Rowan Blanchard (born October 14, 2001) is an American actress and political activist. She was included on a list of ''Time'''s list of Most Influential Teens in 2015. She first became known for starring as Rebecca Wilson in '' Spy Kids: All the Time in the World'' (2011), and had her breakthrough portraying Riley Matthews on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

series ''

Girl Meets World ''Girl Meets World'' is an American comedy television series created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly that premiered on Disney Channel on June 27, 2014. The series ran for three seasons, consisting of 72 episodes, and concluded on January 20 ...

'' (2014–2017), both of which earned her

Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

nominations. She has since had roles as Jackie Geary on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2017–2018), and Alexandra Cavill in the

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

series ''Snowpiercer'' (2020–present).

Early life

Blanchard was born in Los Angeles, California, to Elizabeth and Mark Blanchard-Boulbol, who are yoga instructors. Her paternal grandfather has Armenian,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n, Lebanese, and Moroccan ancestry; whereas her paternal grandmother's ancestors are from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Her paternal great-grandparents had met in

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

, present-day

. She was named after a character in

Anne Rice Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature. She was best known for her series of novels ''The Vampire Chronicles''. B ...

's '' The Witching Hour''. Rowan has two younger siblings, Carmen and Shane.

Career

Blanchard began acting in 2006 at the age of five, first being cast as Mona's daughter in ''

The Back-up Plan ''The Back-up Plan'' (previously known as ''Plan B'') is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Alan Poul, starring Jennifer Lopez and Alex O'Loughlin.Siegel, Tatiana, and Michael Fleming"Jennifer Lopez going with 'Plan B': CBS Films s ...

'' and was in the main cast of the Disney Junior Original Series '' Dance-a-Lot Robot'' as Caitlin. In 2011, she was cast as Rebecca Wilson in '' Spy Kids: All the Time in the World'', and as Raquel Pacheco in ''Little in Common''. In late January 2013, Blanchard was cast as Riley Matthews in the

series ''

''. She also sings the title song, along with co-star

Sabrina Carpenter Sabrina Annlynn Carpenter (born May 11, 1999) is an American singer and actress. Carpenter made her acting debut with an appearance in the television crime show ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' and had a recurring role on Fox Broadcasting ...

. The

titular character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

is the daughter of Cory and Topanga from ''

Boy Meets World ''Boy Meets World'' is an American coming-of-age sitcom created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly that aired on ABC for seven seasons between September1993 and May2000. The series centers on Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and his friends and famil ...

''. She was an active member of

Disney Channel Circle of Stars ''Disney Channel Circle of Stars'' are a music group created by Disney Channel/The Walt Disney Company, that makes cover versions of Disney's songs. They recorded "Circle of Life" in 2003 and "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" in 2005. A group o ...

. In early January 2015, Blanchard was cast as Cleo in the

Disney Channel Original Movie Many television films have been produced for Disney Channel, an American family-oriented basic cable channel and former premium television channel since its launch on April 18, 1983. Until October 1997, films were released under the banner nam ...

Invisible Sister ''Invisible Sister'' is a 2015 Disney Channel Original Movie, based on the book ''My Invisible Sister'' by Beatrice Colin and Sara Pinto. The film is directed by Paul Hoen, and stars Rowan Blanchard and Paris Berelc. It focuses on a student who ...

''. From 2017 to 2018, Blanchard had a recurring role on the

series ''The Goldbergs''. In September 2017, Blanchard announced that she would be releasing a book, titled ''Still Here'', which was published in February 2018. Blanchard also co-starred in the feature film adaptation ''

A Wrinkle in Time ''A Wrinkle in Time'' is a Young adult fiction, young adult science fantasy novel written by American author Madeleine L'Engle. First published in 1962, the book won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and ...

'', which was released in March 2018. On March 27, 2019, it was reported by ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' that Blanchard was cast as Alexandra Cavill in

's ''

Snowpiercer ''Snowpiercer'' () is a 2013 Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic science fiction action film based on the French climate fiction graphic novel ''Le Transperceneige'' by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette ...

'', a futuristic thriller starring

Jennifer Connelly Jennifer Lynn Connelly (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She began her career as a child model before making her acting debut in the 1984 crime film ''Once Upon a Time in America''. After having worked as a model for several year ...

and

Daveed Diggs Daveed Daniele Diggs (born January 24, 1982) is an American actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter. He is the vocalist of the experimental hip hop group Clipping, and in 2015, he originated the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jeffer ...

based on the 2013 South Korean-Czech film of the same name by

Bong Joon-ho Bong Joon-ho (, ; Hanja: 奉俊昊; born September 14, 1969) is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. The recipient of four Academy Awards, his filmography is characterised by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black h ...

, from

Marty Adelstein Martin Bruce Adelstein is an American television producer. Before becoming a producer, he was a partner at the Endeavor Talent Agency, where he was one of the founding members. As of 2019, Adelstein is the CEO and founder of Tomorrow Studios, a jo ...

’s Tomorrow Studios and

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

’s Studio T. Blanchard will be a guest star with an option to become a series regular in the series' second season. She starred with Auli'i Cravalho in the

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

movie, '' Crush'', which was released in April 2022.

Personal life

In 2014, Blanchard had revealed on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

that she had been struggling with depression. She wrote: "As I found myself, this year in particular, going through ups and downs with depression, I realized that instead of rejecting and ostracizing these teenage feelings (human feelings), I can learn to love the intensity of them and know that everything is momentary." In a series of tweets in January 2016, she stated that while she had "only ever liked boys" in the past, she was "open to liking any gender" and therefore she identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

. Blanchard is an activist on issues such as

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

, and

gun violence Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, a ...

. While most of her comments regarding these issues are posted via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...

, she has spoken at the

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...

and US National Committee's annual conference as part of #TeamHeForShe, a feminist campaign. In April 2018, Blanchard criticized

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and its military on her social media and shared her own post with a photo of Palestinian activist

Ahed Tamimi Ahed Tamimi ( ar, عهد التميمي, ‘Ahad at-Tamīmī, also romanized ''Ahd''; born 31 January 2001) is a Palestinian activist from the village of Nabi Salih in the occupied West Bank in Palestine. She is best known for appearances in i ...

holding the

Palestinian flag The flag of Palestine ( ar, علم فلسطين) is a tricolor of three equal horizontal stripes (black, white, and green from top to bottom) overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. This flag is derived from the Pan-Arab colors and ...

. In the same post, Blanchard voiced support for the Palestinian side of the 2018–2019 Gaza border protests. In May 2018, Blanchard criticized Israel once again in her social media and shared another photo of

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

activist

. Blanchard wrote that " Gaza qualifies under every definition of

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

yet massacred protestors must always be identified as 'peaceful'."

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Rowan 2001 births Living people 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Los Angeles American child actresses American film actresses American television actresses American feminists American people of English descent American people of Danish descent American people of Swedish descent American people of Armenian descent American people of Moroccan descent American people of Lebanese descent American people of Syrian descent American people of Arab descent American human rights activists American queer actresses Queer women American LGBT actors LGBT people from California American gun control activists