Shailene Woodley

Some Lesser Known Facts About Shailene Woodley

• Shailene Woodley’s father is of British Isles descent. Shailene’s mother is of Creole (African, French, Spanish, German, English, Swiss) ancestry.

• Soon after her birth, she and her family moved from San Bernardino, California to Simi Valley, California where she was raised.

  

• Shailene Woodley’s parents got divorced when she was fourteen years old.

• When she was a little girl. Shailene Woodley once accompanied her cousin to a theater class in her hometown and that’s when she became inclined towards the field of acting. After that, Shailene begged her parents to enroll her on a $700 acting program.

• She started taking theatre classes and that’s where Shailene Woodley was discovered by an agent during one of her theatre acting classes. The agent called up her mother and said that he was interested in Shailene as she is a good actor.

• Her mother had no idea who an agent was and what their purpose was. After the call with the agent, Shailene’s mother asked her if she was interested in pursuing acting as a career, and Shailene said yes. That is how she got into acting.

• At the tender age of five, she began working in commercials, including advertisements for Leapfrog, Hertz, and a Honda minivan.

• Shailene ended up appearing in more than sixty TV spots before she turned eleven years old.

• In 2006, Shailene Woodley was cast in the American television sitcom titled ‘My Name Is Earl,’ which was telecast on the NBC TV channel. Shailene played the character of Young Gwen in the TV series.

  

• Her parents only agreed to allow her to work professionally as an actor if she followed three rules. She mentioned those rules in an interview by saying that
  

  I had three rules growing up; I had to stay the person I knew I was, have fun, and do good in school. And as long as I continued to accomplish those three things I could continue to act.”

• Shailene wanted to study Interior Designing at the New York University (NYU), but she never got the chance to do it as her acting career became more demanding till then, and also because at that time, she signed a contract of getting cast in the American teen drama television series titled ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’ (2008-2013).

  

• In order to graduate from her high school class while starring in ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager,’ her school principal used to send a teacher to her house once a week to give her school work, which she used to do in between takes on set while shooting. This is how she was able to graduate from high school.

• During her break from the TV show titled ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager,’ Shailene took up a job at American Apparel in New York City. It had only been 2 days at her new job when she received a call from the American film director Alexander Payne.

• After getting famous by her performance in the soap opera titled ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager,’ Shailene tried to maintain a relatively normal personal life, and she had a 4.0 grade point average and also sang in her school choir before graduating high school in 2009.

• Upon the call with Alexander Payne, the film director offered Shailene a role in the American tragicomedy film titled ‘The Descendants’ (2011). To start working in the film, Shailene had to resign from her new job after only 2 months of working there.

  

• Shailene Woodley used to take acting classes from the American filmmaker and actor Anthony Meindl.

• As a teenager, she used to actively participate in cross-country running.

• After a few years into ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’ (2008-2013), Shailene Woodley started to distance herself from the series as she did not agree with the show’s morals but was unable to leave because of her contract. She was quoted saying in an interview that
  

  Towards the end, morally, the things that we were preaching on that show weren’t really aligned with my own integrity. So that was a bit hard to show up to work every day knowing that we were going to project all of these themes to millions of young adults across the country, when in fact they weren’t what I would like to be sending out.”

• When she was 15 years old, Shailene Woodley was diagnosed with Scoliosis, which is a condition in which the patient’s spine has an irregular curve. Due to that condition, Shailene was put in a chest-to-hips plastic brace for two years. Describing her experience, she was quoted saying in an interview that
  

  It’s like wearing a tacky, disgusting, plastic corset for 18 hours a day. In the beginning, it was hard to eat or breathe. And I had to give up cross-country running. But I needed to have it to realign my spine.”

• She never stopped shooting for projects amidst her health condition and she used to just take the brace off during filming and put it back on during breaks.

• Shailene Woodley is an avid environmental activist and a climate advocate.

• In 2010, Shailene Woodley and her mother co-founded the nonprofit organization named ‘All it Takes’ which was a youth leadership program that aimed at educating young people to practice empathy, compassion, responsibility, and foster sustainable, positive change for themselves, others, and the environment.

• In 2011, Shailene auditioned for the role of Cosette in the 2012 epic period musical film titled ‘Les Misérables.’ However, her audition did not impress the makers of the film, and the role was given to the American actress Amanda Seyfried.

• The American weekly magazine named ‘People’ named her one of 2012’s ‘Most Beautiful at Every Age.’

• In 2012, Shailene was considered for the role of Katniss Everdeen in the American dystopian action film titled ‘The Hunger Games’, which was based on the novel of the same name. However, actress Jennifer Lawrence was cast in the film instead.

• In 2014, Shailene was considered one of the 55 faces of the future by Nylon‘s ‘Young Hollywood Issue.’

• In the same year, she was originally cast as Mary Jane Watson in the American superhero film titled ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’, but all her scenes were deleted from the final cut of the film. Shailene worked on the movie set for three days and shot about four short scenes as a whole.

• For the character of Beatrice “Tris” Prior in the American dystopian science fiction action film titled ‘Divergent’ (2014), Shailene Woodley had to train for three to five days a week for four weeks in Chicago before shooting for the film began. She had sessions of fight training, gun training, and knife training with stunt coordinator Garrett Warren.

• In 2014, Shailene was considered one of the ’55 Faces of the Future’ by Nylon Magazine’s Young Hollywood Issue.

• In the same year, Shailene Woodley was cast in the American coming-of-age romance film titled ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ (2014), which was based on the 2012 novel of the same name by John Green. Shailene played the character of Hazel Grace Lancaster in the film.

  

• From a young age, she has vowed that if she ever lost her passion for acting or became uncomfortable with the idea of celebrity, she would quit.

• In 2015, Shailene Woodley took a break from filming for nearly a year and considered quitting as an actor. She said in an interview that she felt she had hit a wall with acting and felt it was time to do something different.

• What made her fall in love with acting again was the moment she was offered a role in the American psychological dark comedy-drama television series titled ‘Big Little Lies’ (2017-2019) in which she played the character of a sexual assault survivor.

• In 2015, Shailene was offered the role of Anastasia “Ana” Steele in the erotic romantic drama film titled ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ (2015) but she rejected the role.

• She supported and campaigned for Bernie Sanders for president in 2016.

• In 2016, after 10 days of her arrest for protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline, Shailene wrote an article for Time magazine titled ‘The Truth About My Arrest’ detailing her experience and raising awareness for the environmental and social issues surrounding the cause.

• In the same year, she joined the board of ‘Our Revolution,’ which is a political organization that aims to educate voters about issues and get people involved in the political process, support progressive policies, and work to organize and elect progressive leaders.

• In 2016, Shailene Woodley was cast in a few music videos and some of them were ‘Stand Up / Stand N Rock #NoDAPL’ by the American rapper Taboo and ‘Where’s the Love?’ by the American musical group named The Black Eyed Peas.

• In 2017, she wrote an opinion piece for the American newspaper named ‘The Hill’ titled ‘US Should Run on Renewable Energy by 2050,’ in which she encouraged Americans to support the technology and the need to transition to an economy powered by 100% clean energy sources.

• As a member of the ‘Our Revolution’ organization and a known environmental activist, Shailene Woodley became one of the speakers at a National Town Hall in 2018 titled ‘Solving Our Climate Crisis.’

• During her talk at the National Town Hall, she addressed the global threat of climate change and explored possible solutions to save the Earth and create good-paying jobs.

• In 2017, Shailene was cast in the American psychological dark comedy-drama television series titled ‘Big Little Lies,’ which was based on the 2014 novel by Liane Moriarty. Shailene played the character of Jane Chapman in the TV series.

• She was originally cast as Ruby Roundhouse/Martha in the American fantasy adventure comedy film titled ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ (2017), but she had to drop out of the film due to scheduling conflicts with the American psychological dark comedy-drama television series titled ‘Big Little Lies’ (2017).

• In 2018, Shailene took activist Calina Lawrence to the 75th Golden Globe Awards as her guest. Both of them had met at Standing Rock while protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline.

• In 2019, she supported a local nonprofit organisation named ‘Indigenized Energy,’ that brings solar energy and jobs to Native Americans. The organization was founded by Shailene’s fellow Dakota Access Pipeline Protest activist, Cody Two Bears.

• In the same year, Shailene Woodley became an Oceans Ambassador for the independent global campaigning network titled ‘Greenpeace’  and she went on a three-week-long expedition to the Sargasso Sea in the region of the Atlantic Ocean to study the impact of plastics and microplastics on marine life.

  

• She also wrote an article for Time Magazine titled ‘How I’m Changing My Life to Help Save the Seas,’ which was based on the time she spent on the Greenpeace ship and the actions she took to save the marine life.

• Shailene got into a relationship with the NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers in 2020. The couple got engaged soon after, and during an appearance on the TV show titled ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,’ Shailene confirmed the same. However, in 2022, they both ended their engagement.

• Shailene Woodley expressed in an interview that her relationship with Aaron Rodgers was entirely “toxic.” She was quoted saying in an interview that
  

  I had a really awful, traumatic thing happen in early 2022. I felt like I lost my soul, my self, my happiness, my joy. I really understood depression and anxiety and, like, complete soul detachment.”

• In 2020, Shailene partnered with Karün, which is a certified B Corp company that creates high-quality eyewear using recycled waste like fishing nets, ropes, and metals collected by local rural entrepreneurs.

• Shailene and the company created the product line named ‘Karün by Shailene Woodley’ and aimed at creating product designs that protect nature. Their collaborative eyewear collection was awarded ‘The Most Sustainable Eyewear Brand’ in 2021- 2023 by Global Brands Magazine Awards.

• In 2021, Shailene Woodley became the executive producer of the British romantic drama film titled ‘The Last Letter from Your Lover,’ which was based on Jojo Moyes’ 2011 novel of the same name and she also played the character of Jennifer Stirling in the film.

• In 2022, Shailene Woodley organized the ‘Up to Us’ movement, which was a cross-country caravan to the Democratic National Convention. The aim of the movement led by Shailene was to unite Americans in an act of solidarity and to raise awareness on the political, social, and environmental issues that the political candidates needed to address.

• In the same year, she became a member of ‘Conservation International’s Leadership Council,’ which is dedicated to advancing the organization’s mission through each member’s expertise, community connections, and philanthropic support.

• In 2022, she teamed up with American Express and the non-profit environmental organisation named ‘Parley for the Oceans,’ on their ‘#BackourOceans’ initiative to deal with marine plastic pollution.

• In the same year, she lent her voice to several environmental campaigns such as Conservation International’s ‘Nature Is Speaking’ series, which highlighted the reasons why conservation is important and how it personifies different aspects of nature.

• In 2022, Shailene also joined the Ocean Unite’s 30×30’s mission to protect at least 30% of the Earth’s oceans by 2030, along with the WILDOCEANS’ ‘Ocean Impact’, which was about promoting the conservation of South Africa’s oceans.

• In the same year, Shailene Woodley became an inaugural member of GoodLeap’s Advisory Council, which aimed to motivate everyone to live a sustainable life.

• In 2023, Shailene Woodley joined the independent global campaigning network named ‘Greenpeace in Paris’ and demanded that the United Nations create a strong and ambitious ‘Global Treaty’ that will effectively end plastic pollution.

• In the same year, she became a signatory to the ‘Artists4Ceasefire’, which is a collective of actors, filmmakers, and other artists calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire during the Gaza war in Gaza.

• In 2023, Shailene Woodley appeared in the Italian docufilm titled ‘Materia Viva,’ which was focused on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

• In 2024, she was cast in the American crime mystery drama film titled ‘Killer Heat,’ which was based on the Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø’s short story titled ‘The Jealousy Man.’ Shailene played the character of Penelope Vardakis in the film.

• In the same year, Shailene was cast in the American television limited series titled ‘Three Women,’ which was based on the 2019 book of the same name by the American writer Lisa Taddeo. Shailene played the character of Gia in the TV series.

  

• In 2024, Shailene was cast in the dramatic stage play titled ‘Cult Of Love,’ which premiered on Broadway as part of Second Stage Theater’s 2024-2025 season at the Helen Hayes Theater in Manhattan, New York. Shailene played the character of Diana Dahl Bennett in the play.

• In 2025, Shailene and the French actor Lucas Bravo were photographed holding hands, sharing a hug, and draping arms around one another, smiling as they walked along a street in Paris. They were rumoured to be dating each other, but none of them confirmed the same.

  

• Shailene Woodley has not had a television since she moved out of her parents’ home at age 18, because she prefers to read a good book instead of watching television.

• Shailene considers ‘1984’ by George Orwell and ‘Henry and June’ by Anaïs Nin as the books that changed her life.

• The first movie she ever saw was the American animated musical romantic fantasy film titled ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1991).

• Shailene’s first name comes from the Irish name ‘Shay’ plus the popular suffix -lene/lyn/leen. It is an Irish Gaelic name which is an anglicized (a non-English name that has been modified to sound or look more like an English name) form of ‘Séaghdha’, which means ‘stately,’ ‘majestic,’ ‘courteous,’ and ‘admirable.’

• Her surname ‘Woodley’ is derived from an ancient surname of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is a locational name from Woodleigh in Devonshire, or Woodley in Berkshire, deriving from the ‘Olde English.’

• Shailene Woodley loves to spend time with animals and often shares photos with her pet dog on social media.

  

• Shailene Woodley has been part of many films and some of them include ‘White Bird in a Blizzard’ (2014), ‘Awake: A Dream From Standing Rock’ (2017), ‘Endings, Beginnings’ (2019), ‘To Catch a Killer’ (2023), ‘Material Viva’ (2023), and ‘Dumb Money’ (2023).

  

• Shailene Woodley has been part of many TV series and some of them are ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ (2024), ‘Close to Home’ (2007), and ‘Gold Case’ (2007).

• She has been part of many Television films and some of them include ‘A Place Called Home’ (2004), ‘Felicity: An American Girl Adventure’ (2005), ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ (2005), and ‘Final Approach’ (2007).