Anna Paquin: A Hollywood Comeback And A Bizarre Controversy
Anna Paquin was involved in a controversy with Elizabeth Finch in which the latter wrongfully claimed she owned one of Paquin's properties.
At the age of 11, actress Anna Paquin was on fire. She had just picked up an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Jane Campion’s 1993 movie The Piano, which just so happened to be Paquin’s first-ever acting role. That win also made her the second-youngest winner in Academy Award history. Since that time, Paquin has forged a solid acting career. But mixed in there was a very odd controversy having to do with a former colleague and a piece of property.
Anna Paquin Was Involved With the Bizarre Elizabeth Finch Scandal
Movies and television aren’t the only place Anna Paquin has made headlines. She was also caught up in the Elizabeth Finch story. You may recall that Finch was first a writer on Anna Paquin’s hit series, True Blood, eventually moving on to another hit series, Shonda Rhimes’ Grey’s Anatomy.
What transpired during Finch’s time as a writer for the show is jaw-dropping. Finch revealed during her stay that she had bone cancer that had been misdiagnosed and that while she was going through chemotherapy, she also had an abortion. The problem with all these medical issues is that none of them were true.
As word began to get out about Finch’s story Vanity Fair completed an extensive write-up on her. What they found was that not only did Finch not have cancer, but the kidney transplant that she claimed to have received never happened either.
This is where Paquin enters the story. Anna Paquin and Finch became friends on the True Blood set and when Finch met her wife, they went to Hawaii to stay at Paquin’s home. Finch claimed she was part owner of the house, which was not true. Also not true was Anna Paquin giving her kidney to Finch when Finch said she needed a kidney transplant.
Thankfully, we think, Anna Paquin no longer has to deal with Finch’s fibs. We can also hope that the former Rogue of X-Men fame will find a way to be more active on the big or small screens. Let’s take a look back at her career to see what led her to this spot.
Anna Paquin Broke Through At A Young Age With The Piano
Paquin was born in Canada but raised in New Zealand and it was in New Zealand where she got her start. She was nine years old when Campion brought her production of The Piano to New Zealand to cast and film the movie. Paquin had zero acting experience but was among the 5,000 who auditioned for the part that Paquin eventually won.
It was quite remarkable that an actor so young (Paquin was nine when she auditioned) could nail the role without having any prior experience and then go on to win an Oscar. She was setting herself up for a wonderful career… or for a big fall.
Her next film was a remake of Jane Eyre and she played a young Jane. Parts were becoming more frequent for Paquin throughout the mid-’90s as she pulled in roles in movies such as Amistad, Hurlyburly, She’s All That, and All The Rage.
Anna Paquin Is Rogue In The X-Men
It was the year 2000 that saw Paquin star in three separate movies beginning with her first shot at a superhero movie when she played Rogue in X-Men. From there she jumped to Almost Famous and then ended the year with Finding Forrester. She was a busy young lady only to find herself getting busier.
Paquin’s turn in X-Men (and the popularity of the film) saw her reprise that role two more times. She starred in the 2003 X2: X-Men United and then again in 2006s X-Men: The Last Stand. It wouldn’t be until 2014 when she would give her Rogue character one more go ‘round in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Anna Paquin Was Sookie Stackhouse In True Blood
In 2008, Paquin made her first jump onto the TV screen and it was a big one. She starred as Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO hit True Blood. This was a great move for her as the series was extremely popular with a huge fan base. It lasted 7 seasons and she was in all 81 episodes. During her True Blood years, Paquin was also able to continue filming movies. She really has never stopped.
Anna Paquin Came Out As Bi-Sexual
Her personal life, though, was a different story. In 2010 Paquin married her True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer but it wasn’t the marriage that made news for her, it was the fact that she also came out as bi-sexual that same year. In a PSA video promoting the Give A Damn campaign, Paquin says to the camera, “I’m Anna Paquin. I’m bisexual and I give a damn.”
Thankfully her announcement didn’t damage her career in the least, though she did have to answer many questions concerning her sex life. During a 2014 interview with Larry King, she first had to endure the host’s questions about the sex scenes in True Blood, then she had to field his questions about her bisexuality and if she was a “former bisexual” since she was now married to Moyer.
King faced plenty of backlash for his line of questioning. “He got the shit kicked out of him by the LGBT community,” Paquin said to The Guardian. “People understand the version of the world they live in, and if it’s outside their experience, then sometimes it frightens people, or they just don’t get it. And that’s fine.”
Speaking of personal life, Paquin does enjoy her fraternal twins with Moyer and she also has a stepson and daughter from Moyer’s previous marriage.
As you can tell from the photos above, Moyer and Paquin take advantage of date night away from the kids, whenever they can.
She Had A Role In The Irishman
While Paquin’s career may have slowed down a bit since True Blood ended, the now 37-year-old has not stepped away from Hollywood. She just chooses roles more carefully. Anna recently appeared in the massive movie The Irishman, the Martin Scorsese film about Jimmy Hoffa and hitman Frank Sheeran. She portrayed one of Frank Sheeran’s daughters.
She’s still active in the Hollywood scene too. Here she is being photographed for a 2020 Oscar party…
Anna Paquin Is Robyn In Flack
But she has really been keeping busy with her new series, Flack. Not only is she starring in it, but she is also its executive producer. It has taken Paquin and her production company Casm five years to get the project to the finish line. As Paquin puts it, “It’s not a name-only credit. I’m a huge control freak. I’m involved in every single aspect of every single decision.”
Good for her. And who knows, perhaps she will give the X-Men franchise one more try someday. It’s just nice to know a talent such as hers has not gone away.
Although Anna Paquin’s series Flack only lasted two seasons, it hasn’t stopped the Academy Award-winning actress from moving on. The Amazon Original series saw Paquin star as Robyn, an American publicist working at a London PR firm, whose job it was to keep celebrity clients’ lives in order. The problem was, while she was doing that, her life was falling apart. The series received nice critical reviews, but it didn’t quite catch on with audiences.
She Was An NFL Star’s Wife In American Underdog
Anna Paquin did appear in an episode of Amazon’s Modern Love before venturing back out to the big screen. After a three-year hiatus, her last big screen film being Tell It to the Bees, Paquin returned as the wife of NFL quarterback Kurt Warner (Shazam’s Zachary Levi) in American Underdog.
The film told the story of Warner’s surprising rise from grocery store stock boy to Arena League football star to NFL quarterback for the Super Bowl winning St. Louis Rams and The Greatest Show On Turf. As Brenda, Paquin perfectly portrayed Warner’s wife giving him all the love and support needed to see him through on their professional football journey.
Anna Paquin also has two more films waiting in the wings. The first one is called True Spirit and in it she plays the mother of Julie Watson, the Australian teenager who became the youngest person to ever sail non-stop around the world. Alone. After that, Paquin will star in A Bit of Light as a recovering alcoholic who moves back into her father’s home. While she tries to remain sober, she also tries to start a new relationship with the young daughters she gave up custody to her ex-husband.
She Starred In A Friend Of The Family
A Friend of the Family will stream on Peacock beginning on October 6th and stars Anna Paquin, Jake Lacy, and Colin Hanks among others. The true story follows the Broberg family and the kidnappings of daughter Jan many times over the years. It is set for nine episodes in all and Paquin plays the mother Mary Ann Broberg.
Anna Paquin Has A Role In True Spirit On Netflix
Though it isn’t a starring role, Anna Paquin appeared in True Spirit on Netflix. The movie tells the story of Jessica Watson (played by Teagan Croft) who was the youngest person to ever sail solo and non-stop around the world. The movie premiered on the streamer in February 2023.
In it, Anna Paquin plays Julie Watson, Jessica’s mother. Overall, True Spirit earned strong critical marks for its story.
