Home UK Child star of iconic 90s classic makes a dazzling return to Cannes red carpet

Child star of iconic 90s classic makes a dazzling return to Cannes red carpet

by CelebStyling
CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 16: U.S. actress Thora Birch poses during a photocall for the film 'The Chronology of Water' at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 16, 2025. (Photo by Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Thora Birch rose to fame with the 1993 Halloween favorite Hocus Pocus (Picture: Getty Images)

Former little one star Thora Birch has made a uncommon public look to tread the red carpet on the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

The actor, 43, made her movie debut at solely six years previous in 1988 however grew to become a family identify 4 years later, when she starred within the 90s classic Hocus Pocus.

Starring alongside witches Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy and Bette Midler, Birch played eight-year-old Dani Dennison – the supposed sufferer of the Sanderson sisters.

Thora went on to star in a quantity of cult and critic favourites, together with American Beauty in 1999 and Ghost World in 2001.

She now stars within the Kristen Stewart-directed drama The Chronology of Water, the place she seems alongside Imogen Poots, Tom Sturridge and Jim Belushi.

And, because the movie held its premiere at Cannes this weekend, Thora took to the red carpet alongside along with her co-stars and director.

CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 16: Thora Birch poses during
The actor stepped out at Cannes this weekend (Picture: Getty Images)
CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 16: (L-R) Thora Birch, Imogen Poots, Kristen Stewart and Kim Gordon pose during
Thora joined Imogen Poots, Kristen Stewart and Kim Gordon pose on the premiere of The Chronology of Water (Picture: Getty Images)

Posing on the carpet in a black go well with with a white shirt beneath, Thora joined Imogen, Kristen and singer/actress Kim Gordon in entrance of the cameras because the movie’s premiere was held.

Adapted from the 2011 memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, the movie follows Olympic hopeful Lidia (Imogen) as she falls underneath the thrall of author and college professor Ken Kersey (Jim) as he leads 13 graduate college students within the writing of a novel.

The Chronology of Water. Photograph: Courtesy: Cannes film festival
The Chronology of Water might be Kristen’s directorial debut (Picture: Cannes Film Festival)

In doing so, she finds herself utilizing medicine and S&M as an escape from her traumatic upbringing, in a movie Twilight alum Kristen promised might be ‘hard to watch.’

‘It’s a self-conscious factor to speak about, as a result of it’s arduous to get something made. You know, [a film] that’s not regurgitating one thing that’s fairly standardised,’ Kristen teased of her directorial debut.

‘My movie is about incest and periods and a woman violently repossessing her voice and body, and it is, at times, hard to watch… but it’s gonna be a f**king thrill journey.

Thora performs Lidia’s older sister, Claudia, a minor function described by Variety as ‘not just as a comeback, but as a new beginning.’

For Editorial Use Only Mandatory Credit: Photo by THA/REX/Shutterstock (15072324ec) Publicity Film Still from
She starred as Dani Dennison in 1993’s Hocus Pocus (Picture: THA/REX/Shutterstock)

Prior to Hocus Pocus, Thora made her debut within the 1988 household movie Purple People Eater earlier than occurring to play the daughter of CIA Agent Jack Ryan within the 1992 Harrison Ford function Patriot Games.

After her early function in Hocus Pocus, the star subsequently appeared in Patriot Games’ 1994 sequel, Clear and Present Danger, the place she reprised her function as Sally Ryan.

Then, in 1999, she appeared as Jane Burnham in American Beauty, at age 17, and adopted this up with the 2001 cult horror movie The Hole.

Editorial use only. No book cover usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Everett/REX/Shutterstock (429276aa) GHOST WORLD, Scarlett Johansson, Thora Birch, 2001 THORA BIRCH FILM STILLS
Thora starred reverse Scarlett Johansson in Ghost World (Picture: Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

That similar 12 months, she appeared within the indie comedian e-book adaptation Ghost World, starring reverse Scarlett Johansson and Steve Buscemi as world-weary teenager Enid.

Since then, she’s stored busy, showing in nine episodes of The Walking Dead and in an episode of Anne Rice’s The Mayfair Witches.

She was, nevertheless, notable for her absence within the 2022 sequel Hocus Pocus 2 due to scheduling conflicts.

For Editorial Use - Credit Studio Only Mandatory Credit: Photo by THA/REX/Shutterstock (15067764br) Film Still from
Thora appeared within the 1991 classic American Beauty (Picture: THA/REX/Shutterstock)

‘There were about two or three different versions of Dani,’ she informed The Wrap, of her plans for Dani within the sequel.

‘My ideal one was to have her running the museum of the house, to kind of like keep a watch, making sure that, you know, it doesn’t occur once more, or no matter, after which she may, like, information whoever brings it again.

‘But that was just my thought. There were a couple of other ideas… There were several options, and they all would have worked.’

Sadly, Thora’s involvement in the film wasn’t to be – though she harassed that she ‘really did’ need to be concerned, confirming that she’d be ‘happily watching it’ at house as an alternative.

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