Shailene Diann Woodley was born on November 15, 1991, in San Bernardino County, California. Her mother, Lori, is a school counselor, and her father, Lonnie Woodley, is a school principal. She has a younger brother. Woodley attended Simi Valley High School and began acting at a young age, taking acting classes at the age of five.
Woodley began her acting career with small television roles. Her first role was in 1999, replacing two young actresses as Brittany on the television movie Replacing Dad. She continued to appear in television shows such as The District, Crossing Jordan, and Everybody Loves Raymond. She gained recognition for her role as Amy Juergens in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which aired from 2008 to 2013.
Woodley’s breakthrough in film came with her performance in the 2011 film The Descendants, where she played the daughter of George Clooney’s character. She received critical acclaim for her performance and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.
She further solidified her position as a leading actress with her role as Hazel Grace Lancaster in the 2014 film adaptation of John Green’s novel The Fault in Our Stars. The film was a commercial and critical success.
Woodley starred as Beatrice “Tris” Prior in The Divergent Series, a film franchise based on Veronica Roth’s dystopian novels. The first film, Divergent, was released in 2014, followed by Insurgent in 2015 and Allegiant in 2016.
In 2017, Woodley starred in the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies, alongside Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Zoë Kravitz. She received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her performance as Jane Chapman.