Heather Matarazzo

Biography:

Heather Matarazzo, born on November 10, 1982, is an American actress recognized for her roles as Lilly Moscovitz in The Princess Diaries (2001) and its 2004 sequel, as well as Martha Meeks in Scream 3 (2000) and Scream (2022). She began her film career at 12 with Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), earning an Independent Spirit Award for her portrayal of Dawn Wiener. Her other notable films include The Devil’s Advocate (1997), All I Wanna Do (1998), 54 (1998), Sorority Boys (2002), Saved! (2004), and Sisters (2015).

Matarazzo was adopted by an Italian-American family and raised in Oyster Bay, New York. Her biological mother was Irish-American, and her father was from Knock, County Mayo, Ireland. She began acting at six after taking the microphone at a children’s AIDS benefit, which led to her being signed by a talent manager she worked with for a decade.

In 1997, she won the Independent Spirit Award for her role as a teenage misfit in Welcome to the Dollhouse. Matarazzo has said she values roles that let her portray complex, often marginalized characters. One of her proudest performances was in Our Guys: Outrage in Glen Ridge (1999), where she played a mentally disabled girl who was sexually assaulted—a role based on a real case. Between 1999 and 2000, she appeared in the TV series Now and Again as Heather Wiseman. She played Lilly Moscovitz in The Princess Diaries (2001) and its sequel in 2004.

Matarazzo has guest-starred in popular TV series including Roseanne, Law & Order, The L Word, Grey’s Anatomy, and Strangers With Candy. In 2010, she co-starred with Thaao Penghlis in the premiere of Class, a play by Charles Evered, at Cape May Stage in New Jersey.

In 2011, she announced plans to direct a TV series based on Diane Hanks’ memoir Summer Camp: A Memoir.

Matarazzo publicly came out as a lesbian in 2004 at the age of 21 in a New York Daily News article and was later featured in The Advocate. She was engaged to musician Caroline Murphy in 2008, but the couple amicably separated in 2012. In 2018, she married comedian Heather Turman.

She was an outspoken supporter and campaigner for Bernie Sanders during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.