Heather Christina Marie Matarazzo (born November 10, 1982) is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was Dawn Wiener in the film ''

Welcome to the Dollhouse ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' is a 1995 American Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age black comedy film written and directed by Todd Solondz. An independent film, it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and launched the career ...

'' (1995). She played Lilly in ''

The Princess Diaries ''The Princess Diaries'' is a series of epistolary young adult novels written by Meg Cabot, and is also the title of the first volume, published in 2000. The series revolves around Amelia 'Mia' Thermopolis, a teenager in New York who discovers ...

'' (2001) and '' The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement'' (2004). Her other films include '' The Devil's Advocate'' (1997), ''

Scream 3 ''Scream 3'' is a 2000 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger. It stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Parker Posey, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, Lance Henriksen, Matt Keeslar, Jenny McCarthy ...

'' (2000), ''

Sorority Boys ''Sorority Boys'' is a 2002 American comedy film directed by Wallace Wolodarsky, about a group of college boys who dress up as girls in order to prove their innocence for a crime they did not commit. The film starred Barry Watson, Michael Ro ...

'' (2002), ''

Saved! ''Saved!'' is a 2004 American independent satirical black comedy film directed by Brian Dannelly, and starring Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Eva Amurri, Martin Donovan, and Mary-Louise Parker. Its plot follows a teenage ...

'' (2004), and ''

Scream Scream may refer to: *Screaming, a loud vocalization Amusement rides * Scream (Heide Park), a gyro drop tower in Soltau, Germany * Scream! (ride), a tower ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags New England * Scream! (roller coaster), at ...

'' (2022).

Early life

Matarazzo is of Irish descent; her biological father was Pat Corley from

Knock, County Mayo Knock (, meaning ''The Hill'' – but now more generally known in Irish as ''Cnoc Mhuire'', "Hill of (the Virgin) Mary") is a large village in County Mayo, Ireland. Its notability is derived from the Knock Shrine, a Catholic shrine and place ...

. She was adopted and raised by the Matarazzos, a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Italian-American family.

Career

Matarazzo began acting at the age of six; after commandeering the microphone at an

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

benefit for children, she was given the card of a talent manager, with whom she remained for 10 years. In 1997, she won an

Independent Spirit Award The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glas ...

for her performance as adolescent social outcast Dawn Wiener in ''

''. Matarazzo has expressed pleasure in being allowed to play interesting characters, some of whom "are ostracized for various reasons." She has commented that she is most proud of her performance in 1999's '' Our Guys: Outrage in Glen Ridge'', based on a true story, in which she played a mentally challenged girl who is raped by football players. In 1999 to 2000 she portrayed Heather Wiseman in the short-lived TV series, ''

Now and Again ''Now and Again'' is an American science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Glenn Gordon Caron that aired from September 24, 1999 until May 5, 2000 on CBS. The story revolves around the United States government engineering the pe ...

''. In 2000 she appeared in the teen

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film ''

'' as Lilly Moscovitz and reprised her role in the 2004 sequel '' The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement''. Matarazzo has made appearances on several hit TV shows including ''

Roseanne ''Roseanne'' is an American sitcom television series created by Matt Williams and Roseanne Barr which aired on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May 22, 2018. The show stars Barr as Roseann ...

,'' ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

,'' ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene Ch ...

,'' '' Greys Anatomy'' and ''

Strangers With Candy ''Strangers with Candy'' is an American comedy television series produced by Comedy Central. It first aired on April 7, 1999, and concluded its third and final season on October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ( ET). A pre ...

.'' Matarazzo starred opposite Thaao Penghlis in the world premiere of

Charles Evered Charles Evered (born November 12, 1964) is an American-born playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Evered grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey, the fifth child of Marie (née Cole) and Charles J. Evered.Stratton, Jea ...

's play ''Class'' at Cape May Stage in

Cape May Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay fro ...

, New Jersey in May and June 2010. In 2011, Matarazzo announced that she would begin working on her directorial debut, a television series to be based on a memoir by author Diane Hanks, titled ''Summer Camp: A Memoir.''

Personal life

In 2004, at the age of 21, Matarazzo came out as a lesbian in an article in the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'', and was subsequently profiled in an article in the October 2004 edition of '' The Advocate''. On July 31, 2008, Matarazzo's publicist announced that Matarazzo was engaged to musician Caroline Murphy. In 2012, popular media news outlets announced that Matarazzo and Murphy had split amicably. Matarazzo revealed she was scheduled to attend a meeting on the 15th floor of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, shortly after the attacks occurred, but overslept. Matarazzo endorsed and actively campaigned for Senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

for President in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Heather Matarazzo
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

Heather Matarazzo
Website at

WordPress.com WordPress.com is a platform for self-publishing that is popular for blogging and other works. It is owned and operated by Automattic, Inc. It is run on a modified version of WordPress software. This website provides free blog hosting for regis ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matarazzo, Heather Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New York (state) American adoptees American child actresses American film actresses American lesbian actresses American people of Irish descent American stage actresses American television actresses Independent Spirit Award winners People from Oyster Bay (town), New York LGBT people from New York (state) 1982 births