Terra Nova Blogs: Emilie De Ravin

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Emilie De Ravin

Emilie de Ravin (pronounced /ˈɛməli də ˈrævɪn/; born 27 December 1981) is an Australian actress. She is commonly associated with her roles as Tess Harding on Roswell and Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost. De Ravin's film credits include Santa's Slay (2005), The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and Ball Don't Lie (2008). She starred as Brendan Frye's heroin-addicted ex-girlfriend Emily in the neo-noir film Brick (2005). She had a small cameo in Public Enemies (2009) and more recently starred in Remember Me (2010). De Ravin was included on Maxim's Hot 100 list three times: in 2005, on #47, the next year on #65, and in 2008 on #68. De Ravin was born in Mount Eliza, Victoria, Australia, an outer southeastern suburb of Melbourne. She has French ancestry, and de Ravin means of (the) ravine in French. Having studied ballet since the age of nine at Christa Cameron School of Ballet in Melbourne, and being home schooled by her mother, she was accepted into the Australian Ballet School at fifteen. There, she performed in productions with The Australian Ballet as well as Danceworld 301. Ravin studied acting at Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, and with the Prime Time Actors Studio in Los Angeles.

De Ravin's first major role was a recurring part as Curupira in the TV series Beastmaster. She went on to appear as alien/human hybrid Tess Harding in the teen television series, Roswell. She landed this role one month after moving to Los Angeles at the age of 18. In 2004, de Ravin was cast to portray Claire Littleton on the hit ABC drama Lost. In answer to if she expected the success of Lost, de Ravin said: "It's sort of hard to say. You read something and have a good feeling about it, it sounds great, ties nicely together and then shooting something, editing it, the music, the actors involved, everything sort of plays a huge part. Everyone involved had a great feeling towards it, but you never really know". De Ravin was a series regular for the first four seasons, but did not return as a series regular for the fifth season. She returned as a regular in the sixth and final season. In 2005, de Ravin was cast to portray Emily Kostich, the heroin-addicted ex-girlfriend of Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), in the neo-noir film Brick. In an interview about the film, Ravin told that she was attracted by the script because it was original and the teens in the film are very deep and emotional for their age.

A year later, de Ravin had a lead role and was cast as Brenda Carter in the remake of The Hills Have Eyes. The film performed well at the box office. In 2007, Variety reported that she would be starring in the film Ball Don't Lie, which premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, which arrived in cinemas early 2009. De Ravin will appear in William Dear's The Perfect Game, and appeared in the 2009 film Public Enemies as a bank teller named Barbara Patzke. De Ravin was cast in the movie adaption of the video game Onimusha, but due to producer Samuel Hadida's other project The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and star Heath Ledger's death, Hadida was forced to push back the release date of the film. Onimusha is postponed for an unknown amount of time and there is not any confirmation if de Ravin will continue the project. De Ravin filmed Remember Me in the summer of 2009. The film received its wide release on 12 March 2010. She was a regular on the sixth and final season of Lost. After three years of dating, actor Josh Janowicz proposed to de Ravin on New Year's Day 2005 in Melbourne, which she said "was very impromptu and very sweet". Ravin met Janowicz in Los Angeles, and said that "our life together always comes before work. You can't buy love or family." While filming Lost, de Ravin flew to and from Hawaii "once or twice a week" to return to her home in Burbank, California, which she shared with Janowicz and their poodle, Bella. The couple married 19 June 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. In June 2009, it was reported that they have been living separately and have filed for divorce.