meredith

Meredith Jean Allicent (born October 19th, 1985), known professionally as Meredith Allicent, is an American-Canadian actress.

Early Life & Education Born on October 19th, 1985 in Tonawanda, New York, Meredith Allicent is the second child and oldest daughter of Lloyd, a retired steel mill worker, and Eleanor Allicent, a mathematics teacher from Nova Scotia.

Allicent's interest in performance began at an early age. A hyperactive child, her parents enrolled her in dance and voice lessons with her brother at the age of four. "We loved it," she remarked in a 2013 interview with W Magazine. The middle of four children, Allicent has remarked it was her way of "asserting her place in the family."

As there was little support for performing arts in Buffalo-area public schools, Allicent auditioned for children's roles in nearby SUNY Buffalo and the Buffalo Community Theater. She credits her role as the titular character in a hometown production of Annie as the performance that convinced her to pursue theater as a career.

The actress was rejected from Juilliard, Yale School of Drama, and The New School. In 2002, Allicent began attending New York University's Tisch School of the Arts on a private scholarship for low-income families. Her first apartment was a "600 square foot dump" shared with two roommates in Manhattan's Murray Hill neighborhood.

While attending Tisch, Allicent trained with The New Group. To focus on her career, Allicent dropped out of NYU in early 2006.

Career Beginnings While completing her education at Tisch, Allicent was cast as Tricia in the first off-Broadway production of Bert V. Royal's Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead. She was subsequently signed to Abrams Artist Talent Agency in New York City.

In 2006, Allicent appeared in an episode of Law & Order while trying and failing to break into the film industry. After her appeareance in the off-broadway production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, she was cast in Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore, co-starring actors Domnhall Gleeson, Brian d'Arcy James, and Andrew Connolly. Her performance was pleasantly surprising to theatre critics. Later that year, Allicent earned her first Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, losing to Frances de la Tour in The History Boys.

Fearing she would be typecast as a bubbly, straight-shooting supporting character, Allicent rebuffed most of her offers for the years of 2007, opting instead to finish her education at NYU. In May 2008, Allicent graduated with her B.F.A. in Drama.

Juno & Up In the Air Following her performance in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Allicent was invited to audition for the lead role in Jason Reitman's Juno. Feeling she did not fit the character, Reitman instead cast her as Leah. In 2008, she appeared as Rachel in the Apatow-produced comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall opposite Jason Segel and Kristen Bell.

Her visibility from this film allowed her to audition for Steven Soderbergh's 2009 film, The Informant! For her role as Ginger Whitacre, Allicent gained 27 lbs (12.2 kg). Later that year, she reunited with Reitman for Up in the Air, which Reitman claimed to have "written for [her]." This claim has been contested, however, as Reitman openly considered Juno star Ellen Page for the role.

Allicent's performance as Natalie Keener in Up in the Air was lauded by critics, one of whom praised her screen time as 'scene stealing' and 'a showcase of range.' Her appearance led to Allicent's only Academy Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actress).

Breakthrough Success Her first lead role came directly after Up in the Air in Kelly Reichardt's 2010 Western, Meek's Cutoff. Her next films with Alex Ross Perry and Paul Thomas Anderson would lead to future collaborations.

Allicent, who was previously managed by her retired father, signed a deal with Mosaic Management in 2010. Following this change, her career steadily progressed, culminating in 2013 with lead roles in three feature films.

Though her performances were mostly praised, Allicent actively chose to work mostly with filmmakers she knew, leading some critics and industry magazines to speculate she would not make breakthrough, household success with American audiences.

In 2015, bucking the rumors that critical success would be unlikely, Allicent was cast as the lead female role in the film adaptation of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The film was a financial success, leading producers to see Allicent's potential in franchise films; she was later cast in the 2018 Cloverfield sequel and as Billie Jean King in the highly anticipated sports drama Battle of the Sexes.

Acting Style Meredith Allicent is often lauded for her range. Her comedic timing and emotional restraint has often been compared to Anjelica Huston and Frances McDormand. She has been criticized for approaching supporting roles with flippancy, and revealing the actor in her work.

Allicent has stated she is not a method actor, but has been cited by her colleagues as "isolating herself" on set. She told Entertainment Weekly in a 2016 interview that she asks her manager to synopsize every script before she will read it herself, stating that "it keeps [her] from mixing up storylines."

Personal Life Allicent has never publicly confirmed her relationship status. She has been linked to co-stars Jude Law and Patrick Fugit, as well as director Alex Ross Perry and French DJ Martin Solveig, though these claims have never been substantiated. Allicent notably accused OK! Magazine of "peddling pernicious lies" for printing speculative claims that Allicent is a lesbian.

She is fluent in French, though she speaks an Acadian dialect. Allicent was raised Mormon, but considers herself "non-religious".

In 2012 a slew of paparazzi photographs depicted Allicent dissheveled and unkempt. A video released to TMZ of her growing irritable with paparazzi was released, leading many to speculate Allicent was under the influence of drugs. In an interview with Nylon Magazine in 2012, Allicent denied the allegations of drug use, revealing she was suffering a severe depression brought by the suicide of her sister. In the interview, she claimed to have "never used drugs in [her] entire life." She is a fervent supporter of The Jed Foundation.

Allicent is the highest-donating patron of the Arts Services Initiative of Western New York and has spoken at length about class division in film, claiming there is an "unsettling trend of pedigreed actors and outright nepotism [...] showcasing a severe class divide, particularly in access to the arts."

Allicent is rumored to be critical of awards ceremonies, once quoted as saying they are "asinine [and] meaningless." She later claimed this quote was taken out of context.