Ever since ABC Family released The Secret Life of the American Teenager in 2008, the show became the channel's big success, beating out the popular Kyle XY in numbers of viewership. The series may have received negative reviews, but it was very popular for women and teenagers. The Secret Life of the American Teenager is also responsible for bringing the main lead Shailene Woodley into worldwide recognition. Shailene herself had mixed thoughts on the show, but she cannot deny the fame it brought her and how it advanced her career.
The young woman has gone on to have an incredible resume of roles for 13 years and going. Shailene also contributed to many great causes, showing how self-aware she is to the injustices that go around, whether it'd be environmental or racial. Let's take a look back on what she's done since her show and what is to be in store for her.
10 Made Her Film Debut
To have a debut theatrical role with a legendary actor like George Clooney was certainly an amazing head start for Shailene and her filmography. The two played father and daughter in the comedy drama The Descendants, and their chemistry was absolutely spectacular and felt like actual family. The movie has gone on to receive critical praise and performed great in the box office, and snagged two Golden Globes in the process.
Despite being years since the movie's release, George and Shailene still write to each other occasionally. The actress has once said, "He’s so down to earth and humble that you don’t feel like you’re working with someone who is above you in any way or better than you."
9 Was Offered To Play Mary Jane
The Amazing Spider-Man was an exciting take on Peter Parker's time being Spider-Man with having to learn the ups and downs of being a superhero. Moviegoers will remember the Sam Raimi trilogy, with Tobey Maguire, focusing on the redhead Mary Jane Watson as Spider-man's love interest. Well, The Amazing Spider-Man has Gwen Stacy as Peter's best friend and love interest, but the sequel originally intended to feature Peter's first love interest.
Shailene was offered to play Mary Jane, but she ended up being cut from the film. Director Marc Webb stated that the cut was a creative decision to solely focus on Peter and Gwen's relationship, but nonetheless stated that Shailene was an absolute delight to work with.
8 Going Against Twilight And The Hunger Games
Twilight wrapped up with Breaking Dawn Part 2 released in 2012, but fans were still crazy over the franchise. The Hunger Games was picking up steam and was very successful for critics and audiences alike. Then Shailene comes in and was set to star in the anticipated Divergent movies. The sci-fi action movie had Shailene play the main character Tris, bringing in the same fame as previous movie phenomenons, Kristen Stewart and Jennifer Lawrence.
Unlike Twilight and The Hunger Games, Divergent was just one film short from completing the book series due to Allegiant being a box office bomb and negative reviews. While this was unfortunate for Shailene, even if she wasn't totally in favor of the TV-made version of Allegiant, she still became successful.
7 Breaking Our Hearts In The Fault In Our Stars
The Fault in Our Stars became another huge hit for Shailene and her Divergent co-star Ansel Elgort. For people who watched Divergent, it was a bit off to see Shailene and Ansel's roles get close romantically. The novel by John Green has been lauded for having a beautifully tragic love story of two cancer-stricken teenagers who changed each other's lives.
Shailene slayed as Hazel Grace Lancaster, capturing the role perfectly and making us cry with her when the saddest part of the movie happens. This movie will perhaps be the one that fans will look on as the best performance Shailene has given.
6 Took A Hiatus
With The Fault in Our Stars being a huge and successful movie, how would Shailene top it? The short answer: returning to the Divergent series with the sequel Insurgent. After receiving praise for her performance despite the critics' reviews of the movie overall, Shailene would take a hiatus from acting.
From Net-A-Porter, it was revealed that the actress took a break from film acting due to being at a stuck spot. She stated in her interview, “There was a point in my life, right before Big Little Lies, where I had hit a wall with acting. I felt it was time to do something different. I called my agents and said, ‘Please don’t send me any more scripts; I need to explore other avenues."
5 Got In A Bit Of Trouble
Shailene is not afraid to speak up about the issues going on worldwide. She is very passionate in supporting a cause against something that is considered problematic and dangerous. Her activism is very respectable, but it did get her into trouble one time. In 2016, she protested against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and due to criminal trespassing, ended up being arrested. She was thankfully given a tolerable sentence of a year of probation by pleading guilty.
4 Went Back To A TV Series
For two years, Shailene got to work with incredible actresses such as Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon for two seasons of Big Little Lies. The HBO series has been acclaimed for being an enchanting and thrilling ride with a star-studded cast. The show lasted for two seasons, and even though Shailene was in the main cast in the first season, she and the other actresses had smaller screen time in the second season.
With a dark subject matter with Shailene's character being a sexual assault survivor, doing a more adult role versus her teenager roles offers more chances for Shailene to take on other serious roles tied to the real world.
3 Reliving Hurricane Raymond
From book adaptations to portraying real life people, Shailene continues to impress us with her resume. 2018 was the year that Shailene starred and produced the movie Adrift, which is based on the story of Tami Oldham Ashcraft, who survived for 41 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean. By blending itself as a romance and survival drama movie, Adrift made fans content and terrified in the span of minutes.
The horrific but brilliant retelling of Tami's story was brought to life by Shailene's remarkable performance. Critics even called Shailene's performance as Oscar-worthy. Unfortunately she wasn't nominated for an Academy Award, she did win awards at the Deauville American Film Festival and 21st Annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival.
2 Many More Projects Incoming
2020 came at an unexpected turn due to the pandemic, and thus resulted in many halted projects for many actors, directors, and workers in the entertainment industry. 2021 will be a super busy year for the Secret Life actress, as she has several movies lined up. From The Last Letter From Your Lover to Misanthrope, she might just become one of the highest paid actress in 2021 or 2022.
Her other movies currently in development and pre-production are the animated movie Scarygirl and a romance film titled No Baggage.
1 Found Love In A New Person
While this list has been focusing on Shailene's accomplishments as an acclaimed actress, her love life has been documented too. She was previously linked to rugby union player Ben Volavola, but they called off their relationship in April 2020. Funnily enough, she found someone new who is also a sports player.
Since the second half of 2020, Shailene has been with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. When Aaron mentioned a fiancée while accepting an award at the NFL Honors ceremony, people were really curious. Shailene later confirmed on Jimmy Fallon that she is engaged to Aaron.