Brittany Anne Snow was born on March 9, 1986 in Tampa, FL and was modeling for print ads by the time she was just three years old. She began going to auditions with her mother, Cynthia, and earned several roles in spots for Nabisco, Kmart and McDonald’s, for which she appeared as a box of French fries in the latter. Snow also took dance lessons and became active in regional theater, which led to roles on television shows including “SeaQuest DSV” (NBC, 1993-95) when she was eight. Though her mom continued to work, her dad, John, quit his job in the insurance industry to operate as her full time manager, hiring an agent for his daughter in 1998. Within a week, the agent sent over a script for “Guiding Light” (CBS, 1952- ) and offered her an audition.
Snow landed a regular role on the long-running soap opera, playing Susan Lemay, the long-lost daughter of Harley Davidson Cooper Spaulding (Beth Ehlers). The typically sweet and cheerful Snow got the chance to play a manipulative little brat who shoplifted, ran away from home and tried to overdose on cough syrup for attention. Snow’s real life parents, however, insisted she try to maintain as normal a teenage life as possible, so she remained at Ben Hill Middle School in Tampa and flew to New York City to film her scenes three days a week.
The exposure she received from playing the vindictive tyke on “Guiding Light” earned her a starring role in “American Dreams,” a period drama set in the 1960s and seen through the eyes of Snow’s character, Meg, a 15-year-old who dreams of being on “American Bandstand.” In trying to shed her good girl image, Meg danced her way through the turbulence of the 1960’s while dealing with the typical hang-ups of a teen from any decade. The show brought to an end Snow’s “normal teen” life when she and her mother transplanted to L.A. where they got an apartment.
Her new headquarters opened up new opportunities. In 2005, Snow landed a recurring guest spot playing a teenage neo-Nazi on “Nip/Tuck” (FX, 2003- ) and was also cast in her first feature, “The Pacifier,” starring a neutered Vin Diesel as a Navy SEAL who tries to redeem himself by taking care of the children of a scientist whom he failed to protect. Snow played a rebellious teen who gave Diesel more trouble than the bad guys out to kill him. In 2006, Snow’s film career got a big boost with a starring role in the teen comedy “John Tucker Must Die,” playing a mousy high school student recruited to help give the school Casanova his comeuppance.
“Tucker” was a moderate hit, but it was nothing compared to her follow-up, “Hairspray” (2007). In this adaptation of the Broadway musical – which, oddly, was an adaptation of a film – Snow played Amber von Tussle, the stuck-up archenemy of up-and-coming dancer Tracy Turnblad, who will stop at nothing to secure her role in a popular TV dance party. “Hairspray” was one of the biggest hits of 2007 in addition to becoming the third largest grossing musical of all time.
Recognized for both her acting and now her singing and dancing, Snow became a teen household name. But in an October 2007 issue of People magazine, she came forward to admit that teen stardom was not all it was cracked up to be, and that she battled eating disorders, depression, and self-mutilation as early as her “Guiding Light” days. Having received professional counseling, the actress felt confident about moving into the future. Among her several films in development for 2008 were a remake of “Prom Night,” where she would play the role originally made famous by scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, and “About Amanda” co-starring Matthew Broderick.