Clea DuVall
Clea DuVall was born in Los Angeles to Stephen DuVall and Rosemary Hatch. Her parents divorced when she was twelve, and, when her mother remarried, DuVall moved out because she did not feel at home in the newly structured family unit, dropping out of high school and getting her own apartment. She sought entertainment in movies and television programs, memorizing entire scenes. Though a rather shy person, DuVall decided she wanted to be an actress, and returned to high school, this time the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts, while working to support herself.
Nonetheless, DuVall had intensity, commitment and strong natural talent, and soon after graduating, the roles began to come, at first guest spots in television programs and small roles in small films. Soon her first major role came, in Robert Rodriguez's successful 1998 take on the alien-body-snatcher genre, The Faculty , which featured many other up-and-coming young actors such as Elijah Wood and Josh Hartnett, as well as a strong cast of established adult performers. DuVall played Stokely, a bizarre, tough Goth Girl. This role was typical of DuVall's casting - the outsider, attractive though in an edgy and sometimes slightly disturbing way. (DuVall is pretty and can be glamorous, or can appear rough-around-the-edges, for a role.) Similar roles came in But I'm a Cheerleader as a tattooed lesbian and Girl Interrupted as a mental patient.
DuVall is a complex person - soft-spoken and friendly, yet tough and independent - and she ably lends this complexity to her characters, making her a popular casting choice. She continues to turn in strong performances in such productions as the ensemble thriller Identity, the HBO Gen-X supernatural series Carnivale and the critically-praised 21 Grams.
Other projects include Itty Bitty Titty Committee, David Fincher's Zodic and a recurring role on NBC's hit series Heroes. In 2008 she appeared alongside Anne Hathaway in Passengers.
More recently she has guest starred on Law & Order, Lie to Me, Saving Grace, Numb3rs, Private Practice and Bones. She will also be in the upcoming film Betty Anne Waters about a working class mother who puts herself through lawschool in order to defend her wrongly convicted brother and features Hilary Swank and Juliette Lewis.
