Mara Wilson's Real Name: Mara Wilson

Quick answer: The actress and writer is known professionally as Mara Wilson. TV Insider dates her birth to July 24, 1987, in Los Angeles, California. This page titles her under the public name.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers identify her under the professional name Mara Wilson. TV Insider dates the birth to July 24, 1987, in Los Angeles, California, and says that when she was five she decided she wanted to act after seeing her brother Danny in a feature film, later appearing in television commercials and in episodes of Melrose Place before her film break. The Guardian, in a 2023 interview, independently says the family lived in Burbank, California, and that she did a few commercials before her first film audition, for Mrs. Doubtfire, which she got. In a 2016 Guardian extract from her memoir, she independently writes that the family lived in Burbank, 20 minutes from Hollywood, and that Mrs. Doubtfire was her first film. The birth date and the Los Angeles birthplace listing therefore rest on the TV Insider account.

Career highlights

TV Insider says she became widely known as a child actor in the 1990s through Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), as Natalie "Nattie" Hillard, and later appeared in Miracle on 34th Street (1994), as Susan Walker, and Matilda (1996), as Matilda Wormwood, with a later film credit in A Simple Wish (1997). The Guardian independently names Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, and Matilda among the biggest family films of the 1990s associated with her, and says Matilda, released in 1996, became a huge and enduring hit when she was nine. The 2016 Guardian extract independently describes Miracle on 34th Street as a remake in which she played Susan, and Mrs. Doubtfire as her first film, directed by Christopher Columbus. The Guardian later says she mainly writes now, including the 2016 memoir Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, and a later short-form memoir, Good Girls Don't, and also does voice acting, including audiobooks.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Mara Wilson are looking for the same actress and writer, including the 1990s films most often associated with her work. This page uses the public professional name. Search traffic often uses the professional name Mara Wilson alone. The Guardian independently says she later mainly writes, including memoir work, and also does voice acting, including audiobooks.