Deborah Ann Woll Biography

Deborah Ann Woll (born February 7, 1985) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Jessica Hamby on the HBO drama series True Blood, and currently portrays Karen Page in the Netflix drama series Daredevil, The Defenders, and The Punisher. She has also starred in the films Mother's Day, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You, Catch .44, Ruby Sparks, and Meet Me in Montenegro.

Early life

Woll was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City. Her father is an architect and her mother, Cathy Woll, is a teacher at the Berkeley Carroll School. She attended the Packer Collegiate Institute for high school, and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from USC School of Dramatic Arts at the University of Southern California, graduating in 2007. She also trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Woll is of Irish and German descent.

Career

Woll began her career with guest starring roles on several television series, including Life (2007), ER (2008), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008), My Name Is Earl (2008), and The Mentalist (2008), and had a supporting role in the Western action-adventure television film Aces 'N' Eights (2008).

In 2008, Woll landed her breakout role as Bill Compton's vampire progeny, Jessica Hamby, on the HBO fantasy drama television series True Blood. She originally joined as a recurring character in the first season, but was promoted to a regular cast member for the second season. In 2009, she and her True Blood co-stars won the Satellite Award for Best Cast - Television Series at the 14th annual ceremony. Woll maintained the role of Jessica until the series' ending in 2014. In 2009, she made a guest appearance on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portraying a young woman who is found alive after being reported missing by her boyfriend.

In 2010, Woll made her feature film debut in the psychological horror Mother's Day, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. In 2011, she starred in the supernatural thriller Little Murder, the sports drama Seven Days in Utopia, the action film Catch .44, and the comedy-drama Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You. The following year, she co-starred in the romantic comedy-drama film Ruby Sparks. In 2013, she performed at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in the play Parfumerie, alongside Eddie Kaye Thomas and Richard Schiff. That same year, Woll joined the cast of the drama film The Automatic Hate.

In 2015, she starred in the independent romantic drama film Forever, opposite her former True Blood co-star Luke Grimes. Since 2015, Woll has portrayed Karen Page in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Daredevil for Netflix. She will reprise the role as a regular on The Punisher, scheduled to premiere in 2017, and as a guest star in The Defenders miniseries.

Advocacy

Woll's boyfriend, E.J. Scott, has choroideremia, a condition that ultimately results in blindness. She uses her celebrity status to help raise awareness of the disease. She has been quoted as saying that Scott's bravery in fighting his disability has inspired courage in her own battle with celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that can occur in genetically predisposed people where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage of the small intestine.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	La Cachette	Sarah	Short Film
2010	Mother's Day	Lydia Koffin
2011	Little Murder	Molly
	Seven Days in Utopia	Sarah
	Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You	Gillian Sveck
	Catch .44	Dawn
2012	Ruby Sparks	Lila
2013	Highland Park	Lilly
2014	Meet Me in Montenegro	Wendy
2015	The Automatic Hate	Cassie
	Forever	Alice
2018	Silver Lake	Mary
	The Maze

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Life	Nancy Wiscinski	Episode: "Powerless"
2008	Aces 'N' Eights	Terrified Woman	Television film
	ER	Aurora Quill	Episode: "Owner of a Broken Heart"
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Waitress Stephane	Episode: "For Gedda"
	My Name Is Earl	Greta	2 episodes
	The Mentalist	Kerry Sheehan	Episode: "Red Brick and Ivy"
2008-14	True Blood	Jessica Hamby	Main role; 70 episodes
2009	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Lily Milton	Episode: "Solitary"
2010	True Blood: Webisodes	Jessica Hamby	(TV Series short;1 episode)
2010-2014	True Blood: Jessica's Blog	Jessica Hamby	(38 episodes, 2010-2014)
2013	Hell's Kitchen	Herself	Episode: "20 Chefs Compete Part 2"
	Axe Cop	Best Fairy Ever (voice)	Episode: "The Dumb List"
2015-present	Daredevil	Karen Page	Main role; 26 episodes
2017	The Defenders	Karen Page	Main role; 4 episodes
2017	The Punisher	Karen Page	Main role; 13 episodes

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Location
2013	Parfumerie	Amalia Balash	Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Awards and nominations

Satellite Awards

Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2009	True Blood	Best Cast - Television Series

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2010	True Blood	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

Scream Awards

Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2010	True Blood	Breakout Performance - Female

Fangoria Chainsaw Awards

Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2015	True Blood	Best TV Supporting Actress

See also

• List of people diagnosed with celiac disease