Teresa Palmer
Teresa Palmer (born 26 February 1986) is an Australian actress. She made her film debut in the suicide drama 2:37. Palmer was seen in The Grudge 2 in 2006, in December Boys, alongside Daniel Radcliffe, and in the 2008 children’s fantasy Bedtime Stories, with Adam Sandler. She appeared in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in 2010, with Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel, and her films in 2011 include a turn as an alien in the sci-fi film I Am Number Four, and playing Topher Grace’s love interest in Take Me Home Tonight. She will star in the zombie love story Warm Bodies.
Palmer was born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia. She is the only child of Kevin Palmer, an investor, and Paula Sanders, a former nurse and missionary. Her parents divorced when she was three. She has a stepmother, Kaaren Palmer, as well as two half-sisters and two stepbrothers, who lived with her father. Palmer stated to Interview that she “came from rather humble beginnings”; she lived in public housing with her mother, and grew up on her father’s farm in the Adelaide Hills. Palmer was named after Mother Teresa by her mother, and has stated that she had a “tough upbringing” due to her mother’s manic depression. Palmer was a student at Mercedes College, a private Catholic day school, and won a local casting audition, “Search for a Movie Star”, in 2003. Her first acting job was dressing up as Strawberry Shortcake and Santa’s Little Helper on weekends for promotions in shopping centres near Adelaide. Palmer went to acting classes for a couple of years and appeared in a few television commercials. She was a fast food attendant at Hungry Jack’s in Rundle Mall in 2005, before working at clothing retailers Supré, Mambo Australia, and Cotton On. After graduating from high school, Palmer got a call from her local talent agent about appearing in a student film, 2:37.The director had seen her head shot on the acting agency’s website and wanted her to be in the movie. Palmer thought that she would work in an animal rescue service, and eventually open her own animal welfare agency. She was accepted into university to study teaching and was taking a course on journalism, but had always dreamt of acting.Palmer quit university to work on the film.
Palmer was cast to star with Tom Sturridge in her first American feature, Jumper, a science fiction film directed by Doug Liman. Her part was later recast when the lead characters were rewritten for older actors; her role went to Rachel Bilson. Palmer was devastated from losing the role and returned to Adelaide for a few months. She made her Hollywood feature film debut in The Grudge 2 in 2006, a horror sequel starring Amber Tamblyn and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Palmer described her character, Vanessa, as “the bitchy schoolgirl”. In early 2007, Palmer was cast as Tori Frederking in the comedy Take Me Home Tonight, starring Anna Faris, Dan Fogler and Topher Grace. Set in the 1980s, the film was directed by Michael Dowse and released in March 2011. Palmer starred in the film clip for the 2007 single “Breaking Up”, by the band Eskimo Joe, shot in Newcastle.
Palmer jumps into the sea with the band’s singer, Kavyen Temperley. Palmer relocated from Semaphore Beach in Adelaide to Los Angeles in May 2007 to further her career, and began auditioning for films. She stated that Los Angeles was “a big adjustment” and “very different” from her home in Australia. She went through a period of loneliness and depression, and considered going back home until she made friends there. In November 2007, Palmer was cast as the villain, Talia al Ghul, in the DC Comics superhero film, Justice League of America, alongside D.J. Cotrona, Adam Brody, Anton Yelchin, Common and Megan Gale. George Miller was set to direct the film, but it was cancelled by Warner Bros. due to script rewrite issues and the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.Palmer was the face of Sydney jeweller Jan Logan’s “modern darling” collection in 2008. She was picked that year by Adam Sandler from an audition tape to play his love interest in the Walt Disney Pictures children’s film, Bedtime Stories. She played an heiress, Violet Nottingham, starring alongside Guy Pearce and Courteney Cox. Sandler also put Palmer’s mother and best friend in scenes in the film.Palmer won the romantic lead in Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Jon Turteltaub. The film was based on the animated film Fantasia (1940), which was inspired by a poem by Goethe. Palmer stayed in Manhattan’s West Village while filming for six months. She played Becky Barnes, a college student who is pursued by Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), a physics student and apprentice to the wizard Balthazar (Nicolas Cage).
In 2009, Palmer formed the film production company Avakea Productions, with Australian actresses Tahyna Tozzi and Nathalie Kelley. She was a guest judge on MTV Australia, for the Sydney filmmaking talent contest, Optus one80project. She also filmed an ad campaign that year for the Australian jean store, Just Jeans, and became the face and spokesperson for the Jurlique cosmetics company. In 2011, Palmer starred in the sci-fi adventure film, I Am Number Four, alongside Alex Pettyfer and Dianna Agron. She played Number Six, one of nine aliens hiding out on Earth because her home planet was destroyed. Her character was skilled in martial arts, rode a Ducati motorcycle, and could become invisible and walk through fire. She went through stunt training for the role, learning to perform flips, swordfight, and do wirework. The film was adapted from a novel that was the first of a six-part series. Palmer signed on to do three movies, if the film became a franchise.Palmer was going to star in Fury Road, a sequel to the Mad Max series by Australian filmmaker George Miller, but didn’t join the cast due to scheduling conflicts. The film was later postponed. Palmer starred in the short film “Bear”, directed by Nash Edgerton, which competed at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. She appeared opposite Joel Edgerton in the independent Australian drama-thriller, Wish You Were Here, directed by Kieran Darcy-Smith. The film began shooting in Sydney in November 2010, and premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. She also starred in a comedic short, “Quirky Girl”, for the website Funny or Die, opposite Aaron Paul. As of September 2010, Palmer was directing a documentary film about a Kenyan-based charity, the Happy Africa Foundation. As of December 2010, Palmer and actress Tahyna Tozzi were producing, writing and starring in their own film titled Track Town, a 1990s road movie they described as a hybrid of The Wackness and Thelma & Louise. Palmer will star in Love and Honor with Liam Hemsworth, which was filmed in Ann Arbor, Michigan in mid-2011. The independent romance is set in the 1960s during the Vietnam War, and will be released in early 2013. Palmer will also star in Warm Bodies, a zombie film produced by Summit Entertainment. She plays opposite Nicholas Hoult, as a human who falls in love with a zombie. Palmer has a role in the independent thriller Cut Bank, starring with Armie Hammer, Ben Kingsley, John Malkovich, and Michael Sheen. Palmer will appear in the Terrence Malick film, Knight of Cups, starring Christian Bale, and she joined the cast of Parts Per Billion, an ensemble film directed by Brian Horiuchi. She will also appear in the rock musical Skum Rocks!, starring Kevin Bacon and Matthew Broderick.
