A Rising Star: Shailene Woodley

When "The Secret Life of an American Teenager" first aired on ABC family six years ago, very few people took lead actress Shailene Woodley seriously, with her cheesy role as a pregnant 16-year-old. But over the past few years, Woodley has acted in numerous big-name movies and has gained the respect of audiences across the nation.

“Secret Life” ran from 2008-2013, and while still filming for the show, Woodley starred in films such as “The Descendants” (2011) alongside George Clooney, and “The Spectacular Now”(2013) alongside Miles Teller. She was nominated for numerous awards for both films, and won 13 for “The Descendants,” and two for “The Spectacular Now.”

Woodley has recently landed two more lead roles in the upcoming movies, both based off of best-selling books. "The Fault in Our Stars," will come out on July 6 and "Divergent," with Theo James and Kate Winslet will come out March 21.

“I think Woodley is a talented actress and is very capable of playing both roles,” sophomore Claire Leung said. “She has made a lot of progress in her acting skills throughout the series, ‘The Secret Life of an American Teenager,’ and now she’s ready to play some bigger roles.”

For her part though, sophomore Talia Clement doubts that Woodley will live up to fans’ expectations when playing Hazel Grace, a cancer patient and narrator of "The Fault in Our Stars.”

“[Woodley] is a good actress, but I think she’s too pretty to play Hazel because Hazel is supposed to look normal, not gorgeous,” Clement said. “She doesn’t have that much experience [so] it’s going to be a lot harder for her.”  

Junior Anjali Manghnani, on the other hand, feels that Woodley is the perfect casting for the role. 

“Hazel Grace is such an intricate character, and I think [Woodley] will be able to do her part justice,” Manghnani said. “She is such a wonderful and talented actress, and has completely committed herself to the role.”