Shailene Woodley

Actor, Producer, Soundtrack

Shailene Woodley (birth name: Shailene Diann Woodley) is best known for her portrayal of Tris in The Divergent Series (2015-2016), and made her feature debut in a supporting role in director/co-story writer Don Most’s corporate comedy, Moola (2007), co-starring William Mapother, Treat Williams, Charlotte Ross, and David Baldwin, and which was released by Allumination (EDITORIAL NOTE: CORRECT SPELLING!) Filmworks. Woodley made a strong impression in her first major role in director/co-writer/producer Alexander Payne’s comedy-drama, The Descendants (2011), adapted from Kaui Hart Hemmings’ 2007 novel by Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (who shared the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar), starring George Clooney, with Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Robert Forster and Mary Birdsong, nominated for five Oscars (including Best Picture), premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, and grossing a highly profitable $177 million gross for Fox Searchlight Pictures (based on estimated costs).

Woodley was an Independent Spirit Award nominee for her first starring role in director James Ponsoldt’s acclaimed indie romantic drama, The Spectacular Now (2013), co-starring Miles Teller, with Brie Larson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Bob Odenkirk, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kyle Chandler, adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber from Tim Tharp’s 2008 novel, and which earned a solid $7 million for A24 (based on estimated costs) after launching at the Sundance Film Festival. Woodley also had a Sundance premiere the following year starring in indie filmmaker Gregg Araki’s feature version of Laura Kasischke’s 1999 novel, White Bird in a Blizzard (2014), with Eva Green, Christopher Meloni, Shiloh Fernandez, Gabourey Sidibe, Thomas Jane, Dale Dickey, Sheryl Lee and Angela Bassett, and which was released by Magnolia Pictures (U.S.)/BAC Films (France).

Shailene Woodley co-starred in the hit big-screen version of John Green’s best-seller, The Fault in Our Stars (2014), adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, co-starring Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe under Josh Boone’s direction, produced by Fox 2000 Pictures/Temple Hill Entertainment and grossing a terrific $307 million via distributor 20th Century Fox (based on estimated costs). Woodley then landed her attention-getting action star role in the trilogy of Divergent (2014), The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015) and The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016), based on Veronica Roth’s 2011 novel, with cast members across the trilogy including Theo James, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Ashley Judd, Octavia Spencer, Jeff Daniels, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Bill Skarsgard, Zoe Kravitz, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Tony Goldwyn and Maggie Q under the direction of Neil Burger (in the first movie) and Robert Schwentke (in the second and third movies), all produced (in part) by Summit Entertainment and released by Lionsgate to an excellent cumulative gross of $765 million (based on estimated budgets).

Woodley co-starred with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the title role of director/co-writer Oliver Stone’s biopic, Snowden (2016), co-written by Kieran Fitzgerald, with Nicolas Cage, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Scott Eastwood, Timothy Olyphant, LaKeith Stanfield and Rhys Ifans, produced (in part) by Endgame Entertainment and released by Open Road Films (U.S.)/Universum Film and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Germany (Germany)/Pathe Distribution (France) after launching at the Toronto Film Festival. Woodley was a lead producer and co-starred with Sam Claflin in director/producer Baltasar Kormakur’s survival-at-sea drama, Adrift (2018), which was produced (in part) and released by STXfilms (U.S., International) and by Myndform (Iceland) to a $60 million gross.

Shailene Woodley topped the cast with Jamie Dornan and Sebastian Stan of director/co-writer Drake Doremus’s little-seen romantic drama, Endings, Beginnings (2019), backed by South Korean and American funding and premiering in the Toronto Film Festival before a limited release by Samuel Goldwyn Films (U.S.)/Smile Ent. (South Korea). Woodley co-starred with Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, and Benedict Cumberbatch (who also produced) in the Kevin Macdonald-directed Guantanamo Bay-set legal drama The Mauritanian (2021), based on Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s 2015 memoir Guantanamo Diary, released by STXfilms for a $7.5 million gross.

Woodley was a lead producer and top director/co-writer/producer on Damian Szifron’s crime thriller with Ben Mendelsohn, To Catch a Killer (2023), co-written by Jonathan Wakeham, with Jovan Adepo and Ralph Ineson, produced (in part) by FilmNation Entertainment and released in limited pattern by Vertical Entertainment for a $3 million return. Then Woodley co-starred with Jack Whitehall in directors/writers Ant Hines’s and Casper Christensen’s sci-fi rom-com, Robots (2023), and released in limited pattern by Neon. Woodley co-starred with Adam Driver (in the title role) and Penélope Cruz in director/producer Michael Mann’s biopic, Ferrari (2023), adapted by Troy Kennedy Martin from Brock Yates’s biography of Enzo Ferrari, with Sarah Gadon, Gabriel Leone, Jack O’Connell and Patrick Dempsey, premiering at the Venice Film Festival but losing money for distributor Neon and multiple production companies (including STXfilms) with a $43.6 million return (based on estimated costs).

Shailene Woodley joined the colorful ensemble of director/producer Craig Gillespie’s fact-based comedy-drama, Dumb Money (2023), based on Ben Mezrich’s non-fiction 2021 book The Antisocial Network, co-starring Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan and Seth Rogen, but grossing a disappointing $20.7 million (based on the estimated budget) for distributors Columbia Pictures/Stage 6 Films via Sony Pictures Releasing after launching at the Toronto Film Festival. Woodley played a top supporting role in the crime thriller, Motor City (2025), starring Alan Ritchson (who also was a lead producer), Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber and Lionel Boyce under Potsy Ponciroli’s direction, written and produced (in part) by Chad St. John, produced by Stampede Ventures and released wide by Independent Film Company.

Woodley starred in director/writer Bridget Moloney’s erotic thriller, Mother’s Helper (date to be announced), with Luke Kirby and Milo Callaghan, and produced by Media Rights Capital. Woodley took an executive producer credit on the documentary Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock (2017), co-directed by Josh Fox, James Spione, and Myron Dewey, and appeared as herself in the documentaries The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (2016), The Revolution Generation (2022), and Materia Viva (2023).

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Movies

Known For

Motor City

Sophia (2026)

Ocean Dreams

Narrator (2026)

Ferrari

Lina Lardi (2023)

The Last Letter from Your Lover

Jennifer Stirling (2021)

Adrift

Tami Oldham (2018)

Shailene Woodley Movies

Actor

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Previous (17)

2026 |
Motor City
Motor City
2026
Action, Crime, Drama
In 1970s Detroit, John Miller falls for a local gangster's girl. In retaliation, the gangster enacts a frame job to send the innocent man to prison. Life ruined, Miller plots a revenge campaign against the man who took his girl away.
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asSophia
2026 |
Ocean Dreams
Ocean Dreams
2026
Documentary
An IMAX documentary showcasing Earth's oceans, from Norwegian fjords with hunting orcas to Indonesia's diverse reefs, plus conservation work protecting endangered sharks and restoring coral ecosystems.
asNarrator
2023 |
Dumb Money
Dumb Money
2023
Biography, Comedy, Drama
David vs. Goliath tale about everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (the video-game store) into the world's hottest company.
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asCaroline Gill
2023 |
Ferrari
Ferrari
2023
Biography, Drama, History
Set in the summer of 1957, with Enzo Ferrari's auto empire in crisis, the ex-racer turned entrepreneur pushes himself and his drivers to the edge as they launch into the Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy.
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asLina Lardi
2022 |
The Revolution Generation
The Revolution Generation
2022
Documentary
An exploration of the world-changing activism and potential of the largest youth generation in history.
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2021 |
The Mauritanian
The Mauritanian
2021
Biography, Crime, Drama
Mohamedou Ould Slahi fights for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years.
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asTeri Duncan
2021 |
The Last Letter from Your Lover
The Last Letter from Your Lover
2021
Drama, Romance
A pair of interwoven stories set in the past and present follow an ambitious journalist determined to solve the mystery of a forbidden love affair at the center of a trove of secret love letters from 1965.
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asJennifer Stirling
2018 |
Adrift
Adrift
2018
Action, Adventure, Biography
A true story of survival, as a young couple's chance encounter leads them first to love, and then on the adventure of a lifetime as they face one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history.
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asTami Oldham
2016 |
Allegiant
Allegiant
2016
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After the earth-shattering revelations of Insurgent, Tris must escape with Four beyond the wall that encircles Chicago to finally discover the shocking truth of the world outside.
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asTris
2016 |
Snowden
Snowden
2016
Biography, Crime, Drama
The NSA's illegal surveillance techniques are leaked to the public by one of the agency's employees, Edward Snowden, in the form of thousands of classified documents distributed to the press.
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asLindsay Mills
2016 |
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
2016
Documentary
When Donald Trump says, "This election is rigged"-he should know. His buddies are rigging it. Rolling Stone investigative reporter Greg Palast busted Jeb Bush for stealing the 2000 election by purging Black voters from Florida's electoral rolls. Now Palast is back to take a deep ... Read all
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asSelf
2015 |
Insurgent
Insurgent
2015
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Tris Prior must confront her inner demons, and with help from those closest to her, continue the fight against a powerful alliance that threatens to tear her society apart.
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asTris
2014 |
Divergent
Divergent
2014
Action, Adventure, Drama
In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late.
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asTris
2014 |
The Fault in Our Stars
The Fault in Our Stars
2014
Drama, Romance
Hazel and Gus are teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and fall in love. They both share the same acerbic wit and a love of books, especially "An Imperial Affliction", so they embark on a journey to visit an author in Amsterdam.
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asHazel
2013 |
The Spectacular Now
The Spectacular Now
2013
Drama, Romance
A hard-partying high school senior's philosophy on life changes when he meets the not-so-typical "nice girl."
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asAimee
2011 |
The Descendants
The Descendants
2011
Comedy, Drama
A land baron tries to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife is seriously injured in a boating accident.
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asAlexandra King
-- |
as Tris