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Carrie-Anne Moss

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Carrie-Anne Moss
Moss at the 2016 Peabody Awards
Born (1967-08-21) August 21, 1967 (age 57)
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
OccupationActress
Years active1989–present
Spouse
Steven Roy
​
(m. 1999)​
Children3

Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967[1]) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in The Matrix series (1999–present). She has starred in Memento (2000), for which she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female, Red Planet (2000), Chocolat (2000), Fido (2006), Snow Cake (2006), for which she won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Disturbia (2007), Unthinkable (2010), Silent Hill: Revelation (2012), and Pompeii (2014). She also portrayed Jeri Hogarth in several television series produced by Marvel Television for Netflix, most notably Jessica Jones (2015–2019).

Early life

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Carrie-Anne Moss was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, the daughter of Barbara and Melvyn Moss. She has an older brother, Brooke. Moss's mother reportedly named her after the Hollies' 1967 hit song, "Carrie Anne", which had been released in May of that year. Moss lived with her mother in Vancouver as a child.[2] At the age of 11, she joined the Vancouver children's musical theatre and later went on to tour Europe with the Magee Secondary School Choir in her senior year.

Career

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1990s and breakthrough

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While living in Spain, Moss obtained a role as Tara, the clerk to Judge Nicholas Marshall in the drama series Dark Justice, her first television appearance. She moved from Barcelona to Los Angeles with the series in 1992. Moss left Dark Justice before the series' third and final season and was replaced by Elisa Heinsohn as Samantha "Sam" Collins. She enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena upon her return, and she subsequently starred in Fox's primetime soap opera Models Inc., a spin-off of Melrose Place, as a model. The series was cancelled in July 1995. She headlined a short-lived made-in-Canada series entitled Matrix.[3] For most of the 1990s, she appeared in several television series such as Street Justice, Baywatch, F/X: The Series, and Due South, for which she scored a nomination for the Gemini Award for Best Guest Actress in a Drama. Many of her film roles in the decade were in B movies, including Flashfire (1994), The Soft Kill (1994), Tough Guy (1994), Lethal Tender (1996), Sabotage (1996), and The Secret Life of Algernon (1997).

Her breakthrough role came when she played Trinity in the science-fiction thriller The Matrix (1999). Her role demanded extreme acrobatic actions, and she underwent a three-hour physical test during casting. The film grossed over US$460 million worldwide and was highly acclaimed by critics, some of whom have considered it one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made.[4][5] Moss asserted that prior to being cast in The Matrix, she had "no career". It launched Moss into international recognition and transformed her career; in a New York Daily News interview, she stated, "The Matrix gave me so many opportunities. Everything I've done since then has been because of that experience. It gave me so much."[6] Moss was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actress, and for the MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance.

2000s

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Moss had four film releases in 2000—Chocolat, Red Planet, The Crew, and Memento. In the romantic comedy Chocolat, she took on the role of Caroline Clairmont, a cold, devoutly pious woman living in a French village. As part of an overall positive response towards the film, The New York Times remarked that Moss, "as an upright widowed mother swathed in mournful baby blue, radiates glimmers of hurt; she shows it's not easy to keep up such a front."[7] The film made US$152 million at the international box office.[8] The science-fiction thriller Red Planet had her play the commander and leader of a rescue mission to Mars. A.V. Club felt that Moss was "largely reduced to worrying while modelling a series of tight-fitting space fashions".[9] Despite a US$80 million budget, the film only grossed US$33 million worldwide.[10] She appeared as detective Olivia Neal in the crime black comedy The Crew, directed by Michael Dinner.

In Christopher Nolan's neo-noir psychological thriller Memento, she portrayed a manipulative bartender who meets a man suffering from anterograde amnesia. Producer Jennifer Todd suggested Moss for the part after being impressed by her performance in The Matrix. Nolan decided to cast Moss as Natalie, saying, "She added an enormous amount to the role of Natalie that wasn't on the page".[11] The film became a sleeper hit, being acclaimed by critics and earning US$39.7 million over a US$9 million budget.[12][13] She won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her performance.

Moss reprised the role of Trinity in the back-to-back sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both released in 2003. Like the original, The Matrix Reloaded received positive critical reception,[14] and became a major box office hit, grossing US$742.1 million worldwide.[15] The Matrix Revolutions received a lukewarm critical reception, but made US$427.3 million globally.[16][17] During an interview with BBC Online, Moss expressed her pride for starring in the franchise, which she described as a "segment of [her] life": "It's deep and it's beautiful to have been part of it for so long. It's pretty spectacular".[18] She provided voiceovers for video game and animated spin-offs of the films.

In 2005, Moss starred in the little-seen thriller Suspect Zero as FBI agent Fran Kulok, and was part of an ensemble cast in the independent dramedy The Chumscrubber, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Moss next appeared in the zombie comedy Fido (2006), playing a housewife in a 1950s-esque alternate universe where radiation from space has turned the dead into zombies. She noted the "very rich" and "very visual" script for the film, and became drawn to the project for its "underlying messages about control and domination".[6][19] Fido was an opening night film at the Toronto International Film Festival,[20] and received largely favourable reviews, with the Los Angeles Times calling it a "crafty mixture of George A. Romero and Douglas Sirk."[21] Moss played the neighbour of an autistic woman in the small-scale romantic drama Snow Cake (2006). It was released in selected theatres, to positive reviews from critics. Moss earned a nomination for Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role.[22]

Moss at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival

In the Hitchcockian thriller Disturbia (2007), Moss portrayed the mother of a troubled teenager who suspects one of his neighbours is a serial killer. The film was met with a positive critical reception and made US$117.8 million around the globe.[23][24] She played one of the people who are brought together in the wake of a deadly car accident in the independent drama Normal (2007), released for selected theatres. Moss appeared in the drama Fireflies in the Garden, which revolved around the inner lives and affairs of a family. The production premiered at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United States in October 2011.[25] She starred in the straight-to-DVD romantic comedy Love Hurts (2009).

2010s

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In the thriller Unthinkable (2010), directed by Gregor Jordan, Moss played the leader of an FBI counter-terrorism team assigned to interrogate a man who threatens to detonate three nuclear bombs in the United States.[26] The film was released direct-to-DVD and generated controversy over its subject matter.[26] She took on the role of antagonist Claudia Wolf in the sequel to the 2006 horror film Silent Hill, Silent Hill: Revelation (2012). Budgeted at US$20 million, the film grossed US$52.3 million worldwide,[27][28] but garnered an overwhelmingly negative reception among film critics and fans alike.[29] Mentioning Moss in its review for the film, The New York Times remarked that the supporting actors "deserve much, much better".[30] She voiced the character Aria in the video games Mass Effect 2 (2010) and Mass Effect 3 (2012).

She had a four-episode arc in the series Chuck between 2011 and 2012, and played the regular role of Las Vegas Assistant District Attorney Katherine O'Connell in the CBS period drama series Vegas, which premiered in September 2012, but was cancelled after its first season, despite an overall positive response.[31] Writing for The New York Times, Mike Hale felt that Moss "feels out of place in this frontier tale, but looks great in snug wool suits".[32] Moss obtained the role of Penelope, a California candidate for governor who runs a free health clinic, in the political thriller Knife Fight (2012), directed by Bill Guttentag. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released for a two-theater run and digital platforms.[33] Moss headlined the psychological dark comedy Compulsion (2013),[34] in which she played one of two people occupying neighbouring apartments, each one grappling with psychological disorders that begin to overtake their lives.[35] The film opened for limited release.[36] She voiced the character of Admiral Wells in the fantasy animated film The Clockwork Girl (2014).

She starred in the 3D historical disaster picture Pompeii (2014), produced and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. The film, inspired by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 that destroyed the Roman Empire city Pompeii, had her portray Aurelia, the wife of the city governor.[37] In the independent drama Elephant Song (2014), directed by Charles Binamé, Moss starred as the wife of a psychiatrist. The film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, and in its review for the film, Variety described her role as "a pushily self-centered second wife" and found her part to be "a poorly integrated subplot" in the film.[38] In 2015, she voiced a widowed mother in the made-for-television animated film Pirate's Passage, was one of the narrators in the documentary Unity, and appeared as the wife of Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein, an updated adaptation of Mary Shelley's book.

In 2015, Moss appeared in Jessica Jones as Jeri Hogarth, an attorney and potentially powerful ally to the title character. The gender of the character was changed from male to female for the series, and the character was written as a lesbian.[39] Moss signed on to the series after reading the first two scripts, having been pitched the character by producer Jeph Loeb and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg. She described the character by saying, "she's fierce, she's strong, she's powerful, and she likes that power".[40] The web series premiered on Netflix, to critical acclaim.[41] Moss has also reprised her role of Jeri Hogarth in the second-season finale of Daredevil, and has had recurring arcs in Iron Fist and The Defenders. Moss took on the lead role of Dr. Athena Morrow, an AI researcher invited to reverse engineer a consciousness program,[42] in the second season of the science-fiction series Humans.[43] Moss filmed a supporting part in the supernatural horror film The Bye Bye Man (2017), playing what Variety described as "the world's most soft-edged hard-bitten police detective".[44] Despite negative reviews, the film grossed US$24 million worldwide on a budget of US$7 million.[45]

2020s

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Moss returned to the Matrix film series in the 2021 film The Matrix Resurrections, in which Moss reprises her role as Trinity. The film was released on December 22, 2021, in theaters and on HBO Max. The film overall received mixed reviews from critics, yet Moss's performance as Trinity was again praised.[46] Moss welcomed her return to the role, stating, "Who am I if not Trinity?"[47][48]

Personal life

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Moss married Canadian actor Steven Roy in 1999, and they have two sons (b. 2003 and 2005) and a daughter (b. 2009).[49] As of 2020, they live in New Hampshire.[19] She is the founder of Annapurna Living, a lifestyle brand designed to empower women through mindfulness, meditation, and devotion.[50] Moss stresses that her spiritual practice has been instrumental in navigating the "rejection" and stresses in the Hollywood movie business.[51]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1994 The Soft Kill Jane Tanner
1994 Flashfire Meredith Neal
1995 Terrified Tracy Also known as Evil Never Sleeps
1996 Sabotage Louise Castle
1997 Lethal Tender Melissa Wilkins
1997 The Secret Life of Algernon Madge Clerisy
1999 New Blood Leigh
1999 The Matrix Trinity
2000 Chocolat Caroline Clairmont
2000 Red Planet Kate Bowman
2000 The Crew Olivia Neal
2000 Memento Natalie
2003 The Matrix Reloaded Trinity
2003 The Animatrix Voice only
2003 The Matrix Revolutions
2004 Suspect Zero Fran Kulok
2005 The Chumscrubber Jerri Falls
2005 Confessions of an Action Star Herself / Girlfriend in movie
2006 Fido Helen Robinson
2006 Snow Cake Maggie
2006 Mini's First Time Diane Drogues-Tennan
2007 Disturbia Julie Brecht
2007 Normal Catherine
2008 Fireflies in the Garden Kelly Hanson
2009 Love Hurts Amanda Bingham
2010 Unthinkable Helen Brody
2012 Silent Hill: Revelation Claudia Wolf
2012 Knife Fight Penelope Nelson
2013 The Clockwork Girl Admiral Wells (voice)
2013 Treading Water Psychiatrist
2013 Compulsion Saffron
2014 Dragon Nest: Warriors' Dawn Elena (voice)
2014 Pompeii Aurelia
2014 Elephant Song Olivia
2015 Pirate's Passage Kerstin Hawkins (voice)
2015 Unity[52] Narrator Documentary
2015 Frankenstein Elizabeth Frankenstein
2016 Brain on Fire Rhona Nack
2017 The Bye Bye Man Detective Shaw
2021 The Matrix Resurrections Trinity
2024 Accidental Texan Faye
2024 Die Alone Mae

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1991–1993 Dark Justice Tara McDonald 9 episodes
1991 Street Justice Jennifer 2 episodes
1992 Forever Knight Monica Howard Episode: "Feeding the Beast"
1992 Down the Shore Nancy Episode: "Atlantic City"
1993 Matrix Liz Teel 13 episodes
1993 Doorways Laura Unaired TV pilot
1993 Silk Stalkings Lisa / Lana Bannon Episode: "The Perfect Alibi"
1994–1995 Models Inc. Carrie Spencer 29 episodes
1994 Baywatch Gwen Brown / Mattie Brown Episode: "Mirror, Mirror"
1995 Nowhere Man Karin Stoltz Episode: "Something About Her"
1996–1997 F/X: The Series Lucinda Scott 22 episodes (Season 1)
1996 Due South Irene Zuko Episode: "Juliet is Bleeding"
1997 Viper Stacy Taylor Episode: "Triple Cross"
2007 Suspect Lt. Chivers TV pilot
2008 Pretty/Handsome Elizabeth Fitzpayne TV pilot
2011 Normal Ann Brown TV pilot
2011–2012 Chuck Gertrude Verbanski 4 episodes
2012–2013 Vegas Katherine O'Connell 21 episodes
2014 Crossing Lines Amanda Andrews 4 episodes
2015–2019 Jessica Jones Jeri Hogarth 34 episodes
2016 Daredevil Episode: "A Cold Day in Hell's Kitchen"
2016 Humans Athena Morrow 8 episodes
2016 Man Seeking Woman Joan Dillon Episode: "Eel"
2017 Iron Fist Jeri Hogarth 3 episodes
2017 The Defenders Episode: "Mean Right Hook"
2019–2022 Wisting Maggie Griffin 11 episodes
2019–2020 Tell Me a Story Rebecca Pruitt 10 episodes (Season 2)
2024 The Acolyte Indara 4 episodes
TBA FUBAR Greta Nelso Post-production (Season 2)

Video games

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Year Title Voice role Notes
2003 Enter the Matrix Trinity FMV; Motion capture
2010 Mass Effect 2 Aria T'Loak
2012 Mass Effect 3 Also appears in Omega
2021 Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Archive audio
The Matrix Awakens Herself / Trinity Voice and motion capture, tie-in tech demo for The Matrix Resurrections
2022 Horizon Forbidden West Tilda Voice and motion capture

Awards and nominations

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Year Nominated work Award Result
1997 Due South Gemini Award for Best Guest Actress in a Drama Nominated
1999 The Matrix Empire Award for Best Newcomer (tied with Damien O'Donnell) Won
1999 MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance Nominated
1999 Saturn Award for Best Actress Nominated
2000 Chocolat Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated
2000 Memento Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female Won
2000 Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated
2003 The Matrix Revolutions Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama/Action Adventure Nominated
2006 Fido Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Canadian Film Won
2006 Snow Cake Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Won

References

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  1. ^ Lee, Alana (November 3, 2003). "Carrie Anne Moss: The Matrix Revolutions interview". BBC. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  2. ^ "Carrie-Anne Moss – Profile". E!. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  3. ^ "New 'Matrix'-Inspired One Sheet for 'Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D'". Bloody-disgusting.com. June 12, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  4. ^ Heritage, Stuart (October 21, 2010). "The Matrix: No 13 best sci-fi and fantasy film of all time". Guardian. London.
  5. ^ "Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies of All Time". IGN. November 15, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "She's walked with a zombie". New York Daily News. June 8, 2007. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  7. ^ Mitchell, Elvis (December 15, 2000). "FILM REVIEW; Candy Power Comes to Town". The New York Times.
  8. ^ "Chocolat (2000)". Box Office Mojo.
  9. ^ Phipps, Keith (November 6, 2000). "Red Planet". The A.V. Club.
  10. ^ "Red Planet (2000)". Box Office Mojo.
  11. ^ Mottram, p. 111.
  12. ^ "Memento". Rotten Tomatoes.
  13. ^ "Memento (2001)". Box Office Mojo.
  14. ^ "The Matrix Reloaded". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  15. ^ Lang, Brent (March 29, 2016). "'Deadpool' Overtakes 'Matrix Reloaded' as Highest-Grossing R-Rated Movie". variety.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  16. ^ "The Matrix Revolutions". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  17. ^ "The Matrix Revolutions (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  18. ^ "Interview - Carrie-Anne Moss". BBC.
  19. ^ a b Nayman, Adam. "ELLE Interview: Carrie-Anne Moss - Elle Canada".
  20. ^ Tillson, Tamsen (July 18, 2006). "Fest unleashes 'Fido'" – via Variety.
  21. ^ Abele, Robert (June 15, 2007). "The flesh-eating farce". Retrieved January 15, 2022 – via LA Times.
  22. ^ "Snow Cake". Rotten Tomatoes.
  23. ^ "Disturbia". Rotten Tomatoes.
  24. ^ "Disturbia (2007)". Box Office Mojo.
  25. ^ "Fireflies in the Garden (2011)". Box Office Mojo.
  26. ^ a b Gregor Jordan's Unthinkable Archived November 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine 2011-01-18, Cinematofilos.com.ar (in Spanish)
  27. ^ "Silent Hill: Revelation". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
  28. ^ "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D – Box Office Data, DVD Sales, Movie News, Cast Information". The Numbers. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  29. ^ "Silent Hill: Revelation". Rotten Tomatoes.
  30. ^ Webster, Andy (October 26, 2012). "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D". The New York Times.
  31. ^ "Vegas". Rotten Tomatoes.
  32. ^ Hale, Mike (September 24, 2012). "'Vegas' on CBS, Starring Dennis Quaid". The New York Times.
  33. ^ "Knife Fight (2013)". Box Office Mojo.
  34. ^ "Compulsion". MovieWeb. June 14, 2013.
  35. ^ "Dimension Films Acquires Psychological Thriller Compulsion". ComingSoon. May 17, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  36. ^ "'Compulsion' Heather Graham new trailer". Digital Spy. June 17, 2013. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  37. ^ "Pompeii (2014)". Box Office Mojo.
  38. ^ Harvey, Dennis (September 15, 2014). "Toronto Film Review: 'Elephant Song'".
  39. ^ Deadline, Paul Brownfield Special To (October 11, 2015). "'Jessica Jones' Details Revealed, Full Pilot Shown – New York Comic Con".
  40. ^ "Marvel's Jessica Jones: Carrie-Anne Moss and Mike Colter Talk Sex, Character-Building, and More Sex". September 6, 2017.
  41. ^ "Marvel's Jessica Jones: Season 1 - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.
  42. ^ "Production Begins on Humans Season 2". ComingSoon.net. April 21, 2016.
  43. ^ "Weekly top 10 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018) | BARB". Archived from the original on July 18, 2014.
  44. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (January 12, 2017). "Film Review: 'The Bye Bye Man'".
  45. ^ "The Bye Bye Man (2017)". Box Office Mojo.
  46. ^ "The Matrix Resurrections First Reviews: Packed with Nostalgia but Exciting in New Ways". Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  47. ^ ""Who am I if not Trinity?" Carrie-Anne Moss on the Making of a Film Icon". GQ. December 20, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  48. ^ "Carrie-Anne Moss Was Blown Away By How Neo & Trinity Return In Matrix 4". ScreenRant. December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  49. ^ "Baby Boom". People. 60 (20). November 17, 2003. ISSN 0093-7673. Archived from the original on September 26, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
  50. ^ "Carrie Anne Moss: Annapurna Living". November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  51. ^ Moss, Carrie-Anne in interview with Tom Power, Q on CBC Radio 1, 4 Oct. 2024, c. 10:50 am (ADT to PDT, add 30 min for NLDT)
  52. ^ Dave McNary (April 22, 2015). "Documentary 'Unity' Set for Aug. 12 Release with 100 Star Narrators". Variety. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
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