Amber Tamblyn

Amber Rose Tamblyn was born on May 14, 1983, in Santa Monica, California, the daughter of actor Russ Tamblyn and singer and artist Bonnie Tamblyn. Her paternal grandfather, Eddie Tamblyn, performed in vaudeville, and her uncle Larry Tamblyn was the keyboardist for the rock band The Standells. Tamblyn attended the Santa Monica Alternative School House. At age ten, she performed as Pippi Longstocking in a school play, an appearance witnessed by her father's agent, Sharon Debord, who encouraged Russ Tamblyn to allow his daughter to audition professionally.

Tamblyn's first professional role came at age eleven, when she was cast as Emily Bowen, later known as Emily Quartermaine, on the soap opera General Hospital, a role she held from 1995 to 2001. She went on to star in the CBS drama Joan of Arcadia from 2003 to 2005, playing Joan Girardi, a teenage girl who receives visits from God. Her father appeared in several episodes of the series as God in the form of a dog walker. The role earned Tamblyn both a Primetime Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe nomination. Earlier television appearances included a guest role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Janice Penshaw, as well as parts on Boston Public and CSI: Miami. In 2002, she appeared in "Evergreen," the pilot episode of the second Twilight Zone revival.

In 2009, Tamblyn starred as NYPD homicide detective Casey Shraeger in The Unusuals, which was canceled after one season. That same year, she had a recurring role alongside her future husband David Cross in the IFC sitcom The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. From November 2010 through April 2011, she played medical student Martha M. Masters in the seventh season of House on Fox, returning again for the series finale in 2012. In August 2013, she joined the cast of Two and a Half Men as Jenny Harper, Charlie Harper's previously unknown lesbian daughter, making her first appearance in the season eleven premiere opposite Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer. In 2021, she starred opposite Diane Lane in the FX series Y: The Last Man, based on the graphic novel.

Tamblyn's film career began with small parts in her father's productions Rebellious and Johnny Mysto: Boy Wizard, as well as an appearance in the 1995 film Live Nude Girls. Her first major film role came in 2005 with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, in which she played Tibby Rollins alongside Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Blake Lively, a role she reprised in the 2008 sequel. Her horror credits include an appearance in the opening scene of The Ring in 2002 and a role in The Grudge 2 in 2006. She appeared opposite Tilda Swinton and Timothy Hutton in Stephanie Daley, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and earned Tamblyn the Bronze Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival in August 2010, as well as a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 22nd Independent Spirit Awards. In 2010, she also appeared in 127 Hours alongside James Franco, playing Megan McBride. In 2016, Tamblyn made her directorial debut with Paint It Black, starring Alia Shawkat and based on Janet Fitch's 2006 novel of the same name, a project she had optioned in 2012 and taken over as writer and director by 2014.

On Broadway, Tamblyn appeared in 2009, and her stage credits include The 24 Hour Plays in 2004. In 2014, she starred in Neil LaBute's Reasons to Be Pretty at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and originated the role of Daisy Domergue in the live reading of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight at the Ace Theater in Los Angeles, joining a cast that included Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell. Tamblyn serves on the board of directors for Soho Rep Theater in New York.

Alongside her performance career, Tamblyn is a published author who has released seven books across genres. Her debut poetry collection, Free Stallion, was published by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing in 2005, comprising poems written between the ages of eleven and twenty-one. A second poetry collection, Bang Ditto, was published by Manic D. Press in 2009. She has also been featured in the Write Bloody Publishing anthology The Last American Valentine: Illustrated Poems to Seduce and Destroy. Tamblyn writes for The New York Times and other publications on topics including gender inequality and women's suffrage.