Abigail Breslin

Although her winning work as an optimistic aspiring beauty queen in the lauded 2006 indie Little Miss Sunshine constituted her breakthrough, this actress already had quite a résumé. Following in the footsteps of her older brother, The Kid's Spencer Breslin, she began acting at age 3, appearing in commercials before making her film debut as a super-serious 6-year-old in the 2001 suspense flick Signs. On the small screen, she displayed a wide range of dramatic skills in emotion-rendering guest spots on popular TV shows like Hack, Law and Order: SVU, NCIS and Grey's Anatomy. Invariably playing quirky youngsters, Breslin appeared in a number of movies, including three family films alongside her brother (Raising Helen, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause). In 2006, her hilarious and heartbreaking performance in Little Miss Sunshine, in which she hid her innate cuteness behind glasses and padding, separated her from her peers and earned her SAG and Oscar nominations. The budding star flexed her acting chops as a grieving child opposite Catherine Zeta Jones in the feature film No Reservations (2007). Then she charmed opposite Ryan Reynolds in the role of an inquisitive daughter in the romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe (2008). After starring in kid-friendly flicks such as Nim's Island (2008) and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008), Breslin returned to more adult-focused fare in the tear-inducing drama My Sister's Keeper (2009) and the zombie-fighting horror comedy Zombieland (2009). In 2010, she took her already diverse career into a new direction for her Broadway debut as Helen Keller in Circle in the Square Theatre's revival of The Miracle Worker. Next, she followed up the challenging stage role by signing on to do voice work in several animated features including Quantum Quest, Rango and The Wild Bunch. ~ Rovi