Carrie-anne Moss
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Moss was named after the 1960s hit song "Carrie Anne" by The Hollies
"I worked in every restaurant in Vancouver. When I was 19, I had given up my dream of acting because I didn't know how to go about it. Gil Bellows, the actor from 'Ally McBeal'-we hung out together in high school- came into my restaturant one day and said 'I thought you wanted to be an actor. You had so much passion for acting. What are you doing?' I quit the next day." --quoted in Movieline, February 1999.
Biography
Canadian import Carrie-Anne Moss began her career as a well-known name in fashion modeling, but eventually landed on American television and fulfilled her lifelong goal of being a professional actress. However, nothing prepared Moss for becoming an overnight cultural icon when she landed the career-defining role of Trinity, the cool, leather-clad, sunglasses-sporting heroine of the futuristic sci-fi phenomenon, "The Matrix" (1999) and its two sequels. So great was the film's impact on the cultural zeitgeist that Moss become more unrecognizable without sunglasses than with. Labeled by media and geek fandom as an action chick - a term she wholeheartedly embraced - Moss was wise in not letting the role define her career, and went on to balance her résumé with more down-to-earth roles in films like the critical hits "Memento" (2001) and "The Chumscrubber" (2005), as well as in a series of especially dark family dramas in which the uniquely intense actress particularly excelled. With a supporting role on the hit series "Jessica Jones" (Netflix 2015- ), Moss moved gracefully into a new phase of her career.
Born on Aug. 21, 1967 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Moss grew up knowing what her ambitions were, but lacking the knowledge of how to actually achieve them. When she was 11 years old, Moss began performing in children's theater in Vancouver. She further developed her craft at the exclusive Magee Secondary School where during her senior year Moss was chosen to travel Europe with the school's choir. Moss returned home with renewed purpose and set about attaining her goal of becoming an actress by saving money from working odd jobs. After high school, she enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, CA, but departed for Toronto, Japan and Spain in pursuit of a modeling career once she graduated. By the time she was 20, Moss had landed on the cover of international magazines, but still longed to be on screen.
While in Barcelona, Moss was cast in a small role on "Dark Justice" (CBS, 1990-95). After her the first season ended, Moss returned to Vancouver where she proceeded to wallow in depression; she wanted so badly to continue acting, but knew the best move she could make was relocate to Los Angeles. Luckily, "Dark Justice" moved from Barcelona to L.A., giving Moss steady, albeit low-paying employment. Meanwhile, her outlook, both professionally and personally, vastly improved.
In 1994, Moss was cast as Carrie Spencer, a 26-year-old model considered past her prime, on the primetime soap "Models Inc." (Fox, 1993-95). Though usually awash in melodrama, "Models, Inc." gave Moss an opportunity to ham it up while gaining the exposure she previously lacked. In the syndicated thriller "FX: The Series" (syndicated, 1996-98), Moss landed the regular role of Lucinda Scott, a dauntless woman in cahoots with a special effects wizard (Cameron Daddo, previously featured with Moss on "Models Inc.") who moonlights as a crime fighter. Moss' character was an actress who was often called upon to don makeup and pretend to be anything from a 16-year-old girl to a 60-year-old man as part of the series' adventures. Moss capably handled the challenge for the only season (1996-97) she appeared on the show.
Moss declined to commit to a second season of "FX," a decision that proved to be fortuitous in hindsight when Larry and Andy Wachowski cast her in "The Matrix," a groundbreaking sci-fi action flick that focused on Neo, a lowly software engineer (Keanu Reeves) who learns that the world is not real, but a matrix created by machines. Neo further learns from a group of resistance fighters (Moss, Laurence Fishburne and the slippery Joe Pantoliano) that he is destined to lead enslaved human beings against the machines and towards a new Promised Land. As the sleek and sumptuous Trinity, Moss kicked ass in a role that seemed tailor-made for her stoic bravado and chiseled femininity; extensive martial arts training gave Moss the opportunity to perform her own fight sequences, allowing her to emerge as both a luminous screen presence and a capable action hero.
Though she was considered to be the go-to female action star - a designation once held by "Aliens" heroine Sigourney Weaver - Moss routinely refused the call to appear in action movies, the blockbuster debacle "Red Planet" (2000) notwithstanding. Moss instead opted for more thoughtful fare, appearing in the highly-praised artsy confection "Chocolat" (2000) as the uptight and overprotective daughter of a woman (Judi Dench) who rents her shop to a chocolate proprietor (Juliette Binoche) looking to awaken a dreary French town from it's passionless slumber. She next appeared in a pivotal role in writer-director Christopher Nolan's "Memento" (2000) which pushed the boundaries by telling its story backwards from the perspective of a man (Guy Pearce) with amnesia trying to find his wife's killer. Moss' compelling turn as a mysterious woman who may or may not be leading the man astray earned her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female Actress.
In 2003, Moss reunited with the cast of the sci-fi action "The Matrix" for the back-to-back filmed sequels "The Matrix: Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions." Despite ramped up expectations and a huge take at the box office, the sequels failed to continue the intrigue and high-minded anticipation of the original. The following year, Moss played an FBI agent tracking a serial killer who murders serial killers in the thriller "Suspect Zero" (2004), then followed up with a role as a bikini-clad temptress who for some reason fails to seduce her daughter's friends in the messy teen satire, "The Chumscrubber" (2005).
Comfortable keeping a low-profile post "Matrix," Moss costarred in "Mini's First Time" (2006), playing the hard-partying and emotionally abusive mom of a overly sexual teenage daughter (Nikki Reed) wantonly bent on journeying into the seedier side of Los Angeles who conspires with her step dad (Alec Baldwin) to put her mother in a mental institution. Assuming the mother role once again, Moss appeared as the stern, but loving kind in "Disturbia" (2007), an energetic, albeit predictable thriller about a teenager (Shia LaBeouf) under three months of house arrest who goes stir crazy and begins spying on the neighborhood to assuage the boredom, only to think that a neighbor might be an elusive serial killer. Assuming the mother role once again, Moss appeared as the stern, but loving kind of matriarch in "Disturbia" (2007), an energetic, albeit predictable update on "Rear Window" that starred Shia LaBeouf as a teenager under house arrest who thinks his neighbor might be an elusive serial killer. After a supporting role in the festival-only release thriller "Snow Cake" (2007), Moss appeared alongside Ryan Reynolds as the ex-daughter-in-law of a family beset by tragedy in "Fireflies in the Garden" (2009), starring Julia Roberts and as the star of the romantic comedy "Love Hurts" (2009). After starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the thriller "Unthinkable" (2010), Moss appeared in a story arc on action comedy series "Chuck" (NBC 2007-2012) and starred in the crime drama "Vegas" (CBS 2012-13). A return to high-profile screen roles came with the high-budget action drama "Pompeii" (2014), followed by a supporting role in the critically-acclaimed Marvel Comics drama "Jessica Jones" (Netflix 2015- ).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1981
Starred acting in children's musical theatre in her native Vancouver
1990
Moved to Europe at age 20 to pursue a modeling career
1991
Made her TV debut as a series regular in CBS' "Dark Justice"
1993
Featured in the USA Network series, "Matrix"
1994
Played aging model Carrie Spencer on the Aaron Spelling drama, "Models Inc." (Fox)
1996
Cast as spunky Lucinda Scott in the syndicated adventure series, "F/X: The Series"
1997
Featured in the Canadian feature, "The Secret Life of Algernon"
1999
Had breakthrough role playing Trinity in the Sci-Fi film, "Matrix"
2000
Portrayed Judi Dench's disapproving daughter in Lasse Hallström's "Chocolat"
2000
First leading role in a feature, "Red Planet"
2001
Co-starred with Guy Pearce in Christopher Nolan's "Memento"
2003
Reprised role of Trinity in the sequel, "The Matrix Reloaded"
2003
Once again reprised role of Trinity for "The Matrix: Revelations"
2004
Starred opposite Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley in "Suspect Zero"
2005
Co-starred in Arie Posin's ensemble film, "The Chumscrubber"
2006
Played Alan Rickman's love interest in the drama, "Snow Cake"
2007
Cast in the high-tech teen update of "Rear Window" entitled, "Disturbia"
2007
Played the typically doting '50s housewife in the Canadian zombie film, "Fido"
2010
Co-starred in the suspense thriller, "Unthinkable"; released direct-to-video
2011
Cast in the final season of NBC's "Chuck" as Gertrude Verbanski, a former spy who now runs Verbanski Corp.
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Moss was named after the 1960s hit song "Carrie Anne" by The Hollies
"I worked in every restaurant in Vancouver. When I was 19, I had given up my dream of acting because I didn't know how to go about it. Gil Bellows, the actor from 'Ally McBeal'-we hung out together in high school- came into my restaturant one day and said 'I thought you wanted to be an actor. You had so much passion for acting. What are you doing?' I quit the next day." --quoted in Movieline, February 1999.
"I had a wonderful time but the work itself wasn't that fulfilling. I learned a lot--I learned what not to do." --Moss on working on Aaron Spelling's less-than-successful confection "Models Inc.". quoted in Calgary Sun, September 21, 1996.
On her supportive friendship with fellow actress Maria Bello: "I had done a lot of nonrespectful television, things that people don't think are any good. And I didn't have a lot of confidence as an actor, in terms of being an artist. My career transformed when I met her--she inspired me to believe that I had that in me." --From Time Out New York, February 4-11, 1999.
