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AnnaSophia Robb

AnnaSophia Robb built her career around a combination of openness, resolve and restless curiosity. Born in Denver on December 8, 1993, she became interested in acting while performing on her church stage. She also competed in dance and gymnastics before deciding to focus on acting, and was scouted by an agent at eight. After commercials and a small part in Drake & Josh, Robb found her first major role as the title character in the television special Samantha: An American Girl Holiday. Her early film career quickly placed her inside stories already familiar to young audiences. In 2005, she played Opal in Because of Winn-Dixie and the competitive Violet Beauregarde in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The roles showed two useful sides of her screen presence: an easy sincerity and a willingness to play sharper, more heightened personalities. Bridge to Terabithia gave Robb one of her defining early parts. As Leslie Burke opposite Josh Hutcherson, she brought warmth and imagination to a story with considerable emotional weight. Robb, who had been a fan of the book before being cast, also recorded “Keep Your Mind Wide Open” for the soundtrack; the song reached number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her subsequent film work included The Reaping, Jumper, Race to Witch Mountain and The Space Between. In Soul Surfer, she portrayed Bethany Hamilton, who returned to surfing after losing an arm in a shark attack. She later appeared in the teen comedy The Way, Way Back. Television gave Robb room to shift into longer-form character work. She played a young Carrie Bradshaw in The Carrie Diaries and Alice Green in the Civil War drama Mercy Street. Alongside film and television acting, her work has included singing and voice performance, including the role of Danielle “Dani” Fenton on Danny Phantom. Across those different formats, Robb has remained especially well suited to characters meeting change head-on—young women whose optimism is tested without being entirely surrendered.