Aryana Engineer (born March 6, 2001) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

actress who made her debut in the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

Orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

'', as a little girl named Max, alongside

Vera Farmiga Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress. Farmiga began her professional acting career on stage in the original Broadway production of '' Taking Sides'' (1996). After expanding to television and film, her breakthrough ...

. In 2012 she starred, alongside

Milla Jovovich Milica Bogdanovna Jovović; ; ( ; born December 17, 1975), known professionally as Milla Jovovich (), is an American actress and former fashion model. Her starring roles in numerous science fiction film, science-fiction and action films led th ...

, as Becky in '' Resident Evil: Retribution'', the fifth film in the franchise.

Life and career

Engineer was born partially deaf on March 6, 2001, in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. In 2007, she was discovered when she was spotted using

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...

with her mother. The neighbour (Brenda Campbell) who discovered her was an agent, who suggested Aryana for the role of five-year-old Maxine "Max" Coleman in the film ''Orphan'' (2009). The neighbour knew the producers were searching for a blond-haired girl who knew how to sign, and decided to take action. In the Orphan script, Max Coleman was described as "unimaginably cute". When director

Jaume Collet-Serra Jaume Collet-Serra (; born 23 March 1974) is a Spanish-American film director and producer. He directed the horror films ''House of Wax (2005 film), House of Wax'' (2005), ''Orphan (2009 film), Orphan'' (2009), and ''The Shallows (film), The Sh ...

saw that Aryana had the ability "while crying, to perform a scene -- to immediately go from there still keeping this emotion", he knew she was the one for the part. According to Collet-Serra, Aryana didn't understand what was going on during the making of ''Orphan'' and thought it was all a game. After the release of ''Orphan'', Aryana took part in a commercial for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

that was being held in Canada. She also represented Canada with her brother at the

2010 Winter Paralympics The 2010 Winter Paralympics (), or the tenth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, from March 12 to 21, 2010. The opening ceremony took place in BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Closing ...

opening ceremony, welcoming viewers using sign language. In September 2012, ''Resident Evil: Retribution'' was released to the public. In the film, Aryana plays a deaf girl named Becky who builds a mother-daughter relationship with the main character Alice (Milla Jovovich).

Filmography

Self

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Engineer, Aryana 2001 births Living people 21st-century Canadian actresses Actresses from British Columbia Canadian child actresses Canadian deaf actresses Canadian film actresses Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian people of Scottish descent People from Port Moody