Beautiful People 2009: Alison Pill

Film and theater writer-director Neil LaBute calls actress Alison Pill "fantastically talented, superbly focused -- a peerless stage performer." Pill, who has acted in two of LaBute's plays -- Reasons to Be Pretty and The Distance from Here -- responds in kind: "He's one of the best writers for women out there," says Pill, whose sweet-but-tough, tomboyish demeanor suddenly reminds me of the character Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. "And it pisses me the fuck off that people talk about him as this misogynist -- that's so not the point." It's good that Pill riles easily, since the opening scene in the off-Broadway production Reasons to Be Pretty (which bows on Broadway this month without her; Marin Ireland will take her place), requires her character to literally scream most of her lines. She pulled it off brilliantly -- acrid, incensed and remarkably vulnerable.

While the Toronto born and raised Pill, who is a mere 23, has been acting in theater, film and television (including a regular role on HBO's In Treatment) since she was 10, it's her role in last year's Milk that has people talking. In the film, which earned Sean Penn an Oscar in the lead role, Pill plays Milk's lesbian campaign manager, Anne Kronenberg. "He's not bad at acting," Pill jokes about Penn. "It was just like, all right, I guess you're okay -- keep it up." She's not half bad herself, and she's got a whole load of films lined up, including Thicker with Guy Pearce, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World from Hott Fuzz director Edgar Wright, which co-stars Michael Cera. We can't wait to see more.
REBECCA CAROL

Alison wears a dress by Anna Sui, shoes by Converse and necklace by John Ortved.

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