When Maggie and Caleb Overman had their first daughter, the time just didn't feel right. They were both writing for the much-loved Cheers and were starting work on a television show called Roseanne while attending as many Hollywood parties as their minimal fame could get them into. At first, the tiny tow-headed child was seen as a burden on her mother's career. Maggie's postpartum depression went mostly unnoticed for a very long time, which meant Baby Lucy was passed around and fawned over by many of Maggie's friends. It was only by chance (and the fact that therapy was now en vogue among many of her Hollywood friends) that the bond between mother and daughter began to strengthen around Lucy's second birthday. From a very young age, the girl put on little theatrics with her toys. Before she understood language, she understood stories. Once Maggie recognized this in her daughter, she began to see the child in a different light.
In addition to storytelling, Lucy picked up sarcasm and deadpan humor before she even started school. In the early 90s, it became apparent to Maggie that child actors were not going anywhere and there may be a place for her daughter among them. After talking it over with Caleb, Maggie pulled as many strings as she could manage, landing her daughter in a commercial with a well-known elderly actor. It was this actor who suggested she be considered for more than just advertisements. Though television had no roles for Lucy, it seemed the film industry was ready for her. In 1996, she was cast as Patricia Whitmore in Independence Day, a role that showed the girl could handle a busy film set, and the rest of the world took notice of the precocious little blonde.
By 1998, Lucy had earned herself a few young actor awards, and she caught the attention of a few executives for ABC. She was cast as the little sister to a teen heartthrob in Once and Again, and she found herself emerge as a bona fide TV star. Later on in the show's run, the issue of Jessie's sexuality came to light, and her parents tried to convince her to leave the show before the arc went any further. For the first time in her life, Lucy went against her parents' wishes, convincing them to let her stay so she could explore the storyline. After receiving unwanted negative attention from people at school for her part in the show and her breakout role as self-destructive Tracy in Thirteen, Lucy decided she was ready to give acting a rest. So, at the age of fifteen, Lucy Overman had all but retired completely from Hollywood to focus on her studies.
The decision to go to NYU was not a popular one in the Overman household. Convinced their daughter would return to acting once she'd finished high school, Maggie and Caleb pressured Lucy to stay in Los Angeles, assuring her she could take all of the same classes at UCLA when she found time in her schedule. For that reason, NYU became a bit of a rebellion against her parents. She'd always been interested in what the opposite coast had hidden for her, but deliberately choosing to move away from home asserted her independence from her parents.
Her time at NYU was an important growth period for Lucy. In addition to working diligently on her degree, she also allowed herself to become more social. In New York, she was only someone vaguely recognized every now and then, which led to her creating close friendships with many of her schoolmates. Her freshman roommate taught her the guitar and, in sophomore year, she took up yoga. It was a life completely outside of what she'd come to know in California, and she was ready to live the rest of her life writing poetry and studying Shakespeare.
The summer before her final year in college, Lucy decided to shadow one of her favorite professors' friends at an independent publishing house before going back to school for her master's. Though Lucy spent more time running errands than she did sitting in meetings, the experience was the perfect stepping stone for the new life she was meant to have. The opportunity she'd been given was unparalleled, and all of it should have pushed her toward a life that was atypical based on something she'd wanted for herself rather than something her mother knew would be a big deal later. The opportunity, however, was not as lovely as she anticipated it would be. Acting had been such a large part of her young life that she found herself missing the rush of getting a character just right.
Discouraged by her experience in the publishing world, Lucy made a call to her former agent, revealing that she was ready for another role. At first, no one was convinced she'd get any parts, but two directors were charmed with her story and allowed her to film in New York while she was still attending school. On the set of Paper Man, Lucy realized acting as an adult was far easier than acting as a child. She had more control over the parts she took and she had some say in how people treated her. In all, the return to acting began to be the greatest decision she'd ever made. Armed with her incredible education, she took on films and tv roles that kept her well enough away from the attention and media frenzy so many of her co-stars dealt with.
That is until she took up the role of Lisbeth Salander. Filming with David Fincher was a dream come true, and the remote Swedish filming locations had her convinced that her relative anonymity in the acting world would continue even after the film was released. She'd read the book and knew that it was internationally well-liked, so looking back, she should have realized that some things would change. The Oscar nomination was shocking, but even more shocking was the way people reacted to her. Lucy considered quitting acting for the second time in her life. After taking a full year to herself, Lucy returned to the small, independent films that had attracted her back to the world to begin with. There have been a few times since that awards chatter followed her around, but so far, nothing has turned her away from her first and best love.
