Lili Taylor

Lili Anne Taylor is an American actress born on February 20, 1967. She first gained wide notice through supporting performances in feature films such as Mystic Pizza and Say Anything..., before becoming a key contributor to American independent cinema during the 1990s. Her notable independent film roles include appearances in Bright Angel, Dogfight, Household Saints, Short Cuts, The Addiction, I Shot Andy Warhol, and Pecker. Over her career, she has received four Independent Spirit Award nominations, winning once in the Best Supporting Female category.

Raised in Glencoe, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, Taylor is the fifth of six children born to an artist mother and a hardware store owner father. She described her upbringing as a warm family setting where she was an inquisitive youth. After graduating from New Trier High School in 1985, she enrolled at The Theatre School at DePaul University. Following her dismissal from the program due to a policy breach, she continued her drama training at the Piven Theatre Workshop.

Taylor built a prominent film career centered on independent cinema alongside high-profile studio releases. In 1991, she starred in Nancy Savoca's Dogfight and filmed Arizona Dream. She reunited with Savoca for Household Saints in 1993, the same year she appeared in Robert Altman's ensemble drama Short Cuts. Her depiction of Valerie Solanas in the 1996 biographical drama I Shot Andy Warhol earned her special recognition at the Sundance Film Festival. Her other independent and feature film credits include Girls Town, Julie Johnson, Factotum, The Notorious Bettie Page, Starting Out in the Evening, The Promotion, To the Bone, and Paper Spiders.

Beyond independent films, Taylor has appeared in major studio pictures including Born on the Fourth of July, Rudy, Ransom, The Haunting, High Fidelity, Public Enemies, The Conjuring, and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. She is also cast to play Mags in the upcoming feature The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. On television, she starred as therapist Ann Blaine in the ABC drama series American Crime, earning a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. She secured two additional Emmy nominations for a guest appearance on The X-Files and a recurring role on HBO's Six Feet Under, with other television work including State of Mind and Marvel's Daredevil: Born Again.

Taylor's career extends to stage acting and other artistic pursuits. She made her New York theater debut in Aunt Dan and Lemon, later appearing off-Broadway in The Library and on Broadway in revivals of Three Sisters and Marvin's Room. In the early 1990s, she introduced the co-founders of the alternative rock group Veruca Salt. In 2011, she voiced an audio recording of Ariana Reines' poetical work Save The World.

In her personal life, Taylor married author Nick Flynn in 2009, and they have a daughter born around 2008. She is an active environmental advocate focused on bird conservation, serving on the boards of the American Birding Association and the National Audubon Society, and publishing the essay collection Turning to Birds, The Power and Beauty of Noticing in 2025. Her professional accolades include a Best Actress award at the Copenhagen International Film Festival and the Excellence in Acting Award from the Provincetown International Film Festival.