Ellen Page Turns 29: Happy Birthday To The Lovable ‘X-Men’ Star
Turning 29 today, Ellen Page is already a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. Even coming out as a lesbian hasn’t taken away the natural love moviegoers have for her every performance. She’s simply a natural at every role she takes on.
Born Ellen Philpotts-Page on February 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she knew she had a gift from a young age. Her mother, Martha Philpotts, was a teacher, and her father, Dennis Page, was a graphic designer. She wasn’t born into the acting scene.
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Ellen Page’s first role was at the age of 10 in a TV movie called Pit Pony. Six years later, her film career started with Mouth to Mouth, an indie movie filmed in Europe. Her first titular role was in the award-winning 2007 film Juno, wherein she played the pregnant girlfriend to Michael Cera, who would move on to his own starring role in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. As the often snarky and sarcastic Juno McGuff, Ellen proved she could handle roles in films made for a wider audience.
Ellen’s debut as an X-Men star actually started during the period when audiences were disappointed with the franchise. The role of Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) had been recast over the span of the first three films, only playing a minor role until Page stepped in as Iceman’s (Shawn Ashmore) friend, and rival to Rogue (Anna Paquin). She was instrumental to one of the film’s most infamous lines, Vinnie Jones’ “Don’t you know who I am? I’m the Juggernaut, b***h!”
Ellen Page reprised her X-Men role eight years later when Bryan Singer returned to direct, and gave her character a power she never had in the comics. She was instrumental in sending Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) mind back in time to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) and kickstarting the apocalyptic sentinel program.
The X-Men actress isn’t expected to return for the next film, but her presence in two films was enough to give her mainstream fans in the superhero movie genre. In an ironic twist, Ellen’s reveal as a lesbian shortly before Days of Future Past hit theaters coincided with Marvel admitting that Iceman was gay, making the characters’ relationship interesting at the very least.
The 2010, Leonardo DiCaprio blockbuster Inception gave Ellen Page another heavy hitting film to add to her resume, as an imaginative “architect” who could create environments within dreams. The film was most noted for its ambiguous ending leading audiences to question how much of the movie, if any, was set in the real world. Page’s down-to-Earth persona helped her shine in a cast partly borrowed from The Dark Knight, another Christopher Nolan film.
Happy Birthday to @EllenPage AKA Our Kitty! pic.twitter.com/xQMmzNvIuK
— Marvel News (@MarvelNewz) February 21, 2016
In 2013, a year before Ellen returned to the X-Men franchise, she took a slight detour and voiced a video game character. Beyond: Two Souls had cast Ellen Page as Jodie Holmes, a child with supernatural gifts connected with a mysterious outside entity. The renowned PlayStation 3 and PS4 title The Last of Us featured a character named Ellie who also looked a lot like the actress until they were forced to change it.
Ellen Page has made a major impact in Hollywood, and the video game industry, as she celebrates turning 29 today. What has been your favorite part of her career thus far?
[Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival]
