Personal
Flora Cross (born
January 11 1993) is an American/
French actress. Born in
Paris, France, she has traveled extensively with her family, most recently to Argentina where she lived for two years. She currently resides in Los Angeles. Her two brothers are also actors (
Eli Marienthal and
Harley Cross). Flora attended French schools since childhood (Le Lycee Francais
[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycée_Français_de_New_York]), and speaks French, Spanish and English fluently. For high school, she switched to the American school system, and attends a private school on Los Angeles' Westside.
Her hobbies include writing screenplays (she recently completed her first feature length script) and studying film and theater. Cross enjoys soccer, dance (ballet, hip-hop, jazz and modern) and singing. She previously attended the Academy of Music and Dance in Pasadena, CA.
[pasadenadanceclasses.com/] She loves animals, and has had many pets in the past, including dogs, cats, and guinea pigs. Some were strays found on the streets of Haiti and New York City.
Flora hopes to spend a summer volunteering with orphanages in India. She is also very interested in working to stop the human trafficking in India and around the globe (
Stop the Traffik). She is a supporter of many charities, including
Greenpeace,
Environment California,
The Global Fund For Women,
Energy Action Coalition,
World Wildlife Fund,
Amnesty International,
Avon Walk for Breast Cancer,
PETA,
Jessie's Place,
Medecins Sans Frontieres(
Doctors Without Borders), and others. She became a vegetarian in 2008, and supports fair trade, organic, and locally grown foods. Flora is a friend and producer of
The 1 Second Film. She has volunteered time at animal shelters such as
Lange Foundation and Friends of Animals Foundation.
Acting
Flora played the lead role of Eliza in the 2005 film
Bee Season, opposite
Richard Gere,
Juliette Binoche and
Max Minghella. She auditioned for the part shortly before moving to Argentina, where she was living when offered the role. "My manager sent the tape in, and then I was called in for an audition that was very long and very tiring," recalls the actor. "It went on for five hours. Two weeks later I was told I got the part".
[Flora Cross: Spelling it out]
Her next role was playing the eccentric daughter of
Jennifer Jason Leigh's character in director
Noah Baumbach's follow up to the critically acclaimed "
The Squid and the Whale". She worked alongside actors such as Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, and John Turturro, and fellow teen actor
Zane Pais.
"The performance by Flora Cross is haunting in its seriousness. She doesn't act out; she acts in. " Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun TImes
:: rogerebert.com :: People :: 'Bee' girl carries film (xhtml)
"When FLORA CROSS landed her first role in 2005's Bee Season, it was alongside Hollywood heavyweights like
Richard Gere and
Juliette Binoche. For her role in
Margot At The Wedding, an off-color domestic dramedy directed by
Noah Baumbach (The Squid And The Whale), Cross shares screen-time with
Nicole Kidman,
Jennifer Jason Leigh and
Jack Black. Not too shabby for a 14-year-old, huh?"
www.altpress.com/screening/64.htm
"With the help of clear direction and some excellent acting, especially from Flora Cross in a memorable debut as Eliza, "Bee Season" is affecting in ways that movies have all but given up trying to be." Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times
[www.calendarlive.com/movies/turan/cl-et-bee11nov11,0,5519925.story]
"The beating heart of the Naumann family is Eliza (the wonderful Flora Cross), a doleful beauty with bottomless eyes that flutter closed whenever she spells out a word. "
Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/movies/11bee.html?[www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/movies/11bee.html?_r=1]
Flora Cross blooms in Season
By JANE STEVENSON - Toronto Sun
[jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/C/Cross_Flora/2005/11/10/1300119.html]
jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/C/Cross_Flora/2005/11/10/1300119.html
Flora Cross is featured in
Teen Vogue's Young Hollywood Issue.
[www.teenvogue.com/industry/2007/09/younghollywood?slide=7]
www.teenvogue.com/industry/2007/09/younghollywood?slide=7
Interestingly, her first brush with the public eye occurred as an infant, when she appeared in
Vogue Bambini.
Awards
|-
! Year !! Awards !! Group !! Film !! Result
|-
| [[2005 in film|2005]] || [[Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards]] || Best Young Actress || [[Bee Season (film)|Bee Season]] || {{award-nom}}
|-
| [[2006 in film|2006]] || [[Critics' Choice Award]] || Best Young Actress || [[Bee Season (film)|Bee Season]] || {{award-nom}}
|-
| [[2007 in film|2007]] || [[Gotham Award]] || Best Ensemble Cast || [[Margot At The Wedding]] || {{award-nom}}
|}
