Shailene Woodley

Woodley in 2008

Woodley began her acting career in 1999 with a minor role in the television film Replacing Dad. She went on to feature in minor television roles in The District and Crossing Jordan (in the latter, she portrayed the 10-year-old version of Jill Hennessy's title character). She followed with a leading role in the television film A Place Called Home (2004) as California Ford, which earned her a nomination for a Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actress in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special.[8] She also originally played the young Kaitlin Cooper in The O.C.[4] and appeared as the titular character Felicity Merriman in the television film Felicity: An American Girl Adventure (2005). Her performance received another Young Artist Award nomination, this time for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries, or Special (Comedy or Drama). Following this, Woodley appeared in numerous guest roles in other television series, including Everybody Loves Raymond, My Name is Earl, CSI: NY, Close to Home, and Cold Case.

Woodley was then cast as the main character, Amy Juergens, in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–2013), about a 15-year-old girl who learns she is pregnant. The show explores the effects of her pregnancy on her family, friends, and herself, as well as life at a California high school. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly praised her performance, stating, "[It] lifts a well-meaning, rather brave, but ramshackle show a notch."[9] Popular among viewers, the show became one of ABC Family's most-watched telecasts throughout its five-season run, spanning over 121 episodes.

In 2011, Woodley made her feature film debut in The Descendants, where she played Alex, the troubled elder daughter of Matt King (played by George Clooney). Her performance received positive reviews from critics. A. O. Scott from The New York Times said, "Ms. Woodley..[gives]..one of the toughest, smartest, most credible adolescent performances in recent memory."[10] Peter Debruge from Variety said that her performance is a "revelation" and that "in the role of Alex, [she is] displaying both the edge and depth the role demands."[11] Receiving accolades for her performance, Woodley received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture,[12] and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female.[13] People named her one of 2012 "Most Beautiful at Every Age."[14] Woodley was also considered one of the 55 faces of the future by Nylon's "Young Hollywood Issue".[13]

Woodley starred in the film adaptation of Tim Tharp's novel, The Spectacular Now, as Aimee Finecky, an innocent, bookish teenager who begins dating the charming, freewheeling high-school senior (Miles Teller).[15] The film premiered at Sundance on January 18, 2013.[16] Her portrayal of Aimee gained praise from critics; Los Angeles Times' critic Betsy Sharkey said that Woodley and Teller "bring such an authentic face of confidence and questioning, indifference and need, pain and denial, friendship and first love,"[17] while another critic from The Guardian said that they gave "remarkably strong performances" that "display a depth of feeling that's breathtaking in its simplicity and honest[y]."[18] Additionally, Woodley won the Special Jury Award for Acting, alongside Teller, at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.

Woodley in 2011

In October 2012, Woodley was offered the role of Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.[19] On June 19, 2013, she was cut from the film. Director Marc Webb told The Hollywood Reporter that the cut was "a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship," and that everyone loved working with Woodley.[20] She had also signed on to star in White Bird in a Blizzard, directed by Gregg Araki. Although filming took place in October 2012, the film was not released until January 20, 2014, at the Sundance Film Festival[21] and then on October 24, 2014, to wider audiences, where it received mixed reviews. In the film, she plays teenager Katrina "Kat" Connors, whose life is thrown into chaos when her mother disappears. Critic Moira MacDonald commended her by saying, "Woodley's depiction of Kat is low-key, natural, and utterly unaffected; as she has in every role, she makes the character her own, with her scratchy little voice and level gaze."[22]

In 2014, Woodley starred as Beatrice "Tris" Prior in the film Divergent, an adaptation of Veronica Roth's best-selling young-adult novel of the same name, and the first installment in The Divergent Series.[23] Set in a dystopian and postapocalyptic Chicago, the film received mixed reviews, but Woodley's performance as Tris received a positive reception; Sam Allard from Orlando Weekly said, "with her performance as Tris Prior in Divergent, Woodley rescues and then raises up a film that could have been an utter disaster."[24] Divergent reached the number-one spot at the box office during its opening weekend, and was a financial success.[25]

Afterwards in 2014, Woodley starred as Hazel Grace Lancaster in The Fault in Our Stars, the film adaptation of John Green's novel of the same name. She portrayed a 16-year-old cancer patient who meets and falls in love with Augustus Waters (played by Ansel Elgort, who also played her brother in the Divergent series), a similarly afflicted teen from her cancer support group. Green said via Twitter about Woodley; "There were so many amazing auditions for the role of Hazel, but Shailene's love for the book and her understanding of Hazel blew me away."[26] The film was a blockbuster success, grossing over $307 million worldwide.[27] Woodley's performance received critical acclaim from critics; Peter Travers from Rolling Stone called her a "sublime actress with a résumé that pretty much proves she's incapable of making a false move on camera",[28] and Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times stated that her performance as Hazel is Oscar-worthy; and added, "she's that memorable"[29] On November 14, 2014, she received The Hollywood Film Award for Hollywood Breakout Performance – Actress for her performance as Hazel.[30]

Woodley at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con

In 2015, Woodley reprised her role as Tris in The Divergent Series: Insurgent, the second installment in The Divergent Series. Her performance once again received critical acclaim, with Daniel M. Kimmel of New England Movies Weekly writing, "Woodley does solid work here as she's done elsewhere, and continues to be someone to watch."[31] Despite a more negative critical reception than the previous film, Insurgent was commercially successful, making nearly $100 million in its worldwide debut and grossed $295.2 million worldwide.[32] She reprised her role again in the penultimate film of the series Allegiant (2016). The film, however, was poorly reviewed by critics[33] and a box-office bomb.[34] Lionsgate had planned for the final film in the series to be made for television, but Woodley announced that she would not be a part of it.[35] She next starred opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Oliver Stone's biographical thriller Snowden (2016),[36] in which Gordon-Levitt portrayed Edward Snowden.[37][38][39] Owen Gleiberman's review said that Woodley "gives a performance of breathtaking dimension: As the movie goes on, she makes Lindsay supportive and selfish, loving and stricken."[40]

Starting in 2015,[41] Woodley took a break from filming for nearly a year, stating in a later interview that she "had hit a wall with acting."[42] From 2017 to 2019, Woodley starred as a sexual assault survivor, alongside Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, in two seasons of the HBO drama series Big Little Lies.[43] She was nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globe Award in 2017 for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television respectively for her role.[44][45] She also starred in and produced the biographical film Adrift (2018), with Baltasar Kormákur as director.[46] Her performance as Tami Oldham Ashcraft, a real-life sailor who was stranded at sea after a storm, with Daniel Feingold from WSVN calling her work "Oscar-worthy".[47] Woodley was awarded the Rising Star Award during the 2018 Deauville Film Festival.[48]

In 2019, Woodley starred in the romantic drama Endings, Beginnings alongside Sebastian Stan, Jamie Dornan, and Matthew Gray Gubler.[49]

Woodley joined the romantic drama film The Last Letter From Your Lover, which began production in Mallorca, Spain, and the United Kingdom in mid-October 2019. Woodley executive produced the film alongside co-star Felicity Jones. The film was directed by Augustine Frizzell.[50] In November 2019, she joined the cast of real-life drama film The Mauritanian. The film will star Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim and Benedict Cumberbatch and began filming in South Africa on December 2, 2019.[51] She will next star in Misanthrope, an upcoming thriller centered on a talented but troubled cop who is recruited by the FBI to help profile and track down a serial killer. The film is set to be directed by Damián Szifron. Woodley will serve as a producer on the film. Filming is set to begin in early 2021.[52] She was also cast in Girl Named Sue, a film based on the true story of Sue Webber-Brown, a DEA agent who created the Drug Endangered Children (DEC) protocol.[53] She joined Shia Lebeouf and Robert De Niro in the upcoming crime drama After Exile, with Joshua Michael Stern as director.[54] In November 2020, she joined The Fence a political satire film that will reunite her with Miles Teller for their fifth film. The film will be directed by Grímur Hákonarson, and begins filming in March 2021.[55] She is attached to star in animated feature Scarygirl and romance film No Baggage, which are in pre-production and development respectively.[56][57]