Heather Matarazzo

Matarazzo's biological mother was Irish-American, while her biological father was from Ireland, from the town of Knock (Irish: An Cnoc), County Mayo.{{Cite web|url=https://www.talkhouse.com/heather-matarazzo-on-meeting-her-birth-mother/|title=Heather Matarazzo on Meeting Her Birth Mother}} She was adopted and raised by the Matarazzos, an Italian-American family.{{cite news|url=http://www.eonline.com/ca/news/59276/chatting-with-heather-matarazzo|title=Chatting with Heather Matarazzo|agency=E! News}} She was raised in Oyster Bay, New York.{{cite magazine | url=https://ew.com/article/1997/05/02/heather-matarazzo-rocks-house/ | title=Heather Matarazzo rocks the house | magazine=Entertainment Weekly }}

Matarazzo began acting at the age of six; after commandeering the microphone at an AIDS benefit for children, she was given the card of a talent manager, with whom she remained for ten years.{{cite news|first=Susan|last=Konig|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/07/nyregion/at-17-she-finds-herself-already-on-top-of-the-acting-game.html|title=At 17, She Already Finds Herself On Top of the Acting Game|newspaper=New York Times|location=New York City|date=May 7, 2000|access-date=September 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926171147/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/07/nyregion/at-17-she-finds-herself-already-on-top-of-the-acting-game.html |archive-date=September 26, 2019}}

In 1997, she won an Independent Spirit Award for her performance as adolescent social outcast Dawn Wiener in Welcome to the Dollhouse. Matarazzo has expressed pleasure in being allowed to play interesting characters, some of whom "are ostracized for various reasons." She has commented that she is most proud of her performance in 1999's Our Guys: Outrage in Glen Ridge, based on a true story, in which she played a mentally challenged girl who is raped by football players.{{cite web|last=Warn |first=Sarah |url=http://www.afterellen.com/welcome-to-the-new-heather-matarazzo/02/2006/ |title=Welcome to the New Heather Matarazzo |publisher=AfterEllen.com|date=February 27, 2006|access-date=September 20, 2011}} In 1999 to 2000, she portrayed Heather Wiseman in the short-lived TV series, Now and Again. In 2001, she appeared in the teen romantic comedy film The Princess Diaries as Lilly Moscovitz and reprised her role in the 2004 sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.

Matarazzo has made appearances on several hit TV shows including Roseanne, Law & Order, The L Word, Grey's Anatomy and Strangers With Candy. Matarazzo starred opposite Thaao Penghlis in the world premiere of Charles Evered's play Class at Cape May Stage in Cape May, New Jersey in May and June 2010.{{cite news|url=http://pressofatlanticcity.com/life/breaking/article_4cbe3976-5d52-11df-b100-001cc4c002e0.html |title=Raising the curtain on summer theater: Cape May Stage presents world premiere|newspaper=Press of Atlantic City|location=New Jersey |date=May 12, 2010|access-date=September 20, 2011}}

In 2011, Matarazzo announced that she would begin working on her directorial debut, a television series to be based on a memoir by author Diane Hanks, titled Summer Camp: A Memoir.{{cite web|url=http://www.shewired.com/box-office/2011/12/03/heather-matarazzo-talks-being-out-lesbian-new-tv-show-magnus-fiance-l-word |title=Heather Matarazzo Talks Being an Out Actress, New TV Show, and 'Mangus!'|website=Pride.com|publisher=Here Media|location=Los Angeles, California|date=December 3, 2011}}

In 2004, at the age of 21, Matarazzo came out as a lesbian in an article in the New York Daily News, and was subsequently profiled in an article in the October 2004 edition of The Advocate.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BWUEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Heather+Matarazzo&pg=PA73|title=Coming Out 2004: Welcome to the house, doll!|author=Anne Stockwell|pages=73–78|date=October 12, 2004|magazine=The Advocate}} On July 31, 2008, Matarazzo's publicist announced that Matarazzo was engaged to musician Caroline Murphy.{{cite web|first=Sarah|last=Warn|url=http://www.afterellen.com/heather-matarazzo-officially-engaged-to-carolyn-murphy/08/2008/ |title=Heather Matarazzo Officially Engaged to Caroline Murphy|publisher=AfterEllen.com|date=August 1, 2008 |access-date=September 20, 2011}} In 2012, popular media news outlets announced that Matarazzo and Murphy had split amicably.{{cite web|url=http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianactors/p/HMatarazzo.htm|date=February 14, 2009|publisher=About.com|title=Heather Matarazzo: Lesbian Actress|first=Kathy|last=Belge|access-date=February 15, 2009|archive-date=January 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114012245/http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianactors/p/HMatarazzo.htm|url-status=dead}} Matarazzo married comedian Heather Turman in 2018.{{cite web |url=https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/princess-diaries-heather-matarazzo-engaged-to-heather-turman/|title=Princess Diaries' Heather Matarazzo is Engaged to Heather Turman |date=January 16, 2018 }}

Matarazzo was scheduled to attend a meeting on the 15th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 but overslept.{{cite tweet|url= https://mobile.twitter.com/heathermatarazz/status/1171814976719224833|first=Heather |last=Matarazzo|user=HeatherMatarazz|title=18 years ago today, I had a meeting at World Trade Center Tower 1, 15th floor at 9 AM. I woke up at 8:50. Every year, on this day, I think about how my alarm didn't go off. Missing my city today. #WhereWereYou|date=September 11, 2019|number=1171814976719224833|work=Twitter}}

Matarazzo endorsed and actively campaigned for Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.{{cite tweet |first = Heather |last=Matarazzo |user = HeatherMatarazz |number = 734860717031989249 |title=Join me and @cenkuygur tomorrow to introduce the future we believe in, @BernieSanders #bernieinanaheim #CAforBernie |date=May 23, 2016 }}

{{reflist}}

• {{official|https://heather-matarazzo.com/}}
• {{IMDb name|525}}
• [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/p/heather_matarazzo/ Heather Matarazzo] at Rotten Tomatoes

{{Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance}}

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Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses

Category:Actresses from New York (state)

Category:American adoptees

Category:American child actresses

Category:American film actresses

Category:American lesbian actresses

Category:American people of Irish descent

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Independent Spirit Award winners

Category:People from Oyster Bay (town), New York

Category:LGBTQ people from New York (state)

Category:1982 births