Lynn Collins, born Viola Lynn Collins on June 1, 1979, is a talented American actress. She has had some experience on both stage and screen in Shakespearean roles. In 2004, she played the role of Portia in the critically well-received film The Merchant of Venice (2004), based on Shakespeare’s play. She starred opposite Al Pacino (as Shylock), Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio, and Jeremy Irons as Antonio. Despite brandishing a cut glass English accent in the film (”I guess I was just always a good mimic, and there were plenty of Brits on the set to help me”), Collins was born in Texas, but moved to Singapore at the age of four.

Upon her return to the United States there was only one career path for her, and after studying at the prestigious Julliard drama school in New York, she was soon cast as Ophelia opposite Liev Schreiber in Hamlet, followed by a turn as Juliet. It was during these roles that she was spotted by The Merchant’s director Michael Radford, but it wasn’t all plain sailing to get the role. “Michael really fought for me”, she says, “and so did Al. The financiers wanted someone else, a bigger name, but the two of them persuaded them to let me do it.”

Lynn recently appeared in the acclaimed TV series True Blood (2008) and will next be seen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) as the female lead, Silver Fox. Lynn currently divides her time between New York and London. She greatly enjoys astrology.

“I love the fact that period pieces can give you so much more to get into the character. So it’s not period pieces that I love. I mean, I also love history. I’m a big history buff. When you are hired to do a part that’s in a different time period, you’re basically given free time to learn and teach yourself about that time period. That’s probably what I enjoy. And of course the different hair, the different clothes, it allows you to take on this person in a way that say if I was to play a character that had my hairdo and my style, it really for me wouldn’t feel like acting. I like the disappearing act that one can do.”

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