Annabella Avery Thorne (born October 8, 1997) is an American actress, singer, and writer. She first received recognition for her roles as Margaux Darling in the series Dirty Sexy Money (2007–2008) and as Ruthy Spivey in the drama series My Own Worst Enemy (2009), the latter of which earned her a Young Artist Award.
Thorne gained prominence for her role as CeCe Jones on the Disney Channel series Shake It Up (2010–2013), for which she received several awards and nominations, including winning an Imagen Award. Thorne has since appeared in numerous feature films, including Blended (2014), Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015), The Babysitter film series (2017–2020). She received praise for her roles in The DUFF (2015), Amityville: The Awakening (2017), and Infamous (2020). Thorne also led the drama series Famous in Love (2017–2018), for which she received nominations from the Teen Choice Awards.
Outside of acting, Thorne has ventured into music; she released her debut single, "Watch Me" in 2011, which charted at 86 on the US Billboard Hot 100. She has since released the EP Made in Japan in 2012 and the EP Jersey in 2014. She made her directorial debut in 2019, directing the adult film Her & Him, which garnered positive reviews and won a Pornhub Visionary Award.
Early life
Annabella Avery Thorne was born in Pembroke Pines, Florida, on October 8, 1997, the daughter of Tamara Thorne and Delancey Reinaldo "Rey" Thorne. She has three siblings who are also actors. Her father was of Cuban descent, and she also has Italian, along with English, German, Irish, and Welsh ancestry. Her father died in a traffic accident in April 2007. She has said that she was raised by a mother who was supporting four children, that they were very poor, and that she originally began working as a child actress to help support the family.
In September 2017, Thorne revealed that she had lived in a suburban area, spoke Spanish as her first language, and that she was bullied while growing up because she was dyslexic. She was diagnosed with dyslexia while in first grade. She was home-schooled after previously attending a public school, where she had been bullied. She improved in her learning after attending a Sylvan Learning center and began reading and writing a grade ahead. In April 2010, she said she had overcome dyslexia by rigorously reading everything she could find, including cereal box labels.
In January 2018, Thorne wrote on Instagram that she had been physically and sexually abused as a child, "from the day I can remember till I was 14". In 2019, she told ABC News' Juju Chang that the abuse began when she was six years old. She did not name her alleged abuser, but said that he was "someone I was raised with".
Career
2003–2009: Early work and acting beginnings
Thorne's first film appearance was an uncredited role as a sidelines fan in the 2003 film Stuck on You. She has since appeared in film and television projects including Entourage and The O.C. as a younger version of Taylor Townsend. In 2007, she joined the recurring cast of Dirty Sexy Moneys second season as Margaux Darling. This is her first major television role. The series revolves around lawyer and family man Nick George when Nick's father mysteriously dies in a plane crash, he agrees to take his position as the Darling family's lawyer, while trying to discover who committed the murder.
In 2008, Thorne starred alongside Christian Slater and Taylor Lautner in the short-lived drama series My Own Worst Enemy, for which she won a Young Artist Award for her portrayal of the character Ruthy Spivey; Thorne described her Enemy casting as a major breakthrough as this was the first recurring role in her career. The same year, she starred in the third-last episode of October Road as Angela Ferilli, the pre-adolescence crush of the main characters. Her older brother Remy also guest-starred in the same episode as a younger Eddie Latekka.
In 2009, she starred in the web series Little Monk, which depicted characters from the series Monk, as Wendy, one of Adrian Monk's classmates. The webisodes are available only on the "Best of Monk" DVD. Also in 2009, she played the role of the vengeful antagonist in the horror film Forget Me Not. Thorne took on a supporting role in the family drama Raspberry Magic, which premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 2010.
