The rise and fall of Thora Birch is a particularly sad story, because her performance in 1999's American Beauty still wows new viewers today; she's natural and vulnerable onscreen and if you go to seek out her work sure to find a list of credits as long as your arm, you'll be confronted by 2001's Ghost World and not a lot since. Although several news outlets have attributed this solely to her father, a former porn star and his daughter's manager who allegedly physically threatened one of Birch's co-stars in an off-Broadway revival of Dracula in 2010, Birch herself admits that she was an abrasive presence on set. Although acting like a diva is grudgingly permitted if you're an established A-lister guaranteed to rake in millions, young actors can't afford to be unprofessional, and Birch seems to have earned herself a reputation as difficult. In a recent interview with The Guardian she cites her firing from Alexander Payne's Election at the age of 14 for instigating several disagreements with the director as an example of her refusal to conform. Normally the manager would intervene to sort this out, but Mr. Birch's priority appears to be ensuring that Thora's sex scenes are filmed correctly, if a report in 2009 is anything to go by. Apparently he gave the director of crime drama Winter of Frozen Dreams tips on how to make his daughter look good, and was a constant presence behind the camera although Birch was then in her late twenties. With all the baggage Thora Birch seems to bring to a set, it's not surprising that she's no longer in Hollywood's inner circle and now sticks mainly to direct-to-video films. As with her fellow new talents who blew it, there's a phrase which immediately comes to mind: what a waste.
