Maggie Grace

Shannon Rutherford’s cosseted whippersnapper character in drama series ‘Lost’ is what made Maggie Grace a favorite with the fans and paved the path for what would turn out to be a burgeoning career in acting. Born in Columbus, Ohio, to Rick Denig and Valinn Denig, on September 21, 1983, Maggie Grace had two siblings and went to Worthington Christian Schools in her childhood where she started acting. She is of German and Irish ancestry. Her parents owned a jewelry business. Maggie’s parents divorced, and she had to move to Los Angeles with her mother.

As a child, Maggie enjoyed reading a lot and had particular adulation for the works of Shakespeare and Jane Austen. She had to drop out of high school and in Los Angeles, she had to face a lot of problems on the financial front. In LA, Maggie found an agent and also started acting classes. Soon she had a number of roles in low and medium budget independent productions and web and Television series. Her first major role was in the 2001 web series, ‘Rachel’s Room’ where she played the protagonist Rachel Reed. After some other roles in ‘Septuplets’ and ‘Oliver Beene,’ she did a movie ‘Murder in Greenwich’ playing ‘Martha Moxley’ which earned her a nomination for the Young Artist Award.

She also featured in ‘Shop Club’ the same year. The next year she played the Gothic character of a teenager in the drama ‘Twelve Mile Road.’ The role that would catapult her to fame was to come in 2004 when she was selected to play Shannon Rutherford in ‘Lost.’ The series was a huge success and transformed her into a star overnight and even earned her a nomination for the Teen Choice Award. She further appeared in the movie ‘The Fog,’ the next year while doing ‘Lost,’ shooting for the both the projects simultaneously. After this, she appeared in ‘Suburban Girl’ and ‘The Jane Austen Book Club,’ before being offered a role in the thriller ‘ Taken Taken is a Franco-American crime action thriller d >> Read More... ’ series where she appeared in the three movies.

She portrayed the lead character in ‘Malice in Wonderland,’ based on the book ‘Alice in Wonderland’ authored by Lewis Carroll. She played ‘Irina’ in the super hit Twilight Saga movies ‘Breaking Dawn I & II.’ She was a guest on the show Californication. Grace featured at number 27 on Maxim’s Hot 100 list and was ranked 44 on FHM’s Sexiest 100, both in 2005. Also appeared in Variety’s Top Actors worth watching list in 2009. Maggie is engaged to Brunt Bushnell, founder of an entertainment firm named Two-Bit Circus.