Mara Wilson
Mara Wilson (born July 24, 1987) is an American actress. She rose to prominence as a child actress playing Natalie Hillard in the film Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)[2] and went on to play Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street (1994), the title character in Matilda (1996), and Annabel Greening in A Simple Wish (1997). Following her role as Lily in Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000), Wilson took a 12-year hiatus from acting to focus on writing. She returned to acting in 2012 and has predominantly worked in web series.
Mara Wilson
July 24, 1987[1]
Actress, writer
1993–2000, 2012–present
Ben Shapiro (cousin)
Early life[edit]
Mara Wilson was born in Burbank, California,[3] the oldest daughter of Burbank PTA school volunteer Suzie (née Shapiro) and KTLA broadcast engineer Mike Wilson.[4] Her mother was Jewish, while her father is half Irish.[5][6][7]
Wilson's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer on March 10, 1995,[8] and died on April 26, 1996. The film Matilda was dedicated to her memory.[9] Wilson later recalled that this affected her passion for acting.[10] At age 12, Wilson was diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder.[11] She has also been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.[12] She attended Idyllwild Arts Academy in Idyllwild, California. After graduation in 2005, Wilson relocated to New York City to continue her studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 2009.[13] Wilson appeared in her own one-woman show called Weren't You That Girl? while in college.[14]
Personal life[edit]
Wilson has three older brothers: Danny, Jon, and Joel, and a younger sister, Anna.[39] She is a cousin of political commentator and media host Ben Shapiro,[40][41] whom she has disavowed due to his conservative views and her contrasting progressive beliefs;[42] the two have no contact with each other.[43] Wilson was raised Jewish,[44] but became an atheist at the age of 15.[45]
In 2015, Wilson appeared in a video by the mental health charity Project UROK in which she discussed the mental illnesses she has experienced, including anxiety, depression, and obsessive–compulsive disorder.[46] Wilson discussed her history of mental illness on Paul Gilmartin's podcast The Mental Illness Happy Hour.[47]
Wilson came out as bisexual during an interview with Medium in September 2017.[48] In a 2017 op-ed in Elle magazine, she defended the then-13-year-old actress Millie Bobby Brown after commentators sexualized Brown's public image.[49][50] In a 2021 op-ed in The New York Times, Wilson commented on the documentary Framing Britney Spears and the parallels between her own life as a child star and Britney Spears'.[51] Wilson recalled an incident in which she was asked to comment on the burgeoning sexuality of an 18-year-old Spears when she herself was barely 13, and expressed relief at largely escaping oversexualization of her public image compared to Spears. Wilson described her disappointment when a reporter called her a "spoiled brat" after she stated that she wanted the day off on her 13th birthday instead of granting interviews.[51]
As of 2013, Wilson resided in the Queens borough of New York City.[52]