Former child star, 42, looks unrecognisable as she makes her TV return 30 years after iconic movie and backstage scandal
ONCE known for movies like Hocus Pocus and Patriot Games, this former child star is now all grown up and making her big comeback.
During her film career in the 90s, the actress, now 42, was involved in a backstage scandal and decided to take a step back from the spotlight.
It's been revealed that Thora Birch is now heading back to TV to star in the second series of gothic writer Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches.
Fans will remember the actress from her roles as a child star.
After starring in Patriot Games alongside Harrison Ford when she was just eight-years-old, she then bagged the role of Dani in Hocus Pocus alongside legendary actresses Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy.
She later starred in American Beauty and the indie film Ghost World - which landed her an Oscar.
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Leading child star
During her heyday in the 90s, Thora was an in-demand child actress.
In fact, she was even up for the role of child vampire Claudia in director Neil Jordan’s 1994 film Interview with the Vampire alongside Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.
“I took a number of meetings with the director,” Thora told .
However, at just 12-years-old, the actress wasn’t deemed ready to play the controversial role of an adult woman trapped in the body of a little girl.
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The role ended up going to .
Speaking about this, Thora said: “At the time, I was still quite innocent in a lot of ways.
“I grew up fast being a child actor.
"But there were still parts of that character and things that were required of her that I still felt were too adult, or I just didn’t connect up with it.
"I had no frame of personal reference for those deeper, more complex emotions that that character had to embody.
"So, for me, it was just like, ‘This is a little icky.’ But I did love it. I’m a huge fan of the movie and the show as well.”
Backstage scandal
In the noughties, Thora suddenly disappeared from the spotlight - with some blaming her pushy dad Jack’s on-set behaviour.
A crew member on the 2008 film Winter of Frozen Dreams said her father insisted on watching a sex scene between his daughter and actor Dean Winters.
The insider told : “It was so wrong. The director is saying, ‘Harder! Faster!’ and the father is giving Winters the thumbs up.”
Then, in 2010, it was also reported that Thora was fired from an Off Broadway production of Dracula after her father allegedly threatened another actor.
The alleged incident reportedly occurred during a rehearsal when the actor was directed to rub the actress' back.
Jack denied the altercation.
Return to TV
Now Thora is making her big television comeback in Mayfair Witches.
Fans will see her in season 2 playing Gifford Mayfair, a distant cousin of the show’s head witch in charge, Rowan (Alexandra Daddario).
Speaking about the role she said: “She’s part of the Mayfair empire and she’s a very wealthy, prominent figure in the world.
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“But if she had a quarter of the powers Rowan has, I think she would be over the moon.”
“She has this sense of an impending doom and she doesn’t know if it’s for her or her family or something bigger, but she knows something’s coming."
