Heather Matarazzo

Few performers have reshaped the portrait of the outsider on screen quite like Heather Matarazzo. Adopted and raised by an Italian-American family in Oyster Bay, New York, with biological roots tracing to Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, she began acting at age six after commandeering the microphone at an AIDS benefit for children — a moment that landed her a talent manager she would stay with for a decade. At just 12, she made her film debut as Dawn Wiener in Todd Solondz’s “Welcome to the Dollhouse” (1995), a Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner that launched her career.

That breakthrough earned her an Independent Spirit Award in 1997 and set the tone for a career defined by characters who, in her words, “are ostracized for various reasons.” She brought that honesty to “The Devil’s Advocate,” “54,” “Saved!”, “Hostel: Part II,” and “Sisters,” while becoming widely known as Lilly Moscovitz in “The Princess Diaries” (2001) and its 2004 sequel, and as Martha Meeks in “Scream 3” (2000) and “Scream” (2022).

Her range extends across television and stage: Heather Wiseman on CBS’s “Now and Again” (1999–2000), recurring roles on “Roseanne,” “The L Word,” and “Exes & Ohs” (2006–2009), guest turns on “Law & Order” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” and the 2001–2002 Broadway revival of “The Women.” She names her performance in the 1999 true-story drama “Our Guys: Outrage in Glen Ridge” as the work of which she is proudest, and in 2011 announced her move into directing.