Biography
Date of Birth
9 December 1988, Los Angeles, California, USA
Birth Name
Mae Margaret Whitman
Height
5' 2" (1.57 m)
Mini Biography
Mae was born in Los Angeles, California to Pat Musick, a voice artist, and Jeffrey Whitman, a personal manager and set construction coordinator. She began her career with a voice-over for a Tyson Chicken commercial. Whitman attended Ribét Academy, a private preparatory school in Los Angeles.
Whitman made her first silver screen debut playing Meg Ryan's youngest daughter, "Casey Green", in When a Man Loves a Woman (1994). Among her notable childhood roles were that of "Patricia Whitmore", daughter of the President in Independence Day (1996); George Clooney's daughter, "Maggie Taylor", in One Fine Day (1996); and the charming daughter, "Bernice Pruitt", of Sandra Bullock, in Hope Floats (1998).
As she has grown older, Mae has made several guest appearances in television shows such as JAG (1995), State of Grace (2001), Desperate Housewives (2004), Grey's Anatomy (2005) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), just to name a few, as well as some voice-over work.
In 2015, she starred in the movie The Duff (2015) portraying a high school student who realized she is the approachable one, the designated ugly fat friend, the DUFF.
We should expect to see great things from Mae Whitman as her career progresses, for she has shown what a strong, dynamic, and talented actress she has become.
Trivia
Daughter of actress Pat Musick and Jeffrey Whitman.
Got her start in acting aged three when she impressed casting directors by interrupting her mum's audition and proceeding to tell her off because she was bored. The casting directors were so impressed with her that one, to get a reaction, observed her white-and-purple outfit and said, "My, what a pretty yellow dress you're wearing." Whitman looked back at him and replied, "What are you, some kind of knucklehead?"
Has played Bill Pullman's daughter twice: in Independence Day (1996) as Patricia Whitmore and in Merry Christmas, George Bailey (1997) as Zuzu Bailey.
Was originally cast as Becca Sommers in the TV series Bionic Woman (2007), but was released and replaced with Lucy Hale.
Was the voice of the British Telecom speaking clock for 3 months from the 26th October 2008 as the voice of Tinker Bell as part of a promotional tie in for the film.
She's the first voice actress ever to provide the voice of Tinker Bell in the Disney movie Tinker Bell (2008) since Tinker Bell doesn't speak in any of the previous Disney related programs.
Member of The Interstate 5 Tennis Association.
Played Max Burkholder's sister in In Treatment (2008) and his cousin in Parenthood (2010).
Appeared on the ER (1994) episode ER: The Test (2007). Miles Heizer, who will later play her brother on Parenthood (2010), also had a role in the same episode.
Born on the same date as Eddie Marsan.
Considers Avatar: The Last Airbender to be one of the best projects she has ever been part of as an actress.
Was disappointed about not being asked to return for Independence Day: Resurgence.
Quotes
People should recognize who you are and how you can act rather than how famous you are.
The coming-of-age story has sort of become a joke. It's something to capitalize on, and that is painful because when you are coming of age - when you are going through something like that - the genre is so meaningful.
You do have to continue, as you grow as a human, checking in and going, 'Is this what I want? Am I giving away things that I don't want? Who am I and what do I want to keep doing?'
I had a friend where it turned out that she hated my guts, all through our friendship. I thought she was my best friend, and then, in high school, she turned on me and had sordid affairs with all of the people that I'd dated. It was less hurtful because I was in high school, so it was more like, 'What's wrong with you? Gross!'
The actual, original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), I have vague memories of because I was pretty small, but I loved, loved, loved it. I have only those weird, visceral little-kid memories: I remember the extreme flat, two dimensional green that was their skin or the weird pizza with no sauce - it was just like yellow, drippy cheese.
Every time I go to Comic-Con, I'm jacked. I want to dress up and walk the floor and answer questions, because I'm excited about it. It's like making new friends.
I like to be a lot of different things at once and dress different ways and I change my hair all the time, so being an actor lets me live out the fantasy of living out 100,000 different lifetimes in one, without all of the repercussions.
I kind of dress like a boy from the nineties. I like wearing baseball hats. I just like to be really comfortable.
Act because you love to act.
I'm a single child. I wanted a little brother or a little sister growing up, but when I think about it, I'm happy I'm an only child.
I don't have one role that I'm particularly fond of doing, and I don't really look for it to differ all the time, but I will try anything and do anything. If it's a role I connect with, I'll go for it, no matter what's involved.
My mom had an audition for a commercial when I was about two and a half, and I ran in crying and interrupted her. They thought I was cute so they offered me a commercial role. My mom was skeptical and a bit nervous about the child actor thing, but I was extremely bossy and convinced them I wanted to try it.
In every single 'Tinker Bell' movie, I feel like there's a message that I'm proud to communicate with kids.
I really love poetry. I'm a big E.E. Cummings fan and a big Walt Whitman fan, and I have a big book of poetry.
I don't really have an aversion to watching myself. I think I've been doing it for long enough that I have a system of separating it in my brain from my egotistical neuroses for the most part.
For me, one thing I love is having an arc for a character.
I feel like I am a lot of who I am because I watched these shows that said it was okay to be a total weirdo. Shows like "The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1992)","Hey Dude (1989)", "Salute Your Shorts (1991)" - that's what I grew up with.
Being a teenager is hard.
Being on a movie set when you have a great strong people there supporting you can be very nurturing. You get to explore these creative parts of yourself as a child that most people don't explore until they're in college.
I only have room to do things that I have a love for in my life.
It's funny, because I don't have a very addictive personality in any way except for things like stories or books or movies or TV. I just get, like, completely enamored and lost in that world, especially when one really hits the right way. Like, I just can't do anything else.
I'm, like, the biggest fan ever of "Arrested Development (2003)". To be a part of it is incredible. Same goes for "Parenthood (2010)".
My favorite book in life is 'A Wrinkle In Time,' which I read before high school. It was my first introduction into the meeting of science and spirit and the universe and big thoughts and all of those interesting New Age-y concepts. It made everything make sense to me and opened up my mind.
I love doing voice-over. It's one of my favorite things.
I love to watch "Chopped (2007)", "Jeopardy! (1984)", and "Breaking Bad (2008)". You can't pass up that one. Oh! One other show I love to watch is "Suburgatory (2011)".
There have been a lot of events that have made me really look at the real world, like September 11th. There are so many things that just make you realize that you're not going to live forever and that you have to enjoy every day.
