Anna Paquin - I Know How Lucky I Am

THE ACTRESS OPENS UP ABOUT BEING DISCOVERED AT AGE 9, MARRYING HER COSTAR AND RAISING HER TWINS

- GILLIAN TELLING

In 1992, when Anna Paquin was a 9-year-old schoolkid in Wellington, New Zealand, a friend told her about an ad in the local paper announcing a casting call for a young girl to star in a movie filming in the area. Paquin, along with her older sister and most of her classmates, decided to try out. "I was not the kid that you would expect to be picked out of all the kids in my school," Paquin says with a laugh, noting that she wasn't remotely outgoing. "I was so shy." But director Jane Campion was entranced by her monologue, and Paquin was picked out of 5,000 kids for the role of the Victorian-era child Flora, a translator for her mute mother, in the indie drama The Piano.

The movie was a surprise hit, and Paquin won Best Supporting Actress at age 11, becoming the second-youngest Oscar winner of all time. Her career took off from there, but Paquin still feels humbled by her chance beginnings-even a little guilty. "I know how lucky I am," she says. "I almost feel like I jumped the queue in a way. There are so many extraordinarily talented people out there who have never had an opportunity like I did." At the same time, she wouldn't change a thing. "I got to learn to be an actor from people who were at the top of their game," she says of costars Holly Hunter, Sam Neill and Harvey Keitel. “It was an incredible opportunity and so educational and enriching. I'm extraordinarily grateful my family allowed me to do that."