Amber Tamblyn Biography

Amber Tamblyn photo

Born: May 14, 1983

AMBER TAMBLYN

Date of Birth: May 14, 1983

Born in Santa Monica, Amber Rose Tamblyn is the daughter of actor Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story) and artist/singer Bonnie Tamblyn. She was enrolled in the theatrical school SMASH at the age of five, and began acting in school productions. Amber performed in over 13 plays from kindergarten to grade eight, including playing the title role in Pippi Longstocking. Longtime family friend and agent Sharon Debord saw her starring performance, and suggested that she get into the business professionally.

At nine, Amber immediately landed parts in two films and a recurring role on General Hospital as Emily Quartermaine. She would stay with the series for six years, winning not only a large fan base, but a YoungStar award and two Hollywood Reporter awards for her work.

When she was 12, Amber co-starred with her father in the family film, Johnny Mysto: Boy Wizard (1996). After leaving General Hospital in 2001 to expand her opportunities, Amber quickly landed guest appearances on TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Boston Public, The Twilight Zone, CSI: Miami and Without a Trace, as well as starring in a WB pilot called No Ordinary Girl. She also acted in the feature film Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002), which played at the Cannes Film Festival and in the box office hit, The Ring (2002), starring Naomi Watts.

In 2003, Amber landed the plum role of Joan in CBS' new drama, Joan of Arcadia, which went on to become an immediate hit both with critics and viewers. The show won a People's Choice Award as Favorite New Dramatic Series and an ASCAP Film and Television Music award for Top TV Series, while the pilot episode won a Humanitas Prize. For her work on the series, Amber received the high honor of a Golden Globe award nomination as well as an Emmy nomination. She has also won a Saturn Award for "Best Actress in a Television Series."

Joan of Arcadia was renewed for a second season and during her time off between seasons, Amber filmed a starring role in the Warner Bros. film, The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants (2005). When the series didn't make it to a third season, Amber focused on her movie career, taking a lead role in The Grudge 2 (2006) and filming the sequel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008). Since then, she has acted nonstop on television, including a recurring role as Detective Casey Shraeger on the series The Unusuals in 2009, Martha M. Masters on the hit series House from 2010 to 2012, a series of roles from 2009 to 2016 on The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret and a number of roles on the sketch comedy series Inside Amy Schumer from 2013 to 2016. Amber also played a small role in the major motion pictures Django Unchained (2012) and a supporting role in the feature drama Nostalgia (2018).

After breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, music producer Travis Burkheimer, who was nine years her senior, Amber married actor David Cross, who is 19 years her senior, in 2012. She gave birth to their daughter Marlow Alice Cross on February 15, 2017.

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