motion pictures. She was already an accomplished actress at the age of 6 when she was cast as Olive Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine. This role catapulted her to stardom as she gained critical acclaim for her performance and was nominated for an Academy Award.
She has an amazing on-screen presence and is certainly one of the most talented young actresses of our time. She has received various accolades, including two Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Born and raised in New York City, Breslin began acting in commercials when she was three years old and made her film debut in M. Night Shyamalan’s science fiction horror film Signs (2002), for which she was nominated for a Young Artist Award.
Her early roles also included Raising Helen (2004) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). Breslin rose to prominence with the comedy-drama film Little Miss Sunshine (2006), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 10. She went on to establish herself as a mainstream actress with roles in the films No Reservations (2007), Nim’s Island (2008), Definitely, Maybe (2008), My Sister’s Keeper (2009), Zombieland (2009), Rango (2011), The Call (2013), August: Osage County (2013), Maggie (2015), Freak Show (2017), Zombieland: Double Tap (2019), and Stillwater (2021). Between 2015 and 2016, she had a starring role in the horror-comedy series Scream Queens on Fox, her first regular role in a television series.
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
She was born in New York City,[citation needed] the daughter of Kim, a talent manager, and Michael Breslin a telecommunications expert, computer programmer, and consultant. She has two older brothers, Ryan Breslin (b. 1985) and Spencer Breslin (b. 1992), who are also actors. The Breslin siblings were raised in New York in a “very close-knit” household. Her father was of Jewish heritage. Breslin is named after Abigail Adams, the first Second Lady of the United States. As of 2013, she was still residing in the same Lower East Side apartment in which she was raised.
CAREER
Abigail Breslin started acting at the age of three when she appeared in an advert for Toys ‘R’ Us. Her debut film role came in 2002 when she landed a role in Signs, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The movie also starred Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix, as well as Rory Culkin.
In 1994, Breslin was featured in Raising Helen, along with her brother Spencer (they played brother and sister in the film). The comedy-drama film also starred Kate Hudson, Joan Cusack, and Hayden Panettiere, but was poorly received by the critics.
Breslin’s next role was in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. The child star went on to receive much better reviews for her performance in Keane, an independent film with a limited cinema release.
In 2006, Abigail Breslin starred alongside Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear in the cult hit Little Miss Sunshine. It propelled her to fame and proved to be her breakthrough career move. Her performance was so highly praised that Breslin became the fourth youngest star to be nominated for that year’s Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The award eventually went to Jennifer Hudson but Abigail co-presented at the awards ceremony with Jaden Smith.
The following year, she made her stage debut in Right You Are (If You Think You Are), at the Guggenheim Museum. The play also starred Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, and Peter Sarsgaard.
2008 saw Breslin appear in Nim’s Island, along with Jodie Foster, playing the role of Nim Rusoe. She also featured in Kim Mittredge: An American Girl, playing the title role. Following this was 2009’s My Sister’s Keeper, in which she played the role of Anna Fitzgerald. Dakota Fanning was originally pegged to play the role but refused to shave her head to portray the young girl suffering from leukemia.
Taking on a less serious role, Breslin went on to appear in Zombieland, a horror comedy. Zombieland also starred Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Jesse Eisenberg.
Returning to the stage, Abigail Breslin was then selected to play the part of the author and activist Helen Keller, in the Broadway production of The Miracle Worker.
Abigail Breslin’s next film, Janie Jones saw her play the role of a teenager, abandoned by her former-groupie mother (played by Elisabeth Shue), and tracks down her father, a fading rock star (played by Alessandro Nivola). Having a keen interest in music, Abigail Breslin has also started a band, with her friend Cassidy Reiff, called CABB.
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