Ellen Page deserves more recognition
Ellen Page didn’t rise to fame right away, and she deserves much more recognition than she gets.
First appearing on Canadian television as a young child, and appearing the Lifetime movie Homeless to Harvard, her first main role was in a 2005 independent thriller, “Hard Candy.” Her first big-budget film was a year later when she portrayed one of the main characters in “X-Men: The Last Stand.”
It wasn’t until 2007 when Page won America’s hearts as the character of Juno MacGuff in Jason Reitman’s film, “Juno.” With that, an Oscar Nomination for the role followed, when Page was just 20.
In “Juno”, she portrays an expecting sixteen-year-old, and it follows the story of putting the baby up for adoption, and the road to happiness for her and her unborn child. For being just four years older than her character at the time, the Oscar nomination was very well deserved.
After that, Page continued to shine as the quirky character in the films “Smart People” and “Whip It”, and in 2010, going for something on the more serious side with “Inception”. Through the years, Page has also lent her voice to television and in one instance, a video game.
In “Whip It”, she plays a small-town young Texas woman who wants to participate in the town’s roller derby team, despite her mother’s passion for beauty pageants. In this film, Page performed her own stunts at the age of 22.
The reason I bring up her story is to reiterate my belief that, even though she has many film and television credits and an Academy Award nomination under her belt, her road to fame wasn’t as quick as some stars. Page clearly has the talent, it’s just not recognized enough, and it should be.
She deserves a lot more recognition for her talent as an actress, charity work for organizations like Food Bank For New York City and The Lunchbox Fund, as well as the U.S. Campaign for Burma.
Those who take a longer road to get to where they are today seem to get less attention than those who don’t. Those who rise to fame in short periods of time gain “fifteen minutes of fame” and everyone seems to point their eyes at them. The people who rise to fame quickly tend to cause controversy, and not always in a good way. This averts people from recognizing those whose talent is more prevalent.
In just a few short weeks, Ellen Page is set to star in “The Umbrella Academy”, her second role in a Netflix original. The streaming service and its own unique content have gotten quite the buzz over the past few years, and it is my hope that with this new project, Page will get the recognition she deserves.
