Mara Wilson

She was born on Friday, July 24th, 1987, in Los Angeles, California. She is the oldest daughter of Michael and Suzie Wilson, with three elder brothers - Danny (b. 1979), Jon (b. 1981) and Joel (b. 1983) - and a younger sister Anna (b. 1993). When Mara was 5 years old, her eldest brother Daniel Ben Wilson (Danny) started acting in television commercials and she wanted to follow in his footsteps. Her parents refused to let her act at first. After continuous persistence from Mara, her parents reluctantly agreed to let her give acting a try. She went on to appear in a number of commercials, including those advertising Texaco and the Bank of America. she was invited to audition for the 1993 comedy film Mrs. Doubtfire. Producers were impressed and awarded her the role of Natalie Hillard. It starred Robin Williams and Sally Field, as divorced parents. In her role, Mara proved herself to be a talented young actress, who was mature for her tender years, The following year, she appeared in the remake of Miracle on 34th Street (1994).

In 1994, Wilson was cast in a recurring role as Nikki Petrova on Melrose Place and played Barbara Barton in the television film A Time to Heal. In the film Mara played a small girl whose mother had suffered a major stroke. She sang "Make 'Em Laugh" at the 67th Academy Awards broadcast on March 27, 1995, with Tim Curry and Kathy Najimy. In 1995, she won the ShoWest Award for Young Star of the Year. Wilson's film work caught the attention of Danny DeVito, and she was cast as the main protagonist Matilda Wormwood in the 1996 film Matilda. She was only 9 at the time. She was nominated for three awards for her performance, winning the YoungStar Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy Film. In 1997, she starred in A Simple Wish alongside Martin Short, Kathleen Turner and Teri Garr.

In 1997, Wilson went to a table reading for What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams, but she did not get the part. A year later, she unsuccessfully auditioned for the 1998 remake of Disney's The Parent Trap, but the role was given to Lindsay Lohan after Wilson was deemed too young. In 1999, she portrayed Willow Johnson in the film for The Wonderful World of Disney titled Balloon Farm, based on a fiction book. In 2000, Wilson appeared in the fantasy film Thomas and the Magic Railroad, which was her last film. The film was universally panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office. She retired from film work shortly afterward. She received a script for the 2001 film Donnie Darko but declined to audition for the film. After retiring from film acting, she began stage acting. Her theater credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream and Cinderella.

In 2012, Wilson appeared briefly in one episode of a web series called Missed Connection in the role of Bitty and made special appearances on internet review shows for That Guy with the Glasses—most notably a comedic turn playing an adult Matilda during a review of Matilda by The Nostalgia Chick, Lindsay Ellis. That year, she explained why she quit film acting: "Film acting is not very fun. Doing the same thing over and over again until, in the director's eyes, you 'get it right', does not allow for very much creative freedom. The best times I had on film sets were the times the director let me express myself, but those were rare." In 2016, she made a brief return to television in a Mrs. Doubtfire-inspired episode of Broad City, in which she played a waitress where the comical Heimlich scene from the film was re-enacted. That same year, she voiced Jill Pill, a writer/director anthropomorphic spider, in season 3 of BoJack Horseman. Wilson has a recurring role on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale as "The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home", as well as her own storytelling show called What Are You Afraid Of?, In a 2017 NPR interview, The Simpsons voice actor Nancy Cartwright stated that a young Wilson was the inspiration for a character's voice on the episode "Bart Sells His Soul".

Wilson's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer on March 10, 1995, and died on April 26, 1996. The film Matilda was dedicated to her memory. Wilson later recalled that this affected her passion for acting. At age 12, Wilson was diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder. In 2015, Wilson collaborated with Project UROK, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to aid teens with mental illness. Wilson is a cousin of political commentator and media host Ben Shapiro. They have no contact with each other. As of 2013, Wilson resides in the Queens borough of New York City. She came out as bisexual during an interview with Medium in September 2017. In a 2017 op-ed in Elle magazine, Wilson defended the then-13-year-old actress Millie Bobby Brown after commentators sexualized Brown's public image. She recalled an incident in which she was asked to comment on the burgeoning sexuality of an 18-year-old Britney Spears when she herself was barely 13 and expressed relief at largely escaping oversexualization of her public image compared to Spears. She described her disappointment when a reporter called her a "spoiled brat" after she stated that she wanted the day off on her 13th birthday instead of granting interviews.