One of the most intriguing film actors of his generation, and a pioneering advocate for numerous social causes, Elliot Page has spent the majority of his life in front of cameras. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Page notched his first role at the age of 10, earning a Young Artist Award nomination for a part in the Halifax-set Canadian TV movie “Pit Pony,” which eventually spun off into a two-season series.
After a few other scattered television parts, his feature film debut came three years later, and was the first of several emotionally weighty roles that the thesp tackled at a very young age. Directed by Wiebke von Carolsfield, “Marion Bridge” saw Page take on the role of a young girl – conceived as the result of a rape and given up for adoption – who reunites with her birth mother as a teenager. The film allowed Page to make the first of several trips to the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, though it never managed a U.S. theatrical release. A capsule review of the film in Variety neglected to mention Page by name, saying simply, “solid performances lend conviction if not quite distinction to the drama.”
It was shortly after that, however, that Page truly emerged into the critical consciousness with David Slade’s psycho-sexual shocker “Hard Candy,” in which the then-15-year-old essayed an immensely complex role as an underage girl who takes a potentially predatory man hostage. Calling Page’s performance “spectacular,” Variety’s Todd McCarthy observed:
“Self-possessed to an astonishing degree, both as an actor and as the character, Page handles [his] enormous load of dialogue with adult-sized portions of emotion, insinuation and driving rage, not to mention an appreciation of sexual dynamics and consequences that repeatedly astonishes. The [actor] will be in great demand as soon as Hollywood sees this.”
And indeed he was. With a small part in “X-Men: The Last Stand” introducing him to multiplexes, Page would become a household name in 2007 as the lead of Jason Reitman’s “Juno,” which amassed $232 million at the global box office and earned four Oscar nominations, including one for Page. (Variety raved: “The film’s ace in the hole, however, is Page, whose great promise indicated in ‘Hard Candy’ is more than confirmed by [his] winning performance here.”)
Page would continue to pursue an eclectic career, carving out an unexpected path through Hollywood and starring in everything from giant blockbusters (“Inception”) to idiosyncratic indies (“Touchy Feely,” “Into the Forest”). But his cultural impact has extended far beyond his film roles.
Long an outspoken champion for LGBTQ rights, Page made headlines when he came out as gay in 2014, and again when he came out as transgender in 2020, soon becoming the first openly trans person to appear on the cover of Time magazine.
First film: “Marion Bridge” (2002)
First project mentioned in Variety: “Marion Bridge” (2002)
Breakthrough film: “Juno” (2007)
Accomplishments: One Oscar nomination, two Emmy nominations, two BAFTA nominations, one Spirit Awards nomination, one Gotham Award.
