Name	Heather Matarazzo
Height	5' 3"
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	10 November 1982
Place of Birth	Long Island, New York, USA
Famous for

Before breaking into television with the recurring role of Natasha, a neighborhood friend of younger Pete, in the Nickelodeon series “The Adventures of Pete and Pete,” Heather Matarazzo had a bit of experience behind her, having played an abused child in an NYU student film, and Helen Keller in a regional stage production of “The Miracle Worker.”

A brilliant and talented, Matarazzo soon became the centre of attention when director Todd Solondz cast her in the starring role of the plain, bespectacled junior high student Dawn Weiner in her feature film debut, Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995). For her convincing and touching performance, Matarazzo received praise and won an Independent Spirit for Best Debut Performance.

Following one of the year’s most striking film performances, Matarazzo picked up a recurring role on the short-lived sitcom “Townies” (1996), playing the younger sister of Jenna Elfman, and accepted supporting turns in the Sundance Festival-premiered films, the suspense thriller Arresting Gena (1997, as a tough teen) and the street-kid drama Hurricane Streets (1997). She gave a memorable turn as an eyewitness testifying in a murder trial named Barbara in the Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino vehicle The Devil’s Advocate (1997) directed by Taylor Hackford and was seen as Sabrina in the comedy The Deli (1997). Often shifting gears between television and film, Matarazzo also guest starred in an episode of the medical drama “ER” (1997) and “Law & Order” (1998), as well as had a recurring role as Heather, DJ’s girlfriend in the series “Roseanne” (1997).

Matarazzo made three films in 1998. Her first performance as the bulimic Theresa ‘Tweety’ Goldberg in the female-driven Strike!/The Hairy Bird, starring Kirsten Dunst and Gaby Hoffmann, won her positive reviews though the film itself became the subject of some controversy due to the miserable experience between its’ producers and the Miramax. She next was featured as the younger sister of Ryan Phillippe’s Shane O’Shea in 54 (1998) and Kerry in the France-production American Cuisine (1998). The following year, she starred in two flicks based on the short stories of Joyce Carol Oates, Getting to Know You (1999) and Cherry (1999). Besides, the precocious youngster took on the demanding role of a mentally handicapped teen who is cruelly assaulted by a group of high school athletes in the fact-based, television movie Our Guys: Occurrence at Glen Ridge (1999), a role that garnered Matarazzo even bigger admiration.

After a regular role as Eric Close’s daughter on the CBS short-lived but critically admired drama “Now and Again” (1999), Matarazzo took on supporting parts in the comedy films Blue Moon (2000) and Company Man (2000), as well the mainstream Scream 3 (2000). Matarazzo’s career received boost in 2001 with a film from Garry Marshall, the popular Cinderella story The Princess Diaries, playing Anne Hathaway’s unadorned Jane buddy Lilly Moscovitz. The same year, she was also seen on stage, costarring in a production of “Servicemen.”

Back on screen, Matarazzo had a bit but well-received role as Katie, one of the hideous duckling sisters in a sorority where college cads are disguised as women, in the dim-witted comedy Sorority Boys (2002), and played roles in television films St. Sass (2002) and Stage On Screen: The Women (2002). She then costarred opposite Zack Ward in the comedy The Pink House (2003), supported Sam Huntington , Marla Sokoloff and Mike Erwin in writer/director Ryan Shiraki’s Home of Phobia (2004) before taking on a joyous nerd role, opposite Jena Malone and Mandy Moore, in the religious satire Saved! (2004), which was seen her as a desperately social-climbing Christian school student named Tia. Still in 2004, Matarazzo reprised her role Lilly for the sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. In 2005, the young actress can add the drama Believe in Me (2005) written and directed by Robert Collector to her impressive acting resume.