Young American actress Chloe Grace Moretz is 20 today. Aref Omar lists some of the petite star’s big-screen works
1. THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (2005)
Moretz makes her film debut in this remake of the 1979 horror film based on the novel of the same name.
She plays one of three children of a couple who move into a large, creepy house with a “history” and are terrorised by its otherworldly inhabitants.
At 8, Moretz did most of her own stunts and charmed viewers with her cute-as-a-button persona.
Jimmy Bennett, who played her onscreen brother, would later star with Moretz in Movie 43 (2013), with the two playing an awkward teenage couple.
2. KICK-ASS (2010)
Based on the comic book of the same name, this black comedy sees a wannabe real-life superhero teaming up with a Batman-like vigilante who is training his daughter to become a crime fighter as well.
As the 11-year-old Hit-Girl, Moretz shocked audiences by taking down the baddies with extreme violence and even harsher profanities.
Although the film was a hit with viewers and critics (it also spawned a sequel in 2013), family advocacy groups complained about the level of violence, profanity and sexualisation of her character.
3. LET ME IN (2010)
Moretz plays a mysterious vampire, who befriends a lonely and bullied boy, in this Hollywood remake of the Swedish dark romantic horror, Let The Right One In.
Director Matt Reeves and Moretz apparently modelled the physical appearance, personality and sadness of her character after a 12-year-old homeless girl seen in a series of pictures taken by renowned American photographer Mary Ellen Mark.
During the snow scenes, Moretz was actually barefoot and the crew had to quickly heat her feet up in-between takes.
4. HICK (2011)
Moretz was 13 during the filming of this dramedy about a small town girl from a dysfunctional family in Nebraska who goes through a series of complicated misfortunes after she decides to run away from home to head for Las Vegas.
5. HUGO (2011)
Based on the graphic novel The Invention Of Hugo Cabret, this historical-fiction adventure drama is a rare PG-rated film from director Martin Scorsese.
The magical tale sees Moretz playing the goddaughter of a fictionalised version of French illusionist and director Georges Melies, who helps the titular orphan boy living in the wall of a train station in 1930s Paris, to solve a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
6. CARRIE (2013)
Moretz plays the titular tortured heroine in this horror flick, the third film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1974 novel of the same name.
Of the three, this is the adaptation where Carrie was played by an actual teenager —Moretz was 15, at the time. She plays a shy outcast, smothered by her deeply religious mother, and she unleashes her telekinetic powers to deadly effect after a cruel prank is played on her during her senior prom.
Director Kimberly Peirce sent Moretz to homeless shelters to meet people who had genuinely lived tough lives in order to prepare her for the role.
Peirce has also said that over three tonnes of fake blood was used during the whole production. Moretz reportedly worked in the blood for about three months.
7. CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (2014)
Helmed by French director Olivier Assayas, this drama sees Moretz playing a scandalous upstart young starlet who is up for the revival of a dramatic role that made a veteran actress famous when she was much younger.
8. THE EQUALIZER (2014)
This vigilante action thriller, loosely based on the 1980s TV series of the same name, follows the story of a man with a mysterious past, who leaves his quiet life behind when he goes on a mission to save a young girl from brutal Russian mobsters.
Moretz’s role as the girl named Teri was originally written for an older actress in her 20s but Moretz fought for it and impressed director Antoine Fuqua so much that he made the change. Teri is coincidentally the name of Moretz’s real-life mother.
9. IF I STAY (2014)
In this romantic teen drama, Moretz plays a comatose girl, who has an out-of-body experience and has to decide whether to move on or wake up and live a life very much different from what she had imagined.
The actress wore a wig throughout the entire production for her role since she had short blonde hair at the time.
Director R.J. Cutler apparently gave Moretz a personal iPod featuring songs that he felt her character would listen to, which was Classical music.
Although she had to learn how to play the cello for her role, she didn’t do too well, resulting in the use of a real cellist and clever camera angles for her performance scenes.
10. THE FIFTH WAVE (2016)
Based on the Young Adult novel of the same name by Rick Yancey, this dystopian sci-fi thriller sees Moretz as on-the-run heroine Cassie, who struggles to save her younger brother during a series of increasingly deadly alien attacks that have decimated most of planet Earth. The actress has said that she was really excited to play her favourite character from the book the film is based on and has read it three times over.