Only Children - Females
by thelindacody | created - 30 Mar 2015 | updated - 01 Apr 2015 | PublicFamous females that grew up without siblings.
1. Mae Whitman
Actress | One Fine Day
Mae was born in Los Angeles, California to Pat Musick, a voice artist, and Jeffrey Whitman, a personal manager and set construction coordinator. She began her career with a voice-over for a Tyson Chicken commercial. Whitman attended Ribét Academy, a private preparatory school in Los Angeles.
Whitman...
2. Larisa Oleynik
Actress | 10 Things I Hate About You
Larisa Oleynik was born in Santa Clara County, California, to Lorraine (Allen), a nurse, and Roman Oleynik, an anesthesiologist. Her father is of Ukrainian and Rusyn descent.
Larisa's big break came when she was eight. She had gotten the part of young Cosette in a production of "Les Misérables". Her...
3. Chelsea Kane
Actress | Bratz
Musician and actress Chelsea Kane grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where she was a member of the Valley Youth Theater.
She made a couple of movie appearances before landing a starring role as both actress and musical performer in Bratz (2007), the movie inspired by the popular toys. Since then she has ...
4. LeAnn Rimes
Soundtrack | Coyote Ugly
LeAnn started singing at age 3, and has sold over 20 million records since. She was born August 28, 1982 in Jackson, Mississippi. By age 7, LeAnn made her stage debut in a Dallas musical production of "A Christmas Carol". Later, she would sing "The Star Spangled Banner" to open Dallas Cowboys ...
5. Emmy Rossum
Actress | The Phantom of the Opera
It would seem that 2004, the year of her 18th birthday, will be remembered as pivotal for Emmy Rossum due to her appearance in two very different films, The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004). Emmy's performance in the latter film gained her a Golden Globe nomination.
...
6. Holly Marie Combs
Actress | Charmed
Holly moved to New York at the tender age of 7. Already her stunning looks had turned heads, resulting in jobs in print ads and commercials. Soon these experiences lead to a desire to act, a dream shared by Holly's mother, who herself was only 24. After a few bit parts, Holly landed a leading role ...
7. Betty White
Actress | The Proposal
Betty White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Christine Tess (Cachikis), a homemaker, and Horace Logan White, a lighting company executive for the Crouse-Hinds Electric Company. She was of Danish, Greek, English, and Welsh descent.
Although she was best known as the devious Sue Ann Nivens on the ...
8. Beverley Mitchell
Actress | 7th Heaven
Rising to fan-magazine fame through her stint as Lucy Camden on 7th Heaven (1996), Beverley was born in Arcadia, California. Before her most famous role, Beverley started her career off with a well-known temper tantrum, alongside her mother, in the middle of a shopping mall. A talent agent heard ...
9. Catherine Hicks
Actress | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Born in New York City and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, Catherine Mary Hicks was a cheerleader at Gerard Catholic High School in Phoenix, Arizona, and graduated in 1969. Hicks attended Saint Mary's College-Notre Dame University and studied English literature. Moving east from South Bend, Indiana, ...
10. Swoosie Kurtz
Actress | Bubble Boy
Swoosie is the only child of author Margo and Frank Kurtz. As her father was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, she moved often during her school years, living in eight different states. At the University of Southern California she majored in drama; later she attended the London Academy of Music and ...
11. Jodie Sweetin
Actress | Full House
Jodie Sweetin was born on January 19, 1982 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Full House (1987), Fuller House (2016) and Just Swipe (2021). She has been married to Mescal Wasilewski since July 30, 2022. She was previously married to Morty Coyle, Cody Herpin ...
12. Melissa Rivers
Actress | Joy
New York Times best-selling author and award-winning producer, Melissa Rivers is an entertainment journalist, equestrian, Ivy League graduate, accomplished public speaker and animal advocate. While her professional achievements are plentiful, it is her role as a [single] mother to son Cooper that ...
13. Annie Lennox
Soundtrack | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Annie Lennox was born on December 25, 1954 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK. She is a music artist and actress, known for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Scrooged (1988) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). She has been married to Mitch Besser since September 15, 2012. ...
14. Vivien Leigh
Actress | A Streetcar Named Desire
If a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open in India just before World War I, where a successful British businessman could live like a prince. In the mountains above Calcutta, a little princess is born. Because of the outbreak of World War I, she is six years old the first time ...
15. Suzanne Farrington
Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond
Suzanne Farrington was born on October 12, 1933 in London, England, UK. She is known for Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond (1990). She was married to Robin Farrington. She died on March 1, 2015 in Lower Zeals, Warminster, Wiltshire, England, UK.
Late daughter of the late Vivien Leigh.
16. Alicia Keys
Soundtrack | The Secret Life of Bees
Alicia Keys was born in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, to Terria Joseph (née Teresa M. Augello), a paralegal who was also an occasional actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant. Her father is African-American and her mother, who is Caucasian, is of Italian and English/Irish/Scottish ancestry. Alicia...
17. Teri Hatcher
Actress | Tomorrow Never Dies
Teri Hatcher is an American actress, writer, presenter, and former NFL cheerleader. She is known for her television roles, portraying Lois Lane on the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997), and as Susan Mayer on the television series Desperate Housewives (2004-2012), ...
18. Charlize Theron
Producer | Monster
Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater Johannesburg area, in South Africa, the only child of Gerda Theron (née Maritz) and Charles Theron. She was raised on a farm outside the city. Theron is of Afrikaner (Dutch, with some French Huguenot and German) descent, and Afrikaner ...
19. Stacy Keibler
Actress | Bubble Boy
Although her career spans over two decades, Stacy Keibler continues to be the fresh-faced beauty that both film and television audiences adore. Stacy was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She began dancing when she was three-years-old and has a background in ballet, tap and jazz. Stacy went to school in...
20. Natalie Portman
Actress | Black Swan
Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Black Swan (2010)).
Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born doctor, and Shelley Stevens, an ...
21. Sarah Michelle Gellar
Actress | Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Emmy Award-winning Sarah Michelle Gellar was born on April 14, 1977 in New York City, the daughter of Rosellen (Greenfield), who taught at a nursery school, and Arthur Gellar, who worked in the garment industry. She is of Russian Jewish and Hungarian Jewish descent.
Eating in a local restaurant, ...
22. Kristy Swanson
Actress | Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Kristy Swanson is an American actress from California. She has had an active acting career since the 1980s. Her most memorable role was playing the original version of Buffy Summers in the horror comedy "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1992).
Swanson was born in Mission Viejo, California, a planned ...
23. Ciara
Actress | That's My Boy
Ciara Princess Harris was born on October 25, 1985 in Fort Hood, Texas to Jackie Harris (née Smith) & Carlton Clay Harris. Due to her father being in the United States Army, she grew up on army bases in Germany, New York, Utah, California, Arizona & Nevada. During her teens, Ciara and her family ...
24. JoJo
Actress | Aquamarine
JoJo was born Joanna Noëlle Levesque on December 20, 1990 in Brattleboro, Vermont and raised in Foxborough, Massachusetts to Diana Lynn Levesque (née Blagden) & Joel Maurice Levesque. She has Polish, English, Irish & Scottish ancestry on Diana's side and French-Canadian ancestry on Joel's side. Her...
25. Laura Dern
Actress | Jurassic Park
Laura Dern was born on February 10, 1967 in Los Angeles, the daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Dern was exposed to movie sets and the movie industry from infancy, and obtained several bit parts as a child. Her parents divorced when Dern was two and Dern lost contact with her father for ...
26. Alyson Hannigan
Actress | Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Alyson Hannigan was born in Washington, D.C. to Emilie (Posner), a real estate agent, and Al Hannigan, a truck driver. She began her acting career in Atlanta at the young age of 4 in commercials sponsoring such companies as McDonald's, Six Flags, and Oreos. She is a seasoned television actress, ...
27. Sara Paxton
Actress | The Innkeepers
Sara Paxton was born in Woodland Hills, California. At a young age she began acting in television commercials.
She was cast in her first film at the age of 8 as a child at school and at the party in Liar Liar (1997). Her first major television series role was on the WB's Greetings from Tucson (2002)....
28. Shannon Elizabeth
Actress | American Pie
Shannon Elizabeth was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of a Syrian/Lebanese father. When Shannon was in 3rd grade, her family moved to Waco, Texas, to be close to relatives. As a girl, Shannon took dance lessons, including tap, ballet, and jazz. While attending high school, however, she was ...
29. Renee Olstead
Actress | Still Standing
Born in Houston Texas, Renee Olstead has amassed over 9 seasons of television appearances as a regular on the hit CBS sitcom, Still Standing and ABC Family's The Secret Life of The American Teenager. Her latest starring role in the 2015 Universal Pictures / Blumhouse feature Unfriended, took the ...
30. Shawn Johnson
Actress | The Secret Life of the American Teenager
Shawn Johnson was born on January 19, 1992 in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. She is an actress, known for The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008), Beijing 2008: Games of the XXIX Olympiad (2008) and Dancing with the Stars (2005). She has been married to Andrew East since April 16, 2016. They have ...
31. Condoleezza Rice
Actress | 30 Rock
Condoleezza Rice was born on November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. She is an actress, known for 30 Rock (2006), Manningcast and Poodle Samizdat (2006).
32. Jayne Mansfield
Actress | The Girl Can't Help It
One of the leading sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s, film actress Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, the only child of Vera J. (nee Palmer; later Peers) and Herbert W. Palmer. Her parents were well-to-do, with her father a successful attorney ...
33. Catherine Bell
Actress | Bruce Almighty
Catherine was born in London, but she moved to California with her Iranian mother at the age of two. Her mother still acts as her personal assistant. As a girl, she acted in various TV advertisements. She went to UCLA to study biology/ pre-medicine, but she dropped out to become a model in Japan. ...
34. Lauren Bacall
Actress | To Have and Have Not
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a ...
35. Megan Mullally
Actress | Will & Grace
Megan is an only child born in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Martha, was a model, and her father, Carter Mullally Jr., was a contract player for Paramount. Megan first entered Northwestern University intending to study acting, but switched to English literature. However, she still ended up ...
36. Kathleen Quinlan
Actress | Apollo 13
Kathleen Quinlan was born in Pasadena, California, the only child of Josephine (Zachry), a military-supply supervisor, and Robert Quinlan, a television sports director. She grew up in Mill Valley, Ca, and got her break in acting when George Lucas came to her high school to cast for his movie ...
37. Lea Michele
Actress | Glee
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in the Bronx, New York to Edith Thomasina (Porcelli), a nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a delicatessen owner-turned-real estate agent. Her mother is of Italian descent (from Rome and Naples), and her father is of Sephardi Jewish ancestry (from Turkey and Greece). Lea was...
38. Drew Barrymore
Producer | Charlie's Angels
Since melting audiences' hearts at the tender age of six - in Steven Spielberg's beloved sci-fi blockbuster, E.T. (1982) - Drew Barrymore has emerged as one of the most endearing and talented actresses of her generation. Born in Culver City, California to actors John Drew Barrymore and Jaid ...
39. Janet Leigh
Actress | Psycho
Janet Leigh was the only child of a couple who often moved from town to town. Living in apartments, Janet was a bright child who skipped several grades and finished high school when she was 15. A lonely child, she would spend much of her time at movie theaters. She was a student, studying music and...
40. Brooke Shields
Actress | The Blue Lagoon
"Want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." If you have not heard of Brooke Shields before, this tagline from her Calvin Klein Jeans ad had to grab your attention. Not that she has not had a previously noteworthy resume. She was born on May 31, 1965 in New York City, to Teri (...
41. Sophia Bush
Actress | John Tucker Must Die
Sophia Bush has captured film and television audiences with her range of roles and diverse characters She was born on July 8, 1982, in Pasadena, California, and is an only child. Her father, Charles William Bush, is a renowned advertising and celebrity photographer, and her mother, Maureen E. (...
42. Joy Behar
Actress | Ice Age: Continental Drift
Joy Behar was born on October 7, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), Hall Pass (2011) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). She has been married to Steve Janowitz since August 11, 2011. She was previously married ...
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