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Julia Whelan
Julia Whelan receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree at the 2008 Middlebury College Commencement
Born	Julia May Whelan (1984-05-08) May 8, 1984 (age 40) Oregon, United States
Occupations	Actress narrator author
Years active	1996–present
Awards	Young Artist Award for Best Ensemble in a TV Series (drama or comedy) (2001) for Once and Again

Julia May Whelan (born May 8, 1984) is an American actress, narrator and author. As an actress, she is best known for her role as Grace Manning on the television family drama series Once and Again (1999–2002), and her co-starring role in the 2002 Lifetime movie The Secret Life of Zoey. A noted child actor, Whelan first appeared on screen at the age of 11 and continued to take television roles until her matriculation into Middlebury College in 2004; Whelan graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury in 2008 after spending the 2006–2007 academic year as a visiting student at Lincoln College, Oxford. Whelan returned to film acting in November 2008 with a role in the fantasy thriller Fading of the Cries. In the 2010s, Whelan stepped away from her acting career to become an audiobook narrator. As of July 2022, she has narrated over 400 audiobooks. In 2018, she published her debut novel My Oxford Year.

Early life

Julia May Whelan was born in Oregon on May 8, 1984. Her father was a firefighter and her mother a teacher. Whelan first acted in community theater at the age of five, and yearly trips to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon deepened her interest in an acting career. At age ten she began acting lessons with actor/screenwriter Geof Prysirr. They developed a close relationship, and eventually Prysirr became her guardian, escorting her on trips to Los Angeles, where she soon found professional success.

Whelan moved to Los Angeles with Prysirr and his wife, Days of Our Lives actress Derya Ruggles, so that Whelan could advance her career. Her first TV role was in an April 8, 1996, episode of the drama series Nowhere Man.

Early acting career

Whelan was first introduced to a broader audience in the 1998 TV movie Fifteen and Pregnant as the younger sister of Kirsten Dunst, who portrayed the movie's pregnant protagonist. In 1999 Whelan landed the role for which she is still best known, playing insecure teenager Grace Manning on the family drama Once and Again. The cast included Sela Ward and Billy Campbell as single parents trying to nurture a romance and eventually build a blended family together.

Once and Again was noted for the high quality of its actors, particularly the younger cast members, who were praised for their sensitive performances; they were given screen time commensurate with that of the adult leads. Whelan, Meredith Deane, Shane West, and Evan Rachel Wood played the children of Ward and Campbell, respectively; Mischa Barton joined the show in its final season as Evan Rachel Wood's girlfriend. This lesbian storyline was dovetailed with an equally controversial plot involving Whelan's character in a doomed romance with her high school drama teacher "Mr. Dmitri", played by Eric Stoltz. Whelan, Deane, and Wood were recognized for their performances in April 2001, winning that year's Young Artist Award (from Young Artist Association) for Best Ensemble in a TV Series (Drama or Comedy); Whelan was nominated individually in March 2000 for Best Performance in a TV Drama Series - Supporting Young Actress.

After Once and Again wrapped up its three-year run, Whelan co-starred in the 2002 Lifetime Television movie, The Secret Life of Zoey, as a model student struggling with a prescription drug addiction. Mia Farrow portrayed her mother and Andrew McCarthy was her rehab counselor. The movie was promoted alongside Lifetime TV rebroadcasts of Once and Again. Whelan continued to take television roles through 2004, when she enrolled in Middlebury College.

Whelan spent the 2006–2007 academic year as a visiting student at Lincoln College, Oxford.

Audiobook narration

Whelan has won acclaim for her narration of many audiobooks, including Gillian Flynn's 2012 thriller Gone Girl (co-read with Kirby Heyborne), Nora Roberts' The Witness, for which she won Best Romance at the 2013 Audie Awards, and Tara Westover's Educated, for which she won Best Female Narrator in 2019 at the same awards. Whelan also narrated the award-winning novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, the New York Times bestseller Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, and her own novel, My Oxford Year.

As of July 2022, Whelan had narrated more than 400 audiobooks, as well as articles for New York, The New Yorker and other magazines.

Whelan also narrates long-form nonfiction journalism, including articles from The New Yorker, The Atlantic, ProPublica, and Vanity Fair.

Author

In 2018, Whelan published her debut novel, My Oxford Year, which Entertainment Weekly called "a breathtakingly perfect picture of Oxford" and "a powerfully heartbreaking and life-affirming tribute to love and to choice". In 2022, she released her sophomore novel, Thank You for Listening.

Adaptation

In 2024, filming began on an adaptation of the film My Oxford Year for Netflix.

Filmography

Bibliography

• — (2018). My Oxford Year. New York: William Morrow Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-06-274064-9. LCCN 2018275169. OCLC 995335673.
• — (2022). Thank You for Listening. New York: Avon. ISBN 978-0-06-324315-6. LCCN 2023276406. OCLC 1337056302.

Awards and honors

AudioFile has named Whelan a Golden Voice narrator.

Awards

"Best of" lists

References

1. ^ "Middlebury College Study Abroad United Kingdom and Ireland 2007-2008" (PDF). www.middlebury.edu. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
2. ^ Whelan, Julia (2006-10-26). "Overseas Briefing - News". The Middlebury Campus. Archived from the original on 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
3. ^ Rosman, Katherine (2022-07-22). "That Voice You're Hearing? It Might Be Hers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
4. ^ Hall, Carla (April 22, 2000). "Acting Her Age". TV Guide. Vol. 48, no. 17. pp. 42–44. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
5. "Julia Whelan in Once and Again on WCHS-TV8". www.wchstv.com. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
6. ^ Roush, Matt (2001-04-21). "The Best Show You're Not Watching". TV Guide. Vol. 49, no. 16. pp. 16–23.
7. Rice, Lynette (2005-08-26). "Once and Again: The Complete Second Season - DVD Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
8. "22nd Annual Awards". www.youngartistawards.org. Archived from the original on 2014-09-28. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
9. "21st Annual Awards". www.youngartistawards.org. Archived from the original on 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
10. "AudioFile Magazine Spotlight on Narrator Julia Whelan". AudioFile Magazine.
11. "2013 Audies Award Finalists and Winners". AudioFile. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
12. Levy, Candace (2018-09-26). "5 Questions With Julia Whelan". Audiofile Magazine. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
13. Kitchener, Caroline (2019-05-01). "You might have spent hours of your life listening to Julia Whelan's voice, without ever realizing it". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
14. "'My Oxford Year' is a tender, moving tale of self-discovery and first love: EW review". EW.com.
15. "Netflix production My Oxford Year filming in sites across Windsor". Slough Observer. 11 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
16. "Netflix filming crews spotted in Oxford city centre". This is Oxfordshire. 28 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
17. ^ "AudioFile Magazine Spotlight on Narrator Julia Whelan". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
18. ^ "Awards: Ben Franklin and Audie Winners; Camões Prize for Literature". Shelf Awareness. 2013-05-31. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
19. "2013 Audie Awards®". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
20. ^ "2015 Audie Awards®". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 2022-08-29. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
21. "2015 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2015-02-03. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
22. Lam, Anna (2015-02-05). "YALSA names 2015 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". American Library Association. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
23. "2017 Top Ten Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
24. O'Connor, Nichole (2017-01-31). "YALSA names 2017 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". American Library Association. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
25. "2018 Audie Awards®". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
26. Lam, Anna (2019-01-22). "YALSA names 2019 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". American Library Association. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
27. ^ Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults: 2019. 2019-03-15. Retrieved 2022-09-24 – via Booklist.
28. ^ "Audiobooks: The Libro.fm List". Shelf Awareness. 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
29. ^ "Audiobooks: The Audie Awards". Shelf Awareness. 2019-03-11. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
30. ^ "2019 Audie Awards®". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 2020-01-03. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
31. ^ Maher, John (2019-03-05). "Adeyemi, Turpin Win Top Award at 2019 Audies". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
32. ^ "Audiobooks: Audie Award Nominees". Shelf Awareness. 2019-02-06. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
33. ^ "2020 Audie Awards®". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
34. ^ "2020 Audie Awards Finalists Named". Publishers Weekly. 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
35. "2021 Audie Awards®". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 2021-03-23. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
36. ^ "2022 Audie Awards®". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 2022-10-06. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
37. "The Sky is Everywhere | Awards & Grants". American Library Association. February 22, 2012. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
38. ^ "Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults 2012". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2012-01-24. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
39. ^ "Amazing Audio Books for Young Adults 2014". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2014-01-30. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
40. "2015 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2015-02-03. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
41. "2016 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2016-01-11. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
42. "2017 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
43. "2018 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2018-01-09. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
44. Notable Children's Recordings: 2018. 2018-04-19 – via Booklist.
45. Moore, Ninah (2019-01-27). "2019 Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration for Adult Listeners revealed". American Library Association. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
46. The Listen List: Outstanding Audio Narration, 2019. 2019-03-15 – via Booklist.
47. "2019 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
48. "2022 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2022-02-03. Retrieved 2022-09-24.

External links

• Julia Whelan at IMDb
• Prominent unofficial Julia Whelan website -- multimedia, links, biography
• Description of character "Grace Manning" at www.oandafans.com
• Photos of Whelan as "Grace Manning"
• TV Guide profile of Julia Whelan, linked at www.angelfire.com/tv/onceagain
• Julia Whelan Photos and Videos
• Online description of Fading of the Cries

• American television actresses
• Living people
• 1984 births
• Middlebury College alumni
• Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford
• American child actresses
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses
• Actresses from Oregon
• American voice actresses
• Audiobook narrators