Tara Lynne Barr (born October 2, 1993) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Roxy in the

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film ''

God Bless America "God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin during World War I in 1918 and revised by him in the run up to World War II in 1938. The later version was notably recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature son ...

'' (2011), which earned her a

Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

nomination for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film, and Laura Meyers in the Hulu comedy-drama series '' Casual''.

Early life

Barr was born in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

, on October 2, 1993, and was raised in

Fountain Valley, California Fountain Valley is a suburban city in Orange County, California. The population was 57,047 at the 2020 census. History The area encompassing Fountain Valley was originally inhabited by the Tongva people. European settlement of the area b ...

. The daughter of long-time employees of

Southern California Edison Company Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of app ...

, her parents enrolled Barr and her older sister in the before- and after-school care program of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley. When the club began its Clubhouse Theater program, Barr's sister performed in several children's theater productions, inspiring Barr to take up acting. She was seven years old. Barr attended Fountain Valley public schools, and graduated from

Fountain Valley High School Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) is a public high school in Fountain Valley, California, USA. It was established in 1966 and is a part of the Huntington Beach Union High School District. It is notable for its rivalry with Edison High School, ...

in 2011. She was accepted to Chapman University's College of Performing Arts on the Dean's Scholarship, but left the school after a year to focus solely on her career.

Career

Barr performed in local children's theater productions until, at the age of 10, she began to express interest in film and television work. Shortly thereafter she obtained an agent and started working professionally. At the age of 11, she starred in the short

film ''Road Kill'', which won the Audience Choice Award at the 2005

New York City Horror Film Festival The New York City Horror Film Festival is an international film festival based in New York City that screens films from the horror genre. It was founded by Michael J. Hein in 2001. It takes place each year in New York City for a week in November ...

. While still not yet in her teens, she appeared as the host of

Encore An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pre ...

Channel's ''Fear Fest: 31 Nights of Horror'', as well as in television series such as '' Joan of Arcadia'', ''

Crossing Jordan ''Crossing Jordan'' is an American crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its dete ...

'', '' Drake & Josh'', ''

Zoey 101 ''Zoey 101'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. It aired from January 9, 2005, to May 2, 2008. It focuses on the lives of Zoey Brooks ( Jamie Lynn Spears), her brother Dustin ( Paul Butcher), ...

'', and ''

The Suite Life of Zack & Cody ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' is an American sitcom created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series aired on Disney Channel from March 18, 2005, to September 1, 2008. The series was nominated for an Emmy Award three times and was al ...

''. After her high school graduation in 2011, Barr starred in the dark comedy film ''

'', her break out role. Following this, Barr starred as the title role in the short film ''Dawn'',

Rose McGowan Rósa Arianna "Rose" McGowan (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy '' Encino Man'' (1992), McGowan achieved wider recognition for her performance in the dark comedy ''The Doom Generat ...

's directorial debut. This was followed by a major recurring role on the NBC series, ''Aquarius'', starring

David Duchovny David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as writ ...

, in which Barr portrayed the character Katie, who was based on real-life Manson Family member

Patricia Krenwinkel Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel (born December 3, 1947) is an American murderer and a former member of the Manson Family. During her time with Manson's group, she was known by various aliases such as Big Patty, Yellow, Marnie Reeves and Mary Ann Sco ...

. Barr left the series before its second season to star in the Hulu original series, '' Casual'', as Laura Meyers. ''Casual'' aired for four seasons from 2015 to 2018. Barr was praised for her performance. In 2020, Barr was cast in the AMC series '' Dispatches From Elsewhere'' to portray the young version of star Sally Field's character.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Audio

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, Tara Lynne 1993 births Actresses from Orange County, California American child actresses American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American television actresses Living people 21st-century American actresses