Rachel Hurd-Wood

She was nominated for the "Best Supporting Actress" award at the 33rd Saturn Awards by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for her role.

Rachel Hurd-Wood (born 17 August 1990) is an English actress.

Hurd-Wood attended Rodborough Technology College in Milford, Surrey from 2001 to 2006.

She had tutored lessons during the filming of Peter Pan in Australia during 2002 to 2003 as her work lasted for a span of 8 to 9 months.

Hurd-Wood's career in acting started in 2002 when she was picked for the role of Wendy Darling, after her grandparents spotted a television clip that said P.J. Hogan was searching for a "young English rose" for the feature film Peter Pan.

She travelled to Gold Coast, Australia for eight months of filming.

Her performance received good reviews and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor, and a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress.

She is known for her performances in the fantasy adventure film Peter Pan (2003) and the thriller film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006).

Hurd-Wood was born in the Streatham district of South London, England, the daughter of Philip and Sarah Hurd-Wood.

She lived in London till the age of eight, when she and her family moved to a Victorian cottage in Godalming, Surrey.

Hurd-Wood has a younger brother, Patrick who appeared with her in Peter Pan as one of the sleeping children in the "I Do Believe In Fairies" scene.

He also plays the role of Samuel Crowthorn alongside his sister in her later film, Solomon Kane in which she plays Meredith Crowthorn.

Her father's work involves performing, writing scripts and doing voice-overs for commercials.

He appears in one of her films, An American Haunting, as one of the guests in the Christmas party scene towards the beginning of the film.

She joined a drama club in her school and took part in its stage production during her second year.

Hurd-Wood portrayed the character Imogen Helhoughton in the 2004 TV film Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, as a 13-year-old victim of a serial killer.

Also in 2004, she had a major role of Betsy Bell in the thriller An American Haunting, as a girl who is haunted and tormented by an unrelenting demon.

Her performance came in for some praise, one critic remarking, "The actors are the saving grace… Hurd-Wood a mix of radiant approaching womanhood and animal terror. Their impassioned performances make you really care what happens to these people…"; another reviewer comments, "Rachel Hurd-Wood… delivers a fantastic and nuanced performance as Betsy Bell, the very central role that essentially carries the entire movie."

In 2005 she appeared in an adaptation of the best-selling novel by German writer Patrick Süskind, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

She later attended Godalming College from 2006 to 2008 to study for her A-Levels in Art, English Literature, Psychology and Philosophy.

Hurd-Wood had considered becoming a marine biologist because of her love for dolphins.

She gave up on the idea when she discovered that it would require studying science because she thought she was not very good at it.

Hurd-Wood became interested in working with children who have special needs or disabilities.

Hurd-Wood was nominated for the 2006 Teen Choice Awards in the category Movie – Choice Scream for her role.

The year 2007 saw Hurd-Wood starring as a waitress in the music video for the song "A Little Bit" by Madeleine Peyroux.

She appeared alongside the musicians in the music video for "Fatherhood/Motherhood" by Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man.

Hurd-Wood began studying linguistics at University College London in 2008, but left the course after a year, before travelling to Australia for the filming of Tomorrow, When the War Began, when she decided to focus entirely on her career in acting.

In the 2008 film Solomon Kane, she played Meredith Crowthorn, a Puritan captured by a band of marauders who killed her family and whom Kane sought to rescue.

Her younger brother Patrick appears in the film as her brother Samuel.

Later in the year she acted in the film Dorian Gray based on the Oscar Wilde novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

She was in the small but key role of the young budding actress Sibyl Vane, with whom Gray falls in love.

She was studying in the first year of the linguistics course at UCL while working in this film.

Hurd-Wood dispelled the false rumour that her uncle is Hugh Laurie in a 2009 September–October interview for the magazine Little White Lies: The An Education Issue and then again in a 2010 live Myspace web chat for the film Tomorrow, When the War Began.

"My uncle lives in Wales and is an artist", she says.

In her first contemporary role, Hurd-Wood was cast as Corrie Mackenzie, one of the principal characters in the 2009 Australian action-adventure film Tomorrow, When the War Began, based on the novel by John Marsden.

(The novel was one of the books she read while being tutored for the filming of Peter Pan.) At this point, she discontinued studying for a Linguistics degree to concentrate full-time on acting.

She learned an Australian accent for the role.

The film became the highest-grossing movie for that year in Australia.

Set in 18th century France, Hurd-Wood portrayed Laura Richis, the red-headed virgin daughter of a politically connected merchant played by Alan Rickman.

She had her brunette hair dyed red.