| Biography |
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Piper would have been named India Star, until her parents chose to name her after the classic actress, Piper Laurie. Piper graduated from Toms River High School North. After high school, she went to Ohio University to study acting. She graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in acting in 1998. She later moved to New York and studied theatre at LaMama Theater, and was cast in 2 short-films, Single Spaced & Knuckleface Jones. Before starring in any movies, Piper displayed her acting talent performing in stage productions of Arms and the Man, Trinity, Antigone, Fool for Love, Kindertransport, and Our Town. In high school, she appeared in all 4 yearly musicals. Her senior year, she was Katie in "Meet Me In St. Louis", junior year- Cousin Fan in "Mame", sophomore year- Lady Brighton in "Me and My Girl;" and freshman year- a dancer in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." She was also president of the National Honor Society and the editor of the school literary magazine, Polaris. She later landed her first big role as the lead female in Whiteboyz, where she played the girlfriend of a wannabe rapper (she lied and said she knew how to rap). 2000 was a big year for her, she was cast in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle as one of the lead characters, FBI agent Karen Sympathy. But the break-out role that really got her recognized and shot her into the spotlight was in Coyote Ugly. She played Violet Sanford aka 'Jersey', who moves to New York to persue her dream of becoming a songwriter. She had to take lessons in voice, guitar, piano and bartending to prepare for the role (she lied again and said she knew how to play the guitar). The film's plot sounded a lot like Piper's own life - she moved from New Jersey to New York and worked in a bar while waiting for a big break. Both Rocky & Bullwinkle and Coyote Ugly didn't do that well in theatres, and didn't get the best reviews, but Piper did a really amazing job in them! :) In 2001 she starred in a Canadian film called Lost and Delirious. It’s about boarding school female students dealing with rebellion and sexuality. The movie really showed her amazing acting abilities. Her next release was Slap Her, She's French, where she played her first villian. (she plays another one in The I Inside too) She did a really great job of it, she should be evil more often... ;) But the movie had a lot of problems, the release date was pushed back 5 times, and got shelved in north America. But it finally came out here on dvd in 2005, and now has a new name - She Gets What She Wants. In 2003 she starred in Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin & Bonnie Hunt. She played the oldest daughter and the girlfriend of Hank (Ashton Kutcher). She didn’t have a really big role, but she was still great. The movie is really funny! Some of the other movies she's been in since then are - George & the Dragon, The I Inside, Perfect Opposites and The Cave. She recently finished Edison, which also stars Kevin Spacey & Morgan Freeman. She has also done 2 new indie movies - 10th & Wolf and Imagine Me & You. Her latest movie, The Prestige is about a magician in early 20th-century London, who develops a rivalry with another conjuror after devising a seemingly impossible new trick. She's also starring in a new movie called Because I Said So, with Mandy Moore, Diane Keaton and Lauren Graham. The movie is about a meddling mother who, in order to prevent her youngest daughter from following in her footsteps, attempts to set her up with the right man. **If you're going to use this bio anywhere, please credit me and the site because I wrote it myself. Thanks!
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