About Carrie-Anne Moss
Striking Canadian import Carrie-Anne Moss, a dark-haired, alabaster skinned beauty, journeyed to Europe to pursue a modeling career, but instead landed on American television, fulfilling a lifelong goal of working as a professional actress. Despite always wanting to be an actress, nothing prepared Moss for becoming a cultural icon when she landed the career-defining role of Trinity, the cool, leather-clad, sunglasses-wearing heroine from the futuristic sci-fi phenomenon, “The Matrix” (1999). So great was the film’s impact on the cultural zeitgeist that Moss become more unrecognizable without sunglasses than with. Labeled by media and geek fandom as an action chick—a term she wholeheartedly embraced—Moss was wise in not letting the role define her career and instead balanced her resume with more feminine roles in low-budget indies.
Born on August 21, 1967 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Moss grew up knowing what her ambitions were, but with no way of knowing how to achieve them. When she was 11-years-old, Moss began performing in children’s theater in Vancouver. She further developed her craft at the exclusive Magee Secondary School where during her senior year Moss was chosen to travel Europe with the school’s choir. Moss returned home with renewed purpose and set about attaining her goal of becoming an actress by saving money from working odd jobs. After high school, she enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, CA, but departed for Toronto, Japan and Spain in pursuit of a modeling career once she graduated. By the time she was 20, Moss had landed on the cover of international magazines, but still longed to be on screen.
While in Barcelona, Moss was cast in a small role on "Dark Justice” (CBS, 1990-95). After her the first season ended, Moss returned to Vancouver where she proceeded to wallow in depression—she wanted so badly to continue acting, but still didn’t have much of a clue how to accomplish her goal. She steeled herself and did the only thing she could do—move to Los Angeles despite not knowing a single soul in the City of Angels. Depression settled in once again. Luckily for her, however, “Dark Justice” moved from Barcelona to Los Angeles, giving Moss steady, albeit low-paying employment. Meanwhile, her outlook—both professionally and personally—vastly improved. Moss began landing guest spots on "The Hat Squad" (CBS), "Down the Shore" (Fox) and "L.A. Law" (NBC), as well as several Canadian filmed productions, including a featured role on the 1993 action series "Matrix" (aired on USA Network)—an action fantasy about a hired assassin (Nick Mancuso) who pledges to do good and save others after a near-death experience that bore no relation to the film that launched Moss’ stardom.
In 1994, Moss was cast as Carrie Spencer, a 26-year-old model considered past her prime, on the awful primetime soap "Models Inc.” (Fox, 1993-95). Though usually awash in melodrama, “Models, Inc.” gave Moss an opportunity to ham it up while gaining the exposure she previously lacked. In the syndicated thriller "FX: The Series" (Syndicated, 1996-98), Moss landed the regular role of Lucinda Scott, a dauntless woman in cahoots with a special effects wizard (Cameron Daddo, previously featured with Moss on "Models Inc.") who moonlights as a crime fighter. Moss' character was an actress who was often called upon to don makeup and pretend to be anything from a 16-year-old girl to a 60-year-old man as part of the series' adventures. Moss capably handled the challenge for the only season (1996-97) she appeared on the show.
Moss, however, declined to commit to a second season of “FX,” a decision that proved to be fortuitous in hindsight when Larry and Andy Wachowski cast her in “The Matrix,” a groundbreaking sci-fi action flick that focused on Neo, a lowly software engineer (Keanu Reeves) who learns that the world is not real, but a matrix created by machines. Neo further learns from a group of resistance fighters (Moss, Laurence Fishburne and the slippery Joe Pantoliano) that he is destined to lead enslaved human beings against the machines and towards a new Promised Land. As the sleek and sumptuous Trinity, Moss kicked ass in a role that seemed tailor-made for her stoic bravado and chiseled femininity—extensive martial arts training gave Moss the opportunity to perform her own fight sequences, allowing her to emerge as both a luminous screen presence and a capable action hero.
Though she was considered to be the go-to female action star—a designation once held by “Aliens” hero Sigourney Weaver—Moss routinely refused the call to appear in action movies, the blockbuster debacle “Red Planet” (2000) notwithstanding. Moss instead opted for more thoughtful fare, appearing in the highly-praised artsy confection "Chocolot" (2000) as the uptight and overprotective daughter of a woman (Judi Dench) who rents her shop to a chocolate proprietor (Juliette Binoche) looking to awaken a dreary French town from it’s passionless slumber. She next appeared in a pivotal role in writer-director Christopher Nolan's "Memento" (2000) which pushed the boundaries by telling its story backwards from the perspective of a man (Guy Pearce) with amnesia trying to find his wife’s killer. Moss' compelling turn as a mysterious woman who may or may not be leading the man astray earned her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female Actress.
In 2003, Moss reunited with the cast of the sci-fi action "The Matrix" for the back-to-back filmed sequels "The Matrix: Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions." Despite ramped up expectations and a huge take at the box office, the sequels failed to continue the intrigue and high-minded anticipation of the original. The following year, Moss played an FBI agent tracking a serial killer who murders serial killers in the thriller "Suspect Zero" (2004), then followed up with a role as a bikini-clad temptress who for some reason fails to seduce her daughter’s friends in the messy teen satire, “The Chumscrubber” (2005).
Comfortable keeping a low-profile post “Matrix,” Moss costarred in “Mini’s First Time” (2006), playing the hard-partying and emotionally abusive mom of a overly-sexual teenage daughter (Nikki Reed) wantonly bent on journeying into the seedier side of Los Angeles who conspires with her step dad (Alec Baldwin) to put her mother in a mental institution. Assuming the mother role once again, Moss appeared as the stern, but loving kind in “Disturbia” (2007), an energetic, albeit predictable thriller about a teenager (Shia LaBeouf) under three months of house arrest who goes stir crazy and begins spying on the neighborhood to assuage the boredom, only to think that a neighbor might be an elusive serial killer.
