Carrie-Anne Moss
Carrie-Anne Moss | |
---|---|
Moss at the 2016 Peabody Awards | |
Born | |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1989–present |
Spouse |
Steven Roy (m. 1999) |
Children | 3 |
Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967[1]) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in The Matrix series (1999–present). She has starred in Memento (2000), for which she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female, Red Planet (2000), Chocolat (2000), Fido (2006), Snow Cake (2006), for which she won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Disturbia (2007), Unthinkable (2010), Silent Hill: Revelation (2012), and Pompeii (2014). She also portrayed Jeri Hogarth in several television series produced by Marvel Television for Netflix, most notably Jessica Jones (2015–2019).
Early life
[edit]Carrie-Anne Moss was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, the daughter of Barbara and Melvyn Moss. She has an older brother, Brooke. Moss's mother reportedly named her after the Hollies' 1967 hit song, "Carrie Anne", which had been released in May of that year. Moss lived with her mother in Vancouver as a child.[2] At the age of 11, she joined the Vancouver children's musical theatre and later went on to tour Europe with the Magee Secondary School Choir in her senior year.
Career
[edit]1990s and breakthrough
[edit]While living in Spain, Moss obtained a role as Tara, the clerk to Judge Nicholas Marshall in the drama series Dark Justice, her first television appearance. She moved from Barcelona to Los Angeles with the series in 1992. Moss left Dark Justice before the series' third and final season and was replaced by Elisa Heinsohn as Samantha "Sam" Collins. She enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena upon her return, and she subsequently starred in Fox's primetime soap opera Models Inc., a spin-off of Melrose Place, as a model. The series was cancelled in July 1995. She headlined a short-lived made-in-Canada series entitled Matrix.[3] For most of the 1990s, she appeared in several television series such as Street Justice, Baywatch, F/X: The Series, and Due South, for which she scored a nomination for the Gemini Award for Best Guest Actress in a Drama. Many of her film roles in the decade were in B movies, including Flashfire (1994), The Soft Kill (1994), Tough Guy (1994), Lethal Tender (1996), Sabotage (1996), and The Secret Life of Algernon (1997).
Her breakthrough role came when she played Trinity in the science-fiction thriller The Matrix (1999). Her role demanded extreme acrobatic actions, and she underwent a three-hour physical test during casting. The film grossed over US$460 million worldwide and was highly acclaimed by critics, some of whom have considered it one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made.[4][5] Moss asserted that prior to being cast in The Matrix, she had "no career". It launched Moss into international recognition and transformed her career; in a New York Daily News interview, she stated, "The Matrix gave me so many opportunities. Everything I've done since then has been because of that experience. It gave me so much."[6] Moss was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actress, and for the MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance.
2000s
[edit]Moss had four film releases in 2000—Chocolat, Red Planet, The Crew, and Memento. In the romantic comedy Chocolat, she took on the role of Caroline Clairmont, a cold, devoutly pious woman living in a French village. As part of an overall positive response towards the film, The New York Times remarked that Moss, "as an upright widowed mother swathed in mournful baby blue, radiates glimmers of hurt; she shows it's not easy to keep up such a front."[7] The film made US$152 million at the international box office.[8] The science-fiction thriller Red Planet had her play the commander and leader of a rescue mission to Mars. A.V. Club felt that Moss was "largely reduced to worrying while modelling a series of tight-fitting space fashions".[9] Despite a US$80 million budget, the film only grossed US$33 million worldwide.[10] She appeared as detective Olivia Neal in the crime black comedy The Crew, directed by Michael Dinner.
In Christopher Nolan's neo-noir psychological thriller Memento, she portrayed a manipulative bartender who meets a man suffering from anterograde amnesia. Producer Jennifer Todd suggested Moss for the part after being impressed by her performance in The Matrix. Nolan decided to cast Moss as Natalie, saying, "She added an enormous amount to the role of Natalie that wasn't on the page".[11] The film became a sleeper hit, being acclaimed by critics and earning US$39.7 million over a US$9 million budget.[12][13] She won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her performance.
Moss reprised the role of Trinity in the back-to-back sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both released in 2003. Like the original, The Matrix Reloaded received positive critical reception,[14] and became a major box office hit, grossing US$742.1 million worldwide.[15] The Matrix Revolutions received a lukewarm critical reception, but made US$427.3 million globally.[16][17] During an interview with BBC Online, Moss expressed her pride for starring in the franchise, which she described as a "segment of [her] life": "It's deep and it's beautiful to have been part of it for so long. It's pretty spectacular".[18] She provided voiceovers for video game and animated spin-offs of the films.
In 2005, Moss starred in the little-seen thriller Suspect Zero as FBI agent Fran Kulok, and was part of an ensemble cast in the independent dramedy The Chumscrubber, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Moss next appeared in the zombie comedy Fido (2006), playing a housewife in a 1950s-esque alternate universe where radiation from space has turned the dead into zombies. She noted the "very rich" and "very visual" script for the film, and became drawn to the project for its "underlying messages about control and domination".[6][19] Fido was an opening night film at the Toronto International Film Festival,[20] and received largely favourable reviews, with the Los Angeles Times calling it a "crafty mixture of George Romero and Douglas Sirk."[21] Moss played the neighbour of an autistic woman in the small-scale romantic drama Snow Cake (2006). It was released in selected theatres, to positive reviews from critics. Moss earned a nomination for Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role.[22]
In the Hitchcockian thriller Disturbia (2007), Moss portrayed the mother of a troubled teenager who suspects one of his neighbours is a serial killer. The film was met with a positive critical reception and made US$117.8 million around the globe.[23][24] She played one of the people who are brought together in the wake of a deadly car accident in the independent drama Normal (2007), released for selected theatres. Moss appeared in the drama Fireflies in the Garden, which revolved around the inner lives and affairs of a family. The production premiered at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United States in October 2011.[25] She starred in the straight-to-DVD romantic comedy Love Hurts (2009).
2010s
[edit]In the thriller Unthinkable (2010), directed by Gregor Jordan, Moss played the leader of an FBI counter-terrorism team assigned to interrogate a man who threatens to detonate three nuclear bombs in the United States.[26] The film was released direct-to-DVD and generated controversy over its subject matter.[26] She took on the role of antagonist Claudia Wolf in the sequel to the 2006 horror film Silent Hill, Silent Hill: Revelation (2012). Budgeted at US$20 million, the film grossed US$52.3 million worldwide,[27][28] but garnered an overwhelmingly negative reception among film critics and fans alike.[29] Mentioning Moss in its review for the film, The New York Times remarked that the supporting actors "deserve much, much better".[30] She voiced the character Aria in the video games Mass Effect 2 (2010) and Mass Effect 3 (2012).
She had a four-episode arc in the series Chuck between 2011 and 2012, and played the regular role of Las Vegas Assistant District Attorney Katherine O'Connell in the CBS period drama series Vegas, which premiered in September 2012, but was cancelled after its first season, despite an overall positive response.[31] Writing for The New York Times, Mike Hale felt that Moss "feels out of place in this frontier tale, but looks great in snug wool suits".[32] Moss obtained the role of Penelope, a California candidate for governor who runs a free health clinic, in the political thriller Knife Fight (2012), directed by Bill Guttentag. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released for a two-theater run and digital platforms.[33] Moss headlined the psychological dark comedy Compulsion (2013),[34] in which she played one of two people occupying neighbouring apartments, each one grappling with psychological disorders that begin to overtake their lives.[35] The film opened for limited release.[36] She voiced the character of Admiral Wells in the fantasy animated film The Clockwork Girl (2014).
She starred in the 3D historical disaster picture Pompeii (2014), produced and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. The film, inspired by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 that destroyed the Roman Empire city Pompeii, had her portray Aurelia, the wife of the city governor.[37] In the independent drama Elephant Song (2014), directed by Charles Binamé, Moss starred as the wife of a psychiatrist. The film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, and in its review for the film, Variety described her role as "a pushily self-centered second wife" and found her part to be "a poorly integrated subplot" in the film.[38] In 2015, she voiced a widowed mother in the made-for-television animated film Pirate's Passage, was one of the narrators in the documentary Unity, and appeared as the wife of Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein, an updated adaptation of Mary Shelley's book.
In 2015, Moss appeared in Jessica Jones as Jeri Hogarth, an attorney and potentially powerful ally to the title character. The gender of the character was changed from male to female for the series, and the character was written as a lesbian.[39] Moss signed on to the series after reading the first two scripts, having been pitched the character by producer Jeph Loeb and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg. She described the character by saying, "she's fierce, she's strong, she's powerful, and she likes that power".[40] The web series premiered on Netflix, to critical acclaim.[41] Moss has also reprised her role of Jeri Hogarth in the second-season finale of Daredevil, and has had recurring arcs in Iron Fist and The Defenders. Moss took on the lead role of Dr. Athena Morrow, an AI researcher invited to reverse engineer a consciousness program,[42] in the second season of the science-fiction series Humans.[43] Moss filmed a supporting part in the supernatural horror film The Bye Bye Man (2017), playing what Variety described as "the world's most soft-edged hard-bitten police detective".[44] Despite negative reviews, the film grossed US$24 million worldwide on a budget of US$7 million.[45]
2020s
[edit]Moss returned to the Matrix film series in the 2021 film The Matrix Resurrections, in which Moss reprises her role as Trinity. The film was released on December 22, 2021, in theaters and on HBO Max. The film overall received mixed reviews from critics, yet Moss's performance as Trinity was again praised.[46] Moss welcomed her return to the role, stating, "Who am I if not Trinity?"[47][48]
Personal life
[edit]Moss married Canadian actor Steven Roy in 1999, and they have two sons (b. 2003 and 2005) and a daughter (b. 2009).[49] As of 2020, they live in New Hampshire.[19] She is the founder of Annapurna Living, a lifestyle brand designed to empower women through mindfulness, meditation, and devotion.[50]
Filmography
[edit]Film
[edit]Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | The Soft Kill | Jane Tanner | |
1994 | Flashfire | Meredith Neal | |
1995 | Terrified | Tracy | Also known as Evil Never Sleeps |
1996 | Sabotage | Louise Castle | |
1997 | Lethal Tender | Melissa Wilkins | |
1997 | The Secret Life of Algernon | Madge Clerisy | |
1999 | New Blood | Leigh | |
1999 | The Matrix | Trinity | |
2000 | Chocolat | Caroline Clairmont | |
2000 | Red Planet | Kate Bowman | |
2000 | The Crew | Olivia Neal | |
2000 | Memento | Natalie | |
2003 | The Matrix Reloaded | Trinity | |
2003 | The Animatrix | Trinity (voice) | |
2003 | The Matrix Revolutions | Trinity | |
2004 | Suspect Zero | Fran Kulok | |
2005 | The Chumscrubber | Jerri Falls | |
2005 | Confessions of an Action Star | Herself / Girlfriend in movie | |
2006 | Fido | Helen Robinson | |
2006 | Snow Cake | Maggie | |
2006 | Mini's First Time | Diane Drogues-Tennan | |
2007 | Disturbia | Julie Brecht | |
2007 | Normal | Catherine | |
2008 | Fireflies in the Garden | Kelly Hanson | |
2009 | Love Hurts | Amanda Bingham | |
2010 | Unthinkable | Helen Brody | |
2012 | Silent Hill: Revelation | Claudia Wolf | |
2012 | Knife Fight | Penelope Nelson | |
2013 | The Clockwork Girl | Admiral Wells (voice) | |
2013 | Treading Water | Psychiatrist | |
2013 | Compulsion | Saffron | |
2014 | Dragon Nest: Warriors' Dawn | Elena (voice) | |
2014 | Pompeii | Aurelia | |
2014 | Elephant Song | Olivia | |
2015 | Pirate's Passage | Kerstin Hawkins (voice) | |
2015 | Unity[51] | Narrator | Documentary |
2015 | Frankenstein | Elizabeth Frankenstein | |
2016 | Brain on Fire | Rhona Nack | |
2017 | The Bye Bye Man | Detective Shaw | |
2021 | The Matrix Resurrections | Trinity | |
2023 | Die Alone | Mae | |
2024 | Accidental Texan | Faye |
Television
[edit]Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1991–1993 | Dark Justice | Tara McDonald | 9 episodes |
1991 | Street Justice | Jennifer | 2 episodes |
1992 | Forever Knight | Monica Howard | Episode: "Feeding the Beast" |
1992 | Down the Shore | Nancy | Episode: "Atlantic City" |
1993 | Matrix | Liz Teel | 13 episodes |
1993 | Doorways | Laura | Unaired TV pilot |
1993 | Silk Stalkings | Lisa / Lana Bannon | Episode: "The Perfect Alibi" |
1994–1995 | Models Inc. | Carrie Spencer | 29 episodes |
1994 | Baywatch | Gwen Brown / Mattie Brown | Episode: "Mirror, Mirror" |
1995 | Nowhere Man | Karin Stoltz | Episode: "Something About Her" |
1996–1997 | F/X: The Series | Lucinda Scott | 22 episodes (Season 1) |
1996 | Due South | Irene Zuko | Episode: "Juliet is Bleeding" |
1997 | Viper | Stacy Taylor | Episode: "Triple Cross" |
2007 | Suspect | Lt. Chivers | TV pilot |
2008 | Pretty/Handsome | Elizabeth Fitzpayne | TV pilot |
2011 | Normal | Ann Brown | TV pilot |
2011–2012 | Chuck | Gertrude Verbanski | 4 episodes |
2012–2013 | Vegas | Katherine O'Connell | 21 episodes |
2014 | Crossing Lines | Amanda Andrews | 4 episodes |
2015–2019 | Jessica Jones | Jeri Hogarth | 34 episodes |
2016 | Daredevil | Jeri Hogarth | Episode: "A Cold Day in Hell's Kitchen" |
2016 | Humans | Athena Morrow | 8 episodes |
2016 | Man Seeking Woman | Joan Dillon | Episode: "Eel" |
2017 | Iron Fist | Jeri Hogarth | 3 episodes |
2017 | The Defenders | Jeri Hogarth | Episode: "Mean Right Hook" |
2019–2022 | Wisting | Maggie Griffin | 11 episodes |
2019–2020 | Tell Me a Story | Rebecca Pruitt | 10 episodes (Season 2) |
2024 | The Acolyte | Indara | 4 episodes |
TBA | FUBAR | Greta Nelso | Post-production (Season 2) |
Video games
[edit]Year | Title | Voice role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | Enter the Matrix | Trinity | FMV; Motion capture |
2010 | Mass Effect 2 | Aria T'Loak | |
2012 | Mass Effect 3 | Also appears in Omega | |
2021 | Mass Effect: Legendary Edition | Archive audio | |
The Matrix Awakens | Herself / Trinity | Voice and motion capture, tie-in tech demo for The Matrix Resurrections | |
2022 | Horizon Forbidden West | Tilda | Voice and motion capture |
Awards and nominations
[edit]Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1997 | Due South | Gemini Award for Best Guest Actress in a Drama | Nominated |
1999 | The Matrix | Empire Award for Best Newcomer (tied with Damien O'Donnell) | Won |
1999 | MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance | Nominated | |
1999 | Saturn Award for Best Actress | Nominated | |
2000 | Chocolat | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Nominated |
2000 | Memento | Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female | Won |
2000 | Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | |
2003 | The Matrix Revolutions | Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama/Action Adventure | Nominated |
2006 | Fido | Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Canadian Film | Won |
2006 | Snow Cake | Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role | Won |
References
[edit]- ^ Lee, Alana (November 3, 2003). "Carrie Anne Moss: The Matrix Revolutions interview". BBC. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
- ^ "Carrie-Anne Moss – Profile". E!. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
- ^ "New 'Matrix'-Inspired One Sheet for 'Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D'". Bloody-disgusting.com. June 12, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
- ^ Heritage, Stuart (October 21, 2010). "The Matrix: No 13 best sci-fi and fantasy film of all time". Guardian. London.
- ^ "Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies of All Time". IGN. November 15, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ a b "She's walked with a zombie". New York Daily News. June 8, 2007. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ Mitchell, Elvis (December 15, 2000). "FILM REVIEW; Candy Power Comes to Town". The New York Times.
- ^ "Chocolat (2000)". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ Phipps, Keith (November 6, 2000). "Red Planet". The A.V. Club.
- ^ "Red Planet (2000)". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ Mottram, p. 111.
- ^ "Memento". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Memento (2001)". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ "The Matrix Reloaded". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- ^ Lang, Brent (March 29, 2016). "'Deadpool' Overtakes 'Matrix Reloaded' as Highest-Grossing R-Rated Movie". variety.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- ^ "The Matrix Revolutions". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- ^ "The Matrix Revolutions (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- ^ "Interview - Carrie-Anne Moss". BBC.
- ^ a b Nayman, Adam. "ELLE Interview: Carrie-Anne Moss - Elle Canada".
- ^ Tillson, Tamsen (July 18, 2006). "Fest unleashes 'Fido'" – via Variety.
- ^ Abele, Robert (June 15, 2007). "The flesh-eating farce". Retrieved January 15, 2022 – via LA Times.
- ^ "Snow Cake". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Disturbia". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Disturbia (2007)". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ "Fireflies in the Garden (2011)". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ a b Gregor Jordan's Unthinkable Archived November 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine 2011-01-18, Cinematofilos.com.ar (in Spanish)
- ^ "Silent Hill: Revelation". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
- ^ "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D – Box Office Data, DVD Sales, Movie News, Cast Information". The Numbers. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
- ^ "Silent Hill: Revelation". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ Webster, Andy (October 26, 2012). "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D". The New York Times.
- ^ "Vegas". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ Hale, Mike (September 24, 2012). "'Vegas' on CBS, Starring Dennis Quaid". The New York Times.
- ^ "Knife Fight (2013)". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ "Compulsion". MovieWeb.
- ^ "Dimension Films Acquires Psychological Thriller Compulsion". ComingSoon. May 17, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ "'Compulsion' Heather Graham new trailer". Digital Spy. June 17, 2013. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ "Pompeii (2014)". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ Harvey, Dennis (September 15, 2014). "Toronto Film Review: 'Elephant Song'".
- ^ Deadline, Paul Brownfield Special To (October 11, 2015). "'Jessica Jones' Details Revealed, Full Pilot Shown – New York Comic Con".
- ^ "Marvel's Jessica Jones: Carrie-Anne Moss and Mike Colter Talk Sex, Character-Building, and More Sex".
- ^ "Marvel's Jessica Jones: Season 1 - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Production Begins on Humans Season 2". ComingSoon.net. April 21, 2016.
- ^ "Weekly top 10 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018) | BARB". Archived from the original on July 18, 2014.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen (January 12, 2017). "Film Review: 'The Bye Bye Man'".
- ^ "The Bye Bye Man (2017)". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ "The Matrix Resurrections First Reviews: Packed with Nostalgia but Exciting in New Ways". Retrieved December 23, 2021.
- ^ ""Who am I if not Trinity?" Carrie-Anne Moss on the Making of a Film Icon". GQ. December 20, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
- ^ "Carrie-Anne Moss Was Blown Away By How Neo & Trinity Return In Matrix 4". ScreenRant. December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
- ^ "Baby Boom". People. 60 (20). November 17, 2003. ISSN 0093-7673. Archived from the original on September 26, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
- ^ "Carrie Anne Moss: Annapurna Living". November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- ^ Dave McNary (April 22, 2015). "Documentary 'Unity' Set for Aug. 12 Release with 100 Star Narrators". Variety. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
External links
[edit]- 1967 births
- Living people
- 20th-century Canadian actresses
- 21st-century Canadian actresses
- Actors from Burnaby
- Actresses from British Columbia
- American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni
- Best Actress Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
- Best Supporting Actress Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
- Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States
- Canadian film actresses
- Canadian television actresses
- Canadian video game actresses
- Canadian voice actresses
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female winners
- Naturalized citizens of the United States