Chloë Grace Moretz

Chloë Grace Moretz (; born February 10, 1997) is an American actress. She began acting as a child, with early roles in the horror film The Amityville Horror (2005), the drama series Desperate Housewives (2006–2007), the horror film The Eye (2008), the drama film The Poker House (2008), the romantic comedy film 500 Days of Summer (2009), and the children's comedy film Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010). Her breakthrough came in 2010 with her performance as Hit-Girl in the superhero film Kick-Ass.

Moretz starred in Martin Scorsese's adventure film Hugo (2011), Tim Burton's horror comedy film Dark Shadows (2012) and the sitcom 30 Rock (2011–2013), reprised her role as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass 2 (2013) and portrayed Carrie White in the horror film Carrie (2013). In 2014, Moretz starred in the drama film Clouds of Sils Maria and the action film The Equalizer. She also starred in the thriller film Dark Places (2015), the science fiction action film The 5th Wave (2016) and the comedy film Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016).

Moretz's following roles include the drama film The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) and Neil Jordan's thriller film Greta (2018). She voiced Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (2019) and The Addams Family 2 (2021), and the titular character in Nimona (2023).

On-stage, Moretz's work includes her starring role in the original off-Broadway production of The Library (2014) at The Public Theater in New York City. In September 2025, she starred in the off-Broadway production of Caroline at the MCC Theater.

Early life

Moretz was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Cartersville, Georgia. Her mother, Teri Duke, is a nurse practitioner, and her father, Dr. McCoy "Mac" Moretz (1957–2021), was a plastic surgeon, and heir to the Moretz hosiery business, bought out in 2011 for $350 million. She has four older brothers: Brandon, Trevor, Colin, and Ethan. An older sister, Kathleen, died shortly after birth. She has described her family as "very Christian", specifically Southern Baptist. She moved to New York City in 2002, with her mother and brother Trevor, because he had been accepted into the Professional Performing Arts School, which is what first drew her interest in acting. Moretz would help Trevor read lines.

Career

2004–2016: Early roles and breakthrough

Moretz's first acting role was as Violet in two episodes of the CBS series The Guardian, and her first film role was as Molly in Heart of the Beholder. It was not until her second big-screen acting role, in the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror, that she earned greater recognition, receiving a Young Artist Award nomination. After Amityville, Moretz received several guest-starring roles on TV, as well as a small role in Big Momma's House 2. Her recurring TV characters include Kiki George in Dirty Sexy Money and Sherri Maltby in Desperate Housewives. Moretz also voiced the American version of the animated character Darby in My Friends Tigger & Pooh. Moretz also co-starred as Cammie, an abused child, in The Poker House.

In 2008, Moretz appeared in the Disney animated film Bolt as a younger version of Miley Cyrus' character. In 2010, Moretz appeared as Hit-Girl in director Matthew Vaughn's action film Kick-Ass, based on the comic book series of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Moretz trained with Jackie Chan's stunt crew for three months prior to filming and did most of her own stunts while filming on location. Because of her youth, there was controversy about her role in the violent film. She received critical acclaim for her performance. Roger Ebert gave the film only one star, but wrote about Moretz: "Say what you will about her character, but Chloë Grace Moretz has presence and appeal." That same year, she played Abby, a 12-year-old vampire, in Let Me In (2010), the UK/US remake of the Swedish film Let the Right One In.

Moretz played Ann Sliger in the 2011 crime thriller Texas Killing Fields. That same year, she played Isabelle in Martin Scorsese's Hugo, a 3D film adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was nominated for eleven Oscars. Moretz starred in Hick, an adaptation of the novel by Andrea Portes. She appeared in the 2012 Tim Burton film Dark Shadows, a remake of the soap opera, playing the role of Carolyn Stoddard, a rebellious teenage daughter.

In 2013, she reprised her role as Hit-Girl in the sequel Kick-Ass 2. The same year, she appeared in a short segment in the film Movie 43 and played the title character in Carrie, a remake of the 1976 film, directed by Kimberly Peirce.

Moretz has done voice work for video games. She reprised her role as Hit-Girl for Kick-Ass: The Game, and played young Lady Emily in Dishonored. When asked in October 2012 why she tends to gravitate towards playing darker, troubled characters, Moretz responded that she has such a happy family life, and finds it challenging to play characters who are significantly different. From March 25 through April 27, 2014, Moretz made her Off-Broadway debut in The Library, directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Moretz played the protagonist, Mia, in the adaptation of Gayle Forman's If I Stay (2014). The story follows a 17-year-old classical musician as she deals with the aftermath of a catastrophic car accident involving her family and has an out-of-body experience. Critical response to the film was mixed; a 35% positive rating based on 122 reviews and an average rating of 5/10 garnered by Rotten Tomatoes was accompanied by a critics' consensus praising Moretz for giving the performance "her all". Moretz subsequently starred as Cassie Sullivan in The 5th Wave, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Rick Yancey. The film was released in January 2016. Hannah Minghella of Sony Pictures said Moretz "embodies the heart, strength and determination that make Cassie such a compelling character."

2016–2019: Reassessment

In April 2016, Moretz was chosen to serve as one of three members of the Narrative Short Film Competition jury for the Tribeca Film Festival, alongside Mike Birbiglia and Sheila Nevins. Also that year, she co-starred with Zac Efron and Seth Rogen in the film Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, the sequel to Neighbors; and headlined the drama film Brain on Fire, based on the memoir Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan.

In November 2015, Moretz was attached to Shane Carruth's third film, The Modern Ocean. The ensemble cast includes Asa Butterfield, Anne Hathaway, Daniel Radcliffe and Keanu Reeves. Also in November, Moretz was announced as the star of Universal Studios' live-action version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, to be written by Richard Curtis, though she later left the project.

In a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Moretz revealed she had dropped out of all the unproduced film projects she was attached to. The only announced film this affected was The Little Mermaid, since several other films she was slated to appear in were already in post-production. She explained, "I want to reassess who I am and find myself within my roles again. I'm realizing that I can slow down." She said the workload that came from being in several films a year "was causing her to lose sight of [the reason] she started acting and instead focus on [her films' box office receipts]." She stated she would focus on producing, including two television projects. This was taken by some media outlets as Moretz taking a hiatus from acting, so in a later interview, she clarified that she was not taking time off, saying: "I'm just becoming more picky and particular about what roles I'm choosing. I think as an actor you have a huge opportunity to find yourself through the roles that you choose. I think it's my time, right now in my life, to figure out who I am and what I am and what I want and what this industry means... Why not sit back, slow down, realize I'm 19 and go, 'Hey, let's make stuff that really, really hits hard with who I am and helps me figure out what it means to be a 19-year-old actor who is just doing her thing.'"

In 2017, Moretz co-starred again with Ansel Elgort, in the crime drama November Criminals. That same year, she starred in the comedy-drama I Love You, Daddy, directed by Louis C.K. which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it received negative reviews from critics. Following sexual misconduct allegations against C.K. the film's release was canceled by media company The Orchard, which had acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film as well as international distributors. In the aftermath of the scandal, Moretz stated, "I think it should just kind of go away, honestly. I don't think it's time for them to have a voice right now," referring to men accused of sexual misconduct. "Of course, it's devastating to put time into a project and have it disappear, [...] [b]ut at the same time, this [Me Too] movement is so powerful and so progressive that I'm just happy to be in communication with everyone and to see the big change in the face of the industry, which I think is very, very real."