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Early life
Ellen Page was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, the daughter of Martha Philpotts, a teacher, and Dennis Page, a graphic designer. She attended the Halifax Grammar School until grade 10, spent some time at Queen Elizabeth High School, and graduated from the Shambhala School in 2005. She also spent two years in Toronto, Ontario studying in the Interact Program at Vaughan Road Academy, along with close friend and fellow Canadian actor Mark Rendall. Growing up, Ellen Page enjoyed playing with action figures and climbing trees.
Career
Ellen Page began acting at age 4, appearing in numerous school plays. She first acted in front of the camera in 1997 at age 10 in the CBC television movie Pit Pony, which later spun off into a television series. This led to more roles in a number of small Canadian films and television series, notably playing Treena Lahey in Season 2 of Trailer Park Boys. At 16, she was cast in Mouth to Mouth, an independent film shot in Europe. Ellen Page starred in the 2005 movie Hard Candy and gained praise for "one of the most complex, disturbing and haunting performances of the year". She also appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand as Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), a girl who can walk through walls. In the previous X-Men movies, the part had been used in brief cameos played by other actresses, but never as a main character. As the title character in Juno, Ellen Page garnered substantial praise; A. O. Scott of the New York Times noted her as being "frighteningly talented" and Roger Ebert said, "Has there been a better performance this year than Ellen Page's creation of Juno? I do not think so". Ellen Page was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Juno, but lost to Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose. The role, however, did win her several other awards, including a Canadian Comedy Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Satellite Award. PageEllen Page also has starred in Smart People, which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Although released after Juno, Smart People was shot earlier. Her other film credits include An American Crime, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival; The Tracey Fragments, which was released in November 2007 in Canada and May 2008 in the U.S.; and The Stone Angel.
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Ellen Page hosted Saturday Night Live on March 1, 2008 and on May 3, 2009, she guest starred in the episode "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh" of the animated series The Simpsons as a character named Alaska Nebraska, a parody of Hannah Montana. She also starred in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It, alongside Juliette Lewis, Marcia Gay Harden, Drew Barrymore and Kristen Wiig. The film premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and had its wide release on October 2, 2009.
Ellen Page features in Michael Lander's film Peacock, opposite Cillian Murphy, Susan Sarandon, Bill Pullman and Josh Lucas, which was released in 2010 despite an original release date of 2009. In August 2009, Ellen Page began shooting the thriller Inception, a film directed by Christopher Nolan and co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ken Watanabe. The film was released on July 16, 2010.
Ellen Page has starred in the film Super, and will reportedly play Stacie Andree in an upcoming film about Laurel Hester.
As of 2010, Ellen Page serves as a spokesperson for Cisco Systems in a series of ads appearing in three commercials set in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. On May 26, 2010 it was reported in a column on "Deadline Hollywood" and by Entertainment Weekly that Ellen Page will star in the new HBO series Tilda alongside Diane Keaton, who plays the title role. Tilda is based on the life of Nikki Finke, the founder of the influential Hollywood blog, DeadlineHollywood.com. Tilda was reportedly dropped by HBO due to friction between the creators. She is also the narrator of the documentary on colony collapse disorder, Vanishing of the Bees.
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Personal life
Ellen Page resides in her hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia and has two dogs named Julie and Sprout. She is prone to walking and talking (somniloquy) in her sleep. In 2008, Ellen Page was one of 30 celebrities who participated in an online ad series for U.S. Campaign for Burma, calling for an end to the military dictatorship in Myanmar. She describes herself as a pro-choice feminist.
In 2008, Ellen Page spent a month living in an eco-village, studying permaculture at the Lost Valley Educational Center outside Eugene, Oregon.
