Neve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell (/ˈnɛv/; born October 3, 1973[1]) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her performances in the horror and slasher genres, which have earned her recognition as a scream queen and in popular culture, and for playing roles in several comedy and drama projects. She is among the highest-grossing actresses and acclaimed heroines in horror, and has won two Blockbuster Entertainment Awards for Best Actress, a Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Actress, a MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance, and a Saturn Award for Best Actress, among other accolades.
Neve Campbell
Actress
1989–present
-
Jeff Colt(m. 1995; div. 1998)
JJ Feild
(2011–present)
2
- Christian Campbell (brother)
- America Olivo (sister-in-law)
Following a series of minor appearances, Campbell had a starring role in the drama series Catwalk (1992–1993) and the television film The Canterville Ghost (1996). She subsequently relocated to the United States to star as Julia Salinger in the Fox teen drama series Party of Five (1994–2000), which became her breakthrough role. She became a teen idol and earned a nomination for the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress. While on Party of Five, she starred in her first American feature film, headlining the supernatural blockbuster The Craft (1996). She rose to international prominence for her leading role as Sidney Prescott in Wes Craven's slasher film Scream (1996), which became the highest grossing slasher film for 22 years and earned a cult following. The success of Scream spawned the Scream franchise, for which she reprised the role of Sidney in each film installment except the sixth in 2023.
Campbell achieved further acclaim for starring in the neo-noir thriller film Wild Things (1998), the drama film 54 (1998), the crime film Drowning Mona (2000), the drama film Panic (2000), and the television feature Last Call (2002). She produced, starred in, and wrote the story for the drama film The Company (2003). She appeared in the drama film When Will I Be Loved (2004), the comedies Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004) and Relative Strangers (2006), and the romantic-drama Closing the Ring (2007) before taking a hiatus from film. She returned to television with a recurring role in the drama series Medium (2009) and starring roles in the action series The Philanthropist (2009) and the miniseries Titanic: Blood and Steel (2012). She continued to play minor roles in the medical drama Grey's Anatomy (2012), the sitcom Welcome to Sweden (2014), and the drama Manhattan (2015).
Campbell returned to film with the comedy-drama Walter (2015), and has since appeared in the action Skyscraper (2018), the drama Castle in the Ground (2019), and the musical drama Clouds (2020). She has played LeAnn Harvey in the political thriller series House of Cards (2016–2017), Margaret McPherson in the crime drama series The Lincoln Lawyer (2022–present), and Raven in the post-apocalyptic series Twisted Metal (2023), She served as an executive producer for the documentary Swan Song (2023).
Early life[edit]
Campbell was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada on October 3, 1973. Campbell's Dutch mother, Marnie (née Neve), is a yoga instructor and psychologist from Amsterdam.[2] She descends from Sephardic Jews who immigrated to the Netherlands and converted to Catholicism.[3] Her Scottish father, Gerry Campbell, immigrated to Canada from his native Glasgow,[4] and taught high school drama classes in Mississauga, Ontario. Campbell's maternal grandparents ran a theatre company in the Netherlands, and her paternal grandparents were also performers. Campbell has an older brother, Christian Campbell, and two younger half-brothers, Alex Campbell and Damian McDonald. Her parents divorced when she was two.
At age six, she saw a performance of The Nutcracker and decided she wanted to take ballet classes, enrolling at the Erinvale School of Dance. She later moved into residence at the National Ballet School of Canada, training there and appearing in performances of The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty.[4] After accumulating numerous dance-related injuries, she moved into acting at age 15, performing in The Phantom of the Opera at the Canon Theatre in Toronto while attending John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute in Guelph,[5] where she trained in acting and worked in theatre. One of her classmates was actress Tara Strong.[6]
Campbell's early work included a 1980s Eaton's department store Christmas commercial, and a 1991 Coca-Cola commercial; she promoted the latter's sponsorship on Bryan Adams' Waking Up the Nation Tour (1991–1992).[7][8]
Career[edit]
1990s[edit]
Campbell made an uncredited cameo appearance on the series My Secret Identity in 1991.[9] The next year, she played the minor role of Laura Capelli on an episode of The Kids in the Hall,[10][11] and landed her first starring role as Daisy in the Canadian drama series Catwalk.[12][13][14] She subsequently made several guest appearances on various Canadian television shows, such as Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, both occurring in 1994.[15][16]
With a desire to perform in Hollywood,[17] Campbell went to Los Angeles to find a talent manager to represent her, and ended up going on several auditions while she was doing so.[18] One of these auditions was for Party of Five, which cast her in the role of orphaned teenager Julia Salinger,[19] whereupon Campbell permanently relocated to the United States to play the role.[20][21] Party of Five premiered in 1994, and went on to receive critical acclaim, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama in 1996.[22] Campbell's performance on the series was lauded by critics and audiences alike, described as "television's most believable teenager"; the series is credited as her breakthrough role.[23]
After appearing on Party of Five for six seasons, Campbell did not renew her contract for a seventh season to pursue film work,[24] which led the series' end in 2000.[25] Her first widely released film was The Craft (1996), which she starred in alongside Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk and Rachel True. The movie was a surprise hit, earning $55 million against a budget of $15 million.[26][27] Her work in The Craft was noticed by director Wes Craven, who specifically asked her to audition for the role of Sidney Prescott in 1996's Scream,[28] believing that the actress could be "innocent", but also handle herself once emotional and psychical conflicts arose.[29] Scream was released to major commercial and critical success, earning over $173 million at the worldwide box office which made it the highest-grossing slasher film until the release of Halloween (2018).[30] Her performance received significant critical praise.[31] Variety magazine described Campbell as "charismatic",[32] and the Los Angeles Times called both her acting and the character "iconic".[33] For her performance, she won the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Actress and the Saturn Award for Best Actress.[34]
Public image[edit]
Campbell has often been referred to as a sex symbol and scream queen,[144][145] where the first is a title she has held since her breakout role in Party of Five in the 1990s.[146][147] In addition to her work in the horror genre, Campbell twice successfully established herself in mainstream film and television, beginning from the late 1990s, and resuming in the 2010s following a hiatus,[55] by focusing on dramatic works which have earned her equal praise.[75] The role of Sidney Prescott as played by Campbell established her as one of the highest-grossing and acclaimed heroines of all time in the slasher genre.[148][149][150] She and Jamie Lee Curtis have frequently been included on lists citing the best actresses in horror.[151][152] Despite her status in the genre, she stated that she finds horror movies "difficult to watch".[153] Campbell appeared on People magazine's list of "50 Most Beautiful People" twice, and Bustle magazine described her as "one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood".[54] She has also been recognized for her fashion style.[145][154][155]
Campbell was name-dropped in the dance-pop album Dawn FM, which was performed and co-produced by The Weeknd.[156] She was referenced in the single "Here We Go... Again" featuring Tyler, the Creator, with the lyric "I loved her right, make her scream like Neve Campbell."[157] On an interview with James Corden, the actress detailed her reaction, stating that "Well at first, my publicist told me, and she was like, 'The Weeknd,' and I was like, 'Wait, which weekend? Last weekend?' I had no idea what she was talking about. And then I realized, 'Oh, the guy who played at the Super Bowl! That guy! Fellow Canadian. How cool."[157][158]
Campbell has advocated against poverty and world hunger.[159] In a 2016 interview, she declared herself a socialist.[160] In 2020, she and several other Scream co-stars hosted a charity event to raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.[161][162] In July 2022, she appeared in an advertisement for the American Red Cross, where she played Sidney Prescott.[163][164][165]