Mia Wasikowska: The Life Story Behind the Alice Star
In this post
A Canberra Girl Who Danced First
Mia Wasikowska was born in Canberra, Australia, on 25 October 1989, to Marzena Wasikowska, a Polish photographer, and John Reid, an Australian photographer, and she grew up in a household where images were not a hobby but a way of life, because both of her parents made their living by looking, by framing, by capturing light, and the house was full of cameras, photographs and the quiet discipline of people who notice things. Canberra in the 1990s was a planned city, the capital of Australia, a place of government buildings, parks and a slower pace than Sydney or Melbourne, yet Mia’s childhood was not slow, because she was a ballet dancer, training seriously from a young age, with the ambition, for a time, of becoming a professional dancer, and the discipline of ballet, with its early mornings, its rehearsals, its pain and its precision, shaped her in a way that acting school never could, because ballet teaches a person to control their body, to endure, and to express emotion without words, which are skills that an actor needs, and that Mia carried into every role she would later play. She trained at ballet schools in Canberra and dreamed of a career in dance, yet an injury, and the realisation that a dancer’s career is short and physically punishing, led her to think about other ways of performing, and acting, which she had tried as a teenager, began to seem like a path that would allow her to use the discipline she had learned in ballet without the physical cost, and that decision, to leave dance for acting, was one of the most important in her life, because it set her on a road that would take her from Canberra to Hollywood, and back again, in a career that has been defined by quiet intensity rather than by fame.
She began acting as a teenager, and her first film role came in 2006, when she was sixteen, in the Australian film Suburban Mayhem, directed by Paul Goldman, in which she played Lilya, a young woman caught up in a chaotic, violent world, and the film, though it was small and confronting, showed that Mia could play a character who was difficult, damaged and real, which is a quality that casting directors notice, because many young actresses can play sweet, but few can play difficult, and Mia could, which is why the offers that followed were for roles that were complex, not simple. She also appeared in the Australian television series, and in 2008 she took a role that introduced her to American audiences, playing Sophie, a young gymnast who is in therapy, in the HBO series In Treatment, starring Gabriel Byrne as the therapist Paul Weston, and the role required Mia to play a teenager who is suicidal, who is angry, who is vulnerable, and who is trying to understand herself, and she did it with a stillness, a precision and an emotional honesty that made Sophie one of the most memorable characters in the series, because the audience could see, in Mia’s performance, a young woman who was not acting a part but living it, which is a distinction that is easy to state and hard to achieve, and that Mia achieved at eighteen, which is a remarkable age to do it. In Treatment was a demanding show, because each episode was a therapy session, with two actors in a room, talking, and the performance had to carry the episode, without action, without effects, only with words and faces, and Mia’s work in it proved that she could hold a scene with an experienced actor like Gabriel Byrne, and not be overshadowed, which is a test that many young actors fail, and that Mia passed, which is why Hollywood began to notice her, and why the next role, when it came, would be one of the most famous in children’s literature.
The role was Alice, in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, released in 2010, a film that retold Lewis Carroll’s story with a darker, more visual style, starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, and Mia, who was twenty, played Alice Kingsleigh, a nineteen-year-old who returns to Wonderland, the place she visited as a child, and who must slay the Jabberwocky, save the White Queen, and find her own courage, which is a story about growing up, about a young woman who is expected to marry, to conform, and who chooses instead to follow her own path, which is a theme that resonated with Mia, because she too had chosen her own path, from ballet to acting, and the film’s Alice, who is stubborn, curious and brave, was a character that Mia understood, and played with a quiet determination that made her the centre of a film full of spectacle, which is a difficult thing to do, because the spectacle, the CGI, the costumes and the famous actors, could easily have swallowed a young actress, yet Mia held the film together, and the film became a huge commercial success, earning more than a billion dollars around the world, which made Mia, at twenty, a star, and gave her a global audience, yet the fame, which could have defined her, did not, because Mia chose, after Alice, to take roles that were small, strange and personal, rather than the blockbusters that were offered to her, which is a choice that has defined her career ever since, and that has made her one of the most respected young actresses in the world, not because she is famous, but because she is good.
Alice, Jane Eyre and the Art of Choosing
After Alice in Wonderland, Mia took a series of roles that showed her range, and each of them was a deliberate choice, to work with directors she admired, on stories that interested her, rather than to chase fame, which is a pattern that has defined her career, and that is worth understanding, because it explains why she is respected by critics, even though she is not as famous as other actresses of her generation. In 2010, the same year as Alice, she appeared in The Kids Are All Right, a comedy-drama directed by Lisa Cholodenko, starring Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple whose children seek out their sperm donor, played by Mark Ruffalo, and Mia played Joni, the elder daughter, a young woman who is about to go to college, who is trying to understand her family, and who is caught between her mothers and her donor, and the film was praised for its honesty, its humour and its performances, and it was nominated for Academy Awards, including Best Picture, which is a rare honour for an independent film, and Mia’s Joni, who was quiet, thoughtful and observant, was the film’s moral centre, because she was the character who saw the family most clearly, and who loved it most, which is a role that requires restraint, and Mia provided it, with a performance that was subtle, precise and deeply felt. In 2011 she played the title role in Jane Eyre, an adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, directed by Cary Fukunaga, opposite Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester, and the role of Jane, a governess who is plain, poor and fiercely independent, was one that Mia understood, because Jane, like Mia, is a young woman who refuses to conform, who insists on being herself, and who finds love on her own terms, and Mia played her with a stillness, a strength and a vulnerability that made Jane feel like a real person, not a literary heroine, which is why the film was praised, and why Mia’s performance was called one of the best of the year, because she had taken a character that many actresses had played, and made her her own, which is a rare achievement, and one that confirmed her status as a serious actress, not only a former Alice.
Her later films continued the pattern of careful, interesting choices, with roles in films that were often strange, often dark, and often directed by filmmakers with a distinctive vision, which is a sign of an actress who chooses her directors as carefully as her roles. In 2013 she appeared in Stoker, a thriller directed by Park Chan-wook, the Korean director of Oldboy, in which she played India Stoker, a teenage girl whose father dies and whose uncle, played by Matthew Goode, comes to live with her family, and the film, which was visually stunning, psychologically complex and deeply unsettling, required Mia to play a girl who is both innocent and dangerous, and she did it with a performance that was both still and terrifying, because India was a character who watched, who waited, and who, when she acted, acted decisively, which is a quality that Mia, with her ballet training, understood, because ballet is also about watching, waiting and acting with precision. In the same year she appeared in Only Lovers Left Alive, a vampire film directed by Jim Jarmusch, starring Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton, in which she played Ava, the younger sister of Eve, and the film, which was a meditation on love, art and immortality, gave Mia a role in a film that was more about atmosphere than plot, which suited her, because she is an actress who works best in atmosphere, in silence, in the spaces between words, which is a skill that few actresses possess, and that Mia has in abundance. In 2014 she appeared in Maps to the Stars, a satire of Hollywood directed by David Cronenberg, in which she played Agatha Weiss, a young woman with burn scars who comes to Los Angeles, and the film, which was dark, funny and disturbing, required Mia to play a character who is both a victim and a manipulator, and she did it with a performance that was both vulnerable and frightening, which is a combination that few actresses can manage, and that Mia managed with ease, because she understands that a character can be both, and that the audience, when it sees both, believes the character more.
In 2015 she played Edith Cushing in Crimson Peak, a gothic romance directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain, in which she played a young writer who marries a mysterious baronet and moves to his decaying mansion, and the film, which was visually lavish, with costumes, sets and ghosts, required Mia to play a heroine who is both romantic and brave, and she did it with a performance that was both period-appropriate and modern, because Edith was a woman who wrote, who thought, and who refused to be a victim, which is a character that Mia, who is herself a thoughtful, independent woman, understood, and played with a conviction that made the film’s romance feel real, even when the ghosts were not. In 2016 she returned as Alice in Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, directed by James Bobin, and the film, though it was not as successful as the first, gave Mia a chance to revisit a character she had played at twenty, now as a woman in her mid-twenties, and the performance showed a more mature Alice, a captain, a leader, a woman who had seen the world, which is a reflection of Mia’s own growth, from a teenager in Canberra to a star in Hollywood, and back again, to Australia, where she has made many of her recent films, including Damsel in 2018, a western comedy in which she played Penelope, Judy and Punch in 2019, an Australian film in which she played Judy, a puppeteer, and Bergman Island in 2021, a film directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, in which she played Chris, a filmmaker, and each of these films, though they were different, showed an actress who was choosing her work carefully, and who was more interested in the story than in the fame, which is a choice that has made her career one of the most respected, if not the most famous, of her generation.
Directing, Producing and the Later Years
In recent years Mia has begun to direct, which is a natural step for an actress who has worked with so many great directors, and who has learned, by watching them, how a film is made, and her directorial work, which includes short films and a segment in the anthology film The Turning, shows a filmmaker who is interested in stories about women, about family, and about the Australian landscape, which is a continuation of the interests she has shown as an actress, and a sign that her career is evolving, from performer to creator, which is a transition that many actors attempt, and that few manage well, yet Mia, who has always been thoughtful, seems likely to manage it, because she understands story, image and performance, which are the three elements of directing, and she has learned them from the best, from Tim Burton to Park Chan-wook to Jim Jarmusch to Guillermo del Toro, which is an education that no film school can provide. She has also continued to act, in films like Blueback in 2022, an Australian film about a girl who loves the ocean, in which she played the adult Abby, and in Club Zero in 2023, a satire directed by Jessica Hausner, in which she played Miss Novak, a teacher who leads her students into a cult, and the film, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, required Mia to play a character who is both charismatic and dangerous, and she did it with a performance that was both calm and terrifying, because Miss Novak was a woman who believed what she was saying, and Mia made the audience believe it too, which is a skill that few actresses possess, and that Mia has shown again and again, from Alice to Jane Eyre to Miss Novak, which is a range that is rare, and that is why directors continue to seek her out, because they know that she will make any character better, any scene stronger, and any film more honest.
Her personal life has been as private as her professional life has been public, because Mia has kept her relationships, her family and her home largely out of the press, which is a deliberate choice, because she understands that fame is not the goal, but the work is, and that the work, when it is done well, does not require the audience to know everything about the actor, only to believe the character, which is a philosophy that has guided her career, and that has protected her from the worst effects of fame, because she has never been a tabloid figure, never courted controversy, and never seemed to need the audience’s love in order to feel valuable, which is a steadiness that is easy to miss, because it does not make headlines, yet it is the strength that has kept her working for nearly twenty years, while other actresses who became famous at the same time have faded. She lives between Australia and the United States, keeps her private life private, and continues to work, and that steadiness, that refusal to chase fame at the cost of the work, is the quality that has kept her going, and that will keep her going, because the actress who is not afraid to be quiet, to be still, and to be herself, is the actress who will always be in demand, and Mia Wasikowska is that actress, which is why her career, which began in Canberra, passed through Wonderland, and continues in films around the world, is still growing, still changing and still surprising audiences who thought they knew what she could do.
What the Career Adds Up To
Looked at as a whole, Mia Wasikowska’s career has a shape that is easy to miss if you only remember Alice, because it is the shape of a person who began as a ballet dancer in Canberra, became an actress, played Alice, Jane Eyre, India Stoker and Miss Novak, and is now becoming a director, and who did it all with the same quiet intensity, the same discipline and the same belief that the work matters more than the fame, which is why she has lasted while other actresses have faded. She has played a girl in Wonderland, a governess in Yorkshire, a vampire’s sister, a gothic heroine and a cult leader, and each of those characters was different, yet each of them was played with the same honesty, the same stillness and the same understanding that a character is not a costume but a person, which is a philosophy that has guided her career for nearly twenty years. The through-line is not fame but discipline, because Mia Wasikowska learned discipline in ballet, and she has carried it into acting, into directing, and into her life, which is why she is respected by directors, by critics and by audiences, even though she is not as famous as other actresses of her generation, because respect, when it is earned over decades, lasts longer than fame, which is a lesson that Mia has taught, one role at a time, from Canberra to Hollywood and back again.
The Actress Who Chose the Work
There is one more part of Mia Wasikowska’s story that deserves attention, and it is the way she has chosen her work, because after Alice in Wonderland, which earned more than a billion dollars, she could have taken any blockbuster, any franchise, any leading role in a major studio film, yet she chose instead to work with Park Chan-wook, with Jim Jarmusch, with David Cronenberg, with Guillermo del Toro, and with independent filmmakers in Australia, which is a choice that cost her fame and money, but bought her something more valuable, which is a career she can be proud of, and a reputation as an actress who cares about the work, not about the pay cheque. That choice, to choose the director over the budget, the story over the franchise, is a rare one, because most actors, when they are offered a blockbuster, take it, and the fact that Mia did not, again and again, shows a person who knows what she wants, and who is willing to pay the price for it, which is a form of integrity that the film industry needs more of, and that audiences respect, even if they do not always understand it, because they can see, in her performances, that she believes in the films she makes, and that belief is contagious, which is why her films, though they are often small, are often remembered, while the blockbusters she turned down are often forgotten, which is a paradox that Mia understands, and that her career proves, one film at a time.
A Career of Quiet Intensity
Mia Wasikowska’s performances are often described as quiet, and that description, though it is accurate, does not capture the whole of her talent, because her quietness is not emptiness but intensity, a stillness that contains emotion, a face that can convey a thought without a word, which is a skill that comes from ballet, where the body must speak without sound, and that Mia has carried into acting, where the face must speak without dialogue, which is a rare ability, and one that directors value, because it allows them to tell a story in images, not only in words. Her roles in Jane Eyre, in Stoker, in Only Lovers Left Alive and in Club Zero all depend on that stillness, on the audience watching her face and understanding what she is thinking, which is a form of acting that is both subtle and powerful, and that few actresses can manage, because it requires confidence, the confidence to be still, to not act, to let the camera come to you, which is a confidence that Mia has, because she learned it in ballet, where the dancer must be still before she moves, and that stillness is the foundation of her career, and the reason it has lasted, because the actress who can be still is the actress who can be anything, and Mia Wasikowska can be anything, which is why her story is worth telling, and why her career is worth following, one quiet, intense performance at a time.
My Take:
When I look at Mia Wasikowska’s career, the first thing that strikes me is the choosing, because after Alice in Wonderland, which earned more than a billion dollars, she could have taken any blockbuster, yet she chose instead to work with Park Chan-wook, Jim Jarmusch, David Cronenberg and Guillermo del Toro, which is a choice that cost her fame and money, but bought her a career she can be proud of, and that choice, to choose the director over the budget, is a rare one, because most actors take the blockbuster, while Mia took the art film, and the art films, though they were smaller, are the ones that are remembered, which is a paradox that her career proves. I think her most important decision was the decision to leave ballet for acting, because ballet had been her dream, yet an injury and a realisation led her to acting, and that decision, which could have been a loss, became a gain, because the discipline she learned in ballet, the control, the endurance, the ability to express emotion without words, became the foundation of her acting, and the actress who can be still, who can convey a thought with her face alone, is an actress who can do anything, which is why directors seek her out, because they know she will make any character better. Jane Eyre is the performance that best shows that skill, because Jane is a plain, poor governess who is fiercely independent, and Mia played her with a stillness, a strength and a vulnerability that made Jane feel like a real person, not a literary heroine, which is why the film was praised, and why Mia’s performance was called one of the best of the year, because she had taken a character many actresses had played and made her her own.
The Alice performance deserves a closer look, because it is easy to dismiss Alice in Wonderland as a blockbuster, and to forget how difficult it was to play Alice, a nineteen-year-old who must hold together a film full of CGI, costumes and famous actors, yet Mia did it, with a quiet determination that made Alice the centre of the film, and the film’s success, earning more than a billion dollars, is partly due to her, because the audience needed to believe in Alice, in order to believe in Wonderland, and Mia made them believe, which is a remarkable achievement for a twenty-year-old. I notice that the best Alice scenes are the ones where she is being stubborn, where she refuses to marry, refuses to conform, and chooses her own path, and those scenes work because Mia understood that Alice’s stubbornness was not childish but essential, because a young woman who refuses to be what others expect is a young woman who is becoming herself, which is a story that Mia herself lived, from ballet to acting, and that understanding, which came from her own life, gave the performance a truth that a less experienced actress could not have given it. Her work in Stoker is another example, because India Stoker is a girl who is both innocent and dangerous, and Mia played her with a stillness that was terrifying, because India watched, waited, and when she acted, acted decisively, which is a quality that Mia, with her ballet training, understood, because ballet is also about watching, waiting and acting with precision, and that precision, which is visible in her performances, is the mark of an actress who has learned her craft in a discipline that demands it.
What I admire most about Mia Wasikowska is the stillness, because her performances are quiet, yet that quietness is not emptiness but intensity, a face that can convey a thought without a word, which is a skill that few actresses possess, and that Mia has in abundance, because she learned it in ballet, where the body must speak without sound. Her roles in Only Lovers Left Alive, in Maps to the Stars and in Club Zero all depend on that stillness, on the audience watching her face and understanding what she is thinking, which is a form of acting that is both subtle and powerful, and that directors value, because it allows them to tell a story in images, not only in words. I also think her decision to keep her private life private matters, because she has never been a tabloid figure, never courted controversy, and never seemed to need the audience’s love in order to feel valuable, and that steadiness is a form of strength that is easy to miss because it does not make headlines, yet it is the strength that has kept her working for nearly twenty years, while other actresses who became famous at the same time have faded. There are limits to what she has done, and I should name them, because she has not had a leading role in a major Hollywood franchise since Alice, and her film career, though it includes many acclaimed independent films, has been a series of smaller roles rather than leading roles in blockbusters, which means the question of whether she can carry a major studio film on her own remains open, yet the fact that she carried Alice, which earned a billion dollars, suggests that she can, and that the industry has simply not given her the chance, because she has chosen not to take it, which is a choice, not a failure, and one that deserves respect.
For young actresses, Mia Wasikowska’s career is a useful map, because it shows that the way to survive is not to chase fame but to choose the work, to work with directors you admire, on stories that interest you, and to trust that the audience will recognise quality when it sees it, even if the film is small, because quality, when it is real, lasts longer than fame, which is a lesson that Mia has taught, one role at a time. Her path, from Canberra to ballet to Suburban Mayhem to In Treatment to Alice to Jane Eyre, is a path that many actresses have taken, and the lesson of it is that the training matters, the small roles matter, and the willingness to leave a dream, like ballet, for a new one, like acting, matters, because each of those steps adds a skill and a connection that the next step depends on. My honest view is that Mia Wasikowska is one of the finest actresses of her generation, and that her career, taken as a whole, is stronger than any single film in it, because it is the story of a girl from Canberra who became Alice, Jane Eyre and Miss Novak, and who is now becoming a director, and who did it all without losing herself, which is a story worth remembering. The work continues, and the next chapter, whether it is a film, a directorial project or a new role, will probably be as surprising as the last one, because Mia Wasikowska has never done the expected thing twice, and she is still, in her thirties, learning, growing and surprising audiences who thought they knew what she could do.
One more thing about Mia Wasikowska deserves to be said, and it is the way she has handled fame, because she became famous at twenty, as Alice, and the fame could easily have defined her, yet she chose to define herself, by taking roles that were small, strange and personal, rather than the blockbusters that were offered to her, which is a choice that shows a person who knows what she wants, and who is willing to pay the price for it. I think her directing work matters too, because it shows a filmmaker who is interested in stories about women, about family and about the Australian landscape, and that interest, which is personal, will make her films distinctive, because they will be told from a point of view that is hers, not borrowed, and that point of view, which she has developed as an actress, will serve her well as a director. The story of Mia Wasikowska is, in the end, a story about a girl who danced, who acted, and who is now directing, and who did it all with a quiet intensity that is rare and valuable, and that is a story worth telling, because it shows that a career can be built on discipline, on choosing, and on being still, which are qualities that the film industry needs more of, and that Mia has in abundance.
Finally, I want to say something about Club Zero, because it is the most recent chapter in her career and it shows where she is now, as an actress in her thirties who is willing to play a character who is both charismatic and dangerous, Miss Novak, a teacher who leads her students into a cult, and the performance, which was both calm and terrifying, proved that she could carry a film with her face and her voice alone, which is a rare achievement. My honest view is that her career is not finished, and that the best of it may still be ahead, because the roles for women in their thirties, the mothers, the teachers, the leaders, are the roles she was born to play, and the stillness and intensity she brings to them will make them memorable, long after the films themselves have ended. When those roles come, the story will change again, and Alice will become something else, and that is a story worth waiting for, because it is the story of a person becoming herself in public, one quiet, intense performance at a time, for nearly twenty years, and counting.
I also want to reflect on In Treatment, because it was the role that introduced Mia to American audiences, and it deserves more attention than it usually gets, because Sophie was a teenager in therapy, a character who was suicidal, angry and vulnerable, and Mia played her at eighteen with a stillness and an emotional honesty that made Sophie one of the most memorable characters in the series. The show was a demanding one, because each episode was a therapy session, with two actors in a room, talking, and the performance had to carry the episode, without action, without effects, only with words and faces, and Mia’s work in it proved that she could hold a scene with Gabriel Byrne, an experienced actor, and not be overshadowed, which is a test that many young actors fail, and that Mia passed, which is why Hollywood noticed her, and why Alice followed. I think In Treatment is the foundation of her career, because it taught her that acting is not about spectacle but about truth, and that truth, when it is told well, is enough to hold an audience, which is a lesson she has carried into every role since, from Alice to Jane Eyre to Miss Novak.
One last thought on Mia Wasikowska concerns her Australian identity, because she was born in Canberra, raised in Australia, and became a star in Hollywood, yet she has never lost her Australian directness, her love of the Australian landscape, and her willingness to return home for films like Damsel, Judy and Punch and Blueback, which is a connection that matters, because the Australian film industry is small and depends on its stars coming home, and Mia has come home again and again, not for a premiere but for work. I believe her legacy will be as an Australian actress who succeeded in Hollywood without ceasing to be Australian, and that is a story that should encourage any young person from a small place who dreams of a bigger stage, because the distance, which once seemed impossible, turns out to have been crossable all along, by a girl from Canberra who danced, who acted, and who is now directing, one quiet, intense performance at a time.
Finally, I think Mia Wasikowska’s story offers a lesson about discipline, because she learned discipline in ballet, and she has carried it into acting, into directing and into her life, which is why she is respected by directors, by critics and by audiences, even though she is not as famous as other actresses of her generation, because respect, when it is earned over decades, lasts longer than fame. My honest view is that her career is a triumph of discipline, of a woman who refused to chase fame, who chose the work, and who became, in the process, one of the finest actresses of her generation, and that is a story worth celebrating, because it shows that a career, when it is built on discipline, on choosing, and on being still, is a career that lasts, and that Mia Wasikowska’s career, which began in Canberra, passed through Wonderland, and continues in films around the world, will last for many years to come, one quiet, intense performance at a time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where was Mia Wasikowska born?
Mia Wasikowska was born in Canberra, Australia, on 25 October 1989, to Marzena Wasikowska, a Polish photographer, and John Reid, an Australian photographer. She trained as a ballet dancer before turning to acting.
Who did Mia Wasikowska play in Alice in Wonderland?
She played Alice Kingsleigh in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010), which earned more than a billion dollars worldwide. She returned to the role in Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).
What was Mia Wasikowska’s role in In Treatment?
She played Sophie, a young gymnast in therapy, in the HBO series In Treatment (2008), opposite Gabriel Byrne as the therapist Paul Weston.
Who did Mia Wasikowska play in Jane Eyre?
She played the title role, Jane Eyre, a governess, in the 2011 adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, directed by Cary Fukunaga, opposite Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester.
What is Stoker?
Stoker (2013) is a thriller directed by Park Chan-wook, in which Mia Wasikowska played India Stoker, a teenage girl whose father dies and whose uncle comes to live with her family.
Who did Mia Wasikowska play in Crimson Peak?
She played Edith Cushing, a young writer who marries a mysterious baronet, in Crimson Peak (2015), a gothic romance directed by Guillermo del Toro.
What is Club Zero?
Club Zero (2023) is a satire directed by Jessica Hausner, shown at the Cannes Film Festival, in which Mia Wasikowska played Miss Novak, a teacher who leads her students into a cult.
Has Mia Wasikowska directed films?
Yes, she has begun directing, including short films and a segment in the anthology film The Turning, and she continues to develop directorial work alongside her acting.
