Shailene Diann Woodley (born November 15, 1991) is an American actress. Known for her work on screen and stage, her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and a Trophée Chopard, in addition to nominations for two Actor Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and two Golden Globes.
Woodley gained acclaim for playing a rebellious daughter in the Alexander Payne dramedy The Descendants (2011), which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. She achieved wider recognition for her roles in the teen dramas The Spectacular Now (2013) and The Fault in Our Stars (2014) and for her portrayal of Beatrice Prior in the science-fiction trilogy The Divergent Series (2014–2016). She has since acted in the films Snowden (2016), Adrift (2018), The Mauritanian (2021), Ferrari (2023), and To Catch a Killer (2023), the latter of which she also produced.
On television, she had her breakthrough playing Amy Juergens in the ABC Family teen drama series The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–2013). She played a former med student and survivor in the Hulu apocalyptic thriller series Paradise (2026) earning the Primetime Emmy Award. She was previously Emmy-nominated for her role as a sexual assault survivor in the HBO drama series Big Little Lies (2017–2019).
Woodley made her Broadway debut in Leslye Headland's family dramedy play Cult of Love (2024), for which she was honored with a Theater World Award. She is also an environmental activist and a Greenpeace Oceans Ambassador, and serves on a number of boards dedicated to environmental causes. She is co-founder of the nonprofit organization All it Takes, which focuses on youth development.
Early life
Woodley was born in San Bernardino, California. Her mother, Lori, is a middle-school counselor and her father, Lonnie, is a former school principal and a family therapist. Shailene has a younger brother, Tanner. Her parents separated when she was 14. Woodley has a diverse ethnic background, with British ancestry on her father's side and a maternal heritage that includes African-American and Creole roots, as well as French, Spanish, Swiss, and German ancestry.
Woodley was discovered by an agent while she was taking a local theater class, which was part of a $700 program she begged her parents to enroll her in after accompanying her cousin to a theater class in her hometown. At the age of five, she began working in commercials, including advertisements for Leapfrog, Hertz, and a Honda minivan, appearing in more than sixty TV spots before she turned eleven years old. She told The Hollywood Reporter that her parents only agreed to allow her to work professionally if she promised to adhere to three rules: "I had to stay the person they knew I was; have fun; and do good in school". Despite an ADHD diagnosis, Woodley was a 4.0 student, who took AP classes and graduated from Simi Valley High School.
She considered studying Interior Design at New York University (NYU) but her acting career became more demanding as she signed on to star in The Secret Life of the American Teenager. During a hiatus from her TV show, Woodley took a job at American Apparel in New York City. Two days into the new job, she got a call to meet with director Alexander Payne and after two months, she had to quit the job after joining the film The Descendants. She also took acting classes from Anthony Meindl.
At fifteen, she was diagnosed with scoliosis and was put in a chest-to-hips plastic brace for two years. Woodley told Us Weekly that "It's like wearing a tacky, disgusting, plastic corset for 18 hours a day. In the beginning, it was hard to eat or breathe. And I had to give up cross-country running. But I needed to have it to realign my spine". Her condition did not affect her work on set as she "would [just] take the brace off during filming and put it back on during breaks".
Career
1999–2010: Acting beginnings
Woodley began her acting career in 1999 with a minor role in the television film Replacing Dad. She went on to feature in minor television roles in The District and Crossing Jordan (in the latter, she portrayed the 10-year-old version of Jill Hennessy's title character). Next she had a leading role in the television film A Place Called Home (2004) as California Ford, which earned her a nomination for a Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actress in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special. She also originally played the young Kaitlin Cooper in The O.C. She appeared as the titular character Felicity Merriman in the television film Felicity: An American Girl Adventure (2005). Her performance received another Young Artist Award nomination, this time for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries, or Special (Comedy or Drama). Following this, Woodley appeared in numerous guest roles in other television series, including Everybody Loves Raymond, My Name Is Earl, CSI: NY, Close to Home, and Cold Case.
Woodley was cast as the main character, Amy Juergens, in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–2013), about a 15-year-old girl who learns she is pregnant. The show explores the effects of her pregnancy on her family, friends and herself, as well as life at Grant High School. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly praised her performance, stating, "[It] lifts a well-meaning, rather brave, but ramshackle show a notch." Popular among viewers, the show became one of ABC Family's most-watched telecasts throughout its five-season run, spanning over 121 episodes.
2011–2014: Film debut and breakthrough
In 2011, Woodley made her feature film debut in Alexander Payne's The Descendants, where she played Alex, the troubled elder daughter of Matt King (played by George Clooney). Her performance received positive reviews from critics. A. O. Scott from The New York Times said, "Ms. Woodley [gives] one of the toughest, smartest, most credible adolescent performances in recent memory." Peter Debruge from Variety said that her performance is a "revelation" and that "in the role of Alex, [she is] displaying both the edge and depth the role demands." Following accolades for her performance, Woodley received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female. Consequently, she was awarded the Trophée Chopard at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and the 2012 Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuoso Award. People named her one of 2012's "Most Beautiful at Every Age." Woodley was also considered one of the 55 faces of the future by Nylon's "Young Hollywood Issue". She also received the Emerging Star Spotlight Award at Elle's 20th Annual "Women In Hollywood".
Woodley starred in the film adaptation of Tim Tharp's novel, The Spectacular Now, as Aimee Finecky, an innocent, bookish teenager who begins dating the charming, freewheeling high-school senior Sutter Keely (Miles Teller). The film premiered at Sundance on January 18, 2013. Her portrayal of Aimee garnered much praise; Los Angeles Times' critic Betsy Sharkey said that Woodley and Teller "bring such an authentic face of confidence and questioning, indifference and need, pain and denial, friendship and first love", while another critic from The Guardian said that they gave "remarkably strong performances" that "display a depth of feeling that's breathtaking in its simplicity and honest." Additionally, Woodley won the Special Jury Award for Acting, alongside Teller, at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.
In October 2012, Woodley was offered the role of Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. On June 19, 2013, she was cut from the film. Director Marc Webb told The Hollywood Reporter that the cut was "a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship," and that everyone loved working with Woodley. She had also signed on to star in White Bird in a Blizzard, directed by…