Taylor Schilling

TAYLOR SCHILLING

Date of Birth: July 27, 1984

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Taylor Schilling split her time between her divorced parents' houses in West Roxbury and Wayland. Taylor knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actress, having made her acting debut in a middle school production of Fiddler on the Roof. She attended Fordham University in New York, graduating in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in acting. She wanted to continue her acting studies and went on to do a graduate program at New York University, but dropped out after her second year.

Her first big break came when she was cast in the lead role in NBC's TV drama Mercy. Starring alongside Michelle Trachtenberg and Jaime Lee Kirchner, Taylor played Iraq war veteran Nurse Veronica Callahan. When asked about the biggest challenge of her role, Schilling told Elle, "I want to be respectful toward the women I'm representing."

In 2007, Schilling was seen in a small role in Dark Matter starring Meryl Streep. In 2011's Atlas Shrugged, she played the lead role of Dagny Taggart, a powerful railroad executive. Her big break in feature films came when she was cast as Beth Clayton, the love interest of an Iraq war veteran played by Zac Efron in The Lucky One, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel.

In 2012, Schilling also plays the wife of Ben Affleck's character in Argo. In The Silver Linings Playbook, she appears with A-list actors such as Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and Julia Stiles.

Filmography:

The Lucky One (2012)
The Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Argo (2012)
Atlas Shrugged: Part I (2011)
Dark Matter (2007)