Anna is among the great child actresses of the recent decades. She was born in 1982 in New Zealand. The country matters, because it's the reason for her uniquely enchanting accent. Unfortunately she no longer, now that she's an adult, has much of her accent left.

Her first movie, in the age of nine, was The Piano. That was a phenomenally strong start of an acting career, winning her an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Anna's next movie, three years later, was Jane Eyre, a historical drama. Anna is in it for the first 25 minutes only, playing young Jane Eyre. I haven't watched the rest of the movie, so I can't comment it, but the beginning with Anna is good. Jane, after death of her parents when she was a baby, has been raised by her aunt, who hasn't provided much love for Jane. When Jane is ten, her aunt, citing Jane as willful, obstinate and deceitful, sends her away to a boarding school. Most of the teachers there are extremely strict and uncaring, but Jane gets confort from some close friendships she develops. Anna is beautiful, her acting is first class, her strong willed character is enjoyable. The video quality is low, but Jane Eyre is nonetheless something an Anna fan should check out.

Fly Away Home, where Anna is about thirteen, is a beautiful movie, and on par with Piano in Anna aspects. Sadly, it's perhaps the last movie where she could be called a child.

In the made for TV movie The Member of the Wedding Anna does the main role, albeit in a short hair and speaking in a southern accent. This movie is more like a stage play, consisting mostly of discussions between Anna's character and her black servant woman. Unless you are a hard core fan of Anna or of historical stage plays, skip this movie. Available only on VHS.

In Amistad Anna has only a very small role, according to Michael Basler's Anna Paquin Page (see the detail box on the right). I haven't seen this movie.

In Hurbluburly, made one year after The Member of the Wedding, Anna is a teenager. Despite the the impressive cast, I couldn't force myself to watch all of this movie, where Hollywood big names talk about their lives and mope. Anna plays a slutty teenager with about ten minutes of screen time all in all. I found it interesting to see Anna in such a role.

Of Anna's later movies, I recommend A Walk on the Moon, Almost Famous and Darkness. I have found worth my time also all the other movies that I've seen where she appears.