Amber Tamblyn

Amber Tamblyn has built a screen career without staying in one lane for long. Born in Santa Monica on May 14, 1983, she grew up in a performing family: her mother is singer and artist Bonnie Tamblyn, her father is actor Russ Tamblyn, and her paternal grandfather, Eddie Tamblyn, worked in vaudeville. After playing Pippi Longstocking in a school production at age ten, she began auditioning professionally. Tamblyn’s first television role became a substantial one. She played Emily Bowen, later known as Emily Quartermaine, on General Hospital from 1995 to 2001. Wider recognition followed with Joan of Arcadia, where she starred as Joan Girardi, a teenager who repeatedly encounters God in different forms. The role gave Tamblyn a premise that could move between family drama, spiritual questions and the unease of adolescence. Her film work has covered similarly varied ground. She played Tibby Rollins in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and returned for its 2008 sequel. She also entered horror through The Ring and The Grudge 2, appeared in 127 Hours, and took the title role in Stephanie Daley. Her performance in the latter won the Bronze Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival and received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Back on television, Tamblyn played homicide detective Casey Shraeger in The Unusuals, medical student Martha M. Masters in House, and Jenny Harper in Two and a Half Men. She later starred opposite Diane Lane in Y: The Last Man. Acting is only one part of Tamblyn’s work. She is also a poet, screenwriter, producer and director. Her published writing includes the poetry collections Free Stallion and Dark Sparkler, as well as Era of Ignition, a collection of cultural criticism and memoir essays. In 2016, she made her feature directorial debut with Paint It Black, adapted from Janet Fitch’s novel. Across those different forms, Tamblyn’s career is defined less by a single signature part than by a persistent interest in finding new ways to tell stories.