Background
DuVall was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Rosemary (née Hatch) and Stephen "Steph" DuVall. Her father is also an actor, mostly remembered as Conner Wells in the Steven Seagal film The Keeper.
DuVall was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Rosemary (née Hatch) and Stephen "Steph" DuVall. Her father is also an actor, mostly remembered as Conner Wells in the Steven Seagal film The Keeper.
She is best known for her role as Sofie on the Home Box Office television series Carnivàle (2003-2005), as well as for films such as The Faculty (1998), But I"m a Cheerleader (1999), Girl, Interrupted (1999), and The Grudge (2004). Prior to making her debut in Little Witches, she worked in a coffee shop. She appeared in various films and episodes of television shows such as Emergency and Buffy the Vampire Slayer before her breakthrough role as a goth student in Robert Rodriguez"s The Faculty.
She then portrayed an institutionalized pathological liar in the acclaimed Girl, Interrupted, as well as a lesbian enrolled in therapy camp in the indie hit But I"m a Cheerleader.
Major roles in The Astronaut"s Wife (1999), Ghosts of Mars (2001) and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001) followed. During that time, she also starred in Helter Skelter (2004), which earned her a Satellite Award nomination, and The Grudge (2004).
Other projects include Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007), David Fincher"s Zodiac (2007), and a recurring role on National Broadcasting Company"s hit science fiction drama series Heroes. In 2008, she starred with Anne Hathaway in the thriller film Passengers.
In 2012, she starred in the Ben Affleck film Argo, in which she portrayed Cora Lijek, a Japanese-American who was one of the six American diplomats rescued from Iran in 1980.
That same year, DuVall also appeared in a recurring role in the second season of the Forex anthology horror-drama series American Horror Story, as the girlfriend of Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson), Wendy Peyser. DuVall has directed a short film called lieutenant"s Not Easy Being Green, starring Leisha Hailey, Carnivàle co-star Carla Gallo and herself. She also took promotional pictures for Uh Huh Her.
In 2014, she appeared as Emma Borden on Lifetime"s Lizzie Borden Took an Ax and then reprised her role in Lifetime"s The Lizzie Borden Chronicles (2015).
In 2016, DuVall made her directorial debut on the film The Intervention which she also starred in, wrote, and executive produced.
She is also known for her roles as Cora Lijek in the Academy Award–winning film Argo (2012), Audrey Hanson on National Broadcasting Company"s Heroes (2006-2007), Wendy Peyser on Forex"s American Horror Story: Asylum (2012-2013), and Emma Borden on Lifetime"s The Lizzie Borden Chronicles (2015). After appearing in The Laramie Project (2002), Identity (2003) and 21 Grams (2003), DuVall starred in Home Box Office"s Emmy Award-winning Carnivàle, which ran from 2003–2005. She, along with the rest of the Argo cast, received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
