Alison Lohman is an American actress who was born in Palm Springs, California. Although her family has no show business connections, she has been acting since age 9.

Personal Quotes

On her role in Matchstick Men:

"I wanted to look young in this role, it was a needed thing. She’s 14. This role I really needed to feel 14, I had to be 14 in every way possible, so I hung out with my 14 year-old cousin for a month. She had a retainer and pigtails and all that. There’s something in their eyes, between age 10 and 15 I think, it’s just that sort of ‘anything is possible’ look. For me, the most beautiful thing you could ever see is like a child’s eyes. I wanted to really make sure that I captured her spirit, that youthful spirit. For me it’s all about dreaming. What does she look like when she walks? What’s the look in her eye? It’s not about, ‘Oh, on this move, I’m going to put my arm like that.’ It’s just the whole spirit, so that any way that I would move would be right."

"Actually when I first read the script I was like, ‘No. No way I’m playing 14. You can just pass on this.' Usually it’s like the first 50 pages and you kind of know. But then reading the whole script for me was like, ‘Okay, I can definitely do this.’"

On working with Ridley Scott:

"Without even saying anything, just his eyes... It’s not like he forces you to do it, but the power that he has, it’s something in his spirit. It’s almost like intangible and kind of magical. He has an energy that kind of lifts you. Any doubt that you had is just gone. You just do it – it’s really simple. It was so easy to work with him."

On her history in theater:

"I did musicals from about age 10 to 18. I still get really nervous, though, before each performance. It kind of hits about 15 minutes before we go onstage--sometimes I don't even want to go on. But once I'm onstage I'm fine."

On being 'shy':

"One of the reasons I've hesitated to be an actor is you have to do talk shows and interviews. I'm really a private person and not into telling everything about me. Michelle [Pfeiffer] told me to think of doing publicity as the work and acting as the fun part."

On her role in White Oleander:

"She's so young and so impressionable. There's an innocence and a vulnerability that you almost can't really manufacture. It's like a look in the eye that a young girl has that a 23-year-old doesn't."

On singing with Frank Sinatra:

"I'll never forget looking at Frank Sinatra. Just looking at his blue eyes. I think it's probably the most petrified I've ever been onstage."