Anna Helene Paquin was born July 24, 1982 in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada, to parents Brian and Mary. She has an older brother and an older sister.

Anna's family moved to New Zealand when she was only four years old, and that is where she was discovered years later by director Jane Campion, who was casting her film The Piano. Anna beat out 5,000 other young actresses for the part, and Campion's choice would serve her well. Paquin would win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Flora.

Anna would take three years off before her next big screen performance, as a young Jane Eyre in Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre. Then Anna would star in the children's hit Fly Away Home, the slave epic Amistad and the teen hit She's All That among others before taking the role that would help her gain notice among a wider audience: Rogue in the 2000 summer blockbuster The X-Men.