Shailene as Amy Juergens

There’s been mixed views on the show The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which sees sweet 15 year old Amy Juergens fall pregnant after sex with the resident bad boy at band camp, but critics all agree that portrayer Shailene Woodley is a breath of fresh air and remarkable in the role.

“So far I haven’t looked for it[criticism about portraying a teenager pregnant at 15], so I haven’t received any criticism. The role has been challenging in some sense, because this is my first role where she’s basically sad and lost in tragedy but still a teenager, still excited about school dances, and she has a new boyfriend and she’s finding love for the first time. So it’s a bunch of different colors that I kind of have to put into one rainbow, so it’s been fun to figure out,” said Shailene during a conference call in July.

Shailene looking glamourous on the red carpet

“I hadn’t even thought about being a teenage role model until a couple of days ago when someone brought it up in an interview,” said Shailene. “I suddenly find myself very inspirational to a lot of girls.”

As well as being a role model for young girls out there, 17 year old Shailene also supports a few charities including the Ronald McDonald Organization and the National Elizabeth Glaser AIDS Foundation, but inspired by her own fortunate upbringing, Shailene would love to start her own charity to help others.

“I want to start an organization that allows families who are unable to go on vacation, I want to provide them with money through an organization to be able to let them go on vacation. I’ve been fortunate enough my entire life to go on one vacation a year, whether it be to Mexico or on a cruise or something, and a lot of my friends never had that opportunity. I think it’s important for kids to be able to have that one time a year where they can get out of the jungle of life and be themselves,” she said.

Shailene with Matthew Settle in A Place Called Home

Shailene is also a keen environmentalist and says “I think that nature is very important, and I dedicate a lot of my time studying awareness about recycling and the effects of bamboo and how it can be incredible over wood and a lot of random things. But I think the environment is something people need to start paying attention to. And it has. People have started to pay more attention to it, so that makes me very, very proud.”

Shailene as Felicity Merriman.

Prior to “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”, you may have seen Shailene in the 2004 film A Place Called Home, where Shailene played Cali Ford, the daughter of con artist Hank Ford, who interestingly enough was played by “Gossip Girl’s” Matthew Settle (who plays every teenage girl’s favourite dad, Rufus Humphrey. ;) For her role, Shailene was nominated in the Young Artist Awards for “Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Leading Young Actress”.

Shailene as Kaitlyn Cooper on "The OC."

You may also recognize Shailene from 2005’s Felicity: An American Girl Story, where Shailene played the title role, Felicity Merriman, a spirited colonial girl longing for freedom from society. Shailene was once again nominated for a Young Artist Awards. This time in the category “Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actress”.

Shailene has also appeared in various television shows such as “Crossing Jordan” and “My Name is Earl”, but what fans may best recognize her from is her role on “The O.C”. as the original Kaitlyn Cooper, during season one. When Kaitlyn returned in season three, Shailene had been replaced by actress, Willa Holland but “The O.C.” creator, Josh Schwartz had nothing but praise for Shailene who originated the role.

Shailene at the Wall-E Premiere looking very funky

"Shailene Woodley - who played her [Kaitlyn Cooper] originally was a wonderful little actress, but was still a bit young for the kind of nefarious doings that Kaitlin was going to bring to the show," he said.

Shailene has been acting since the age of five, and describes her foray into acting as an “accident”.

“I’m not even entirely sure how it happened. My cousin used to be a model and one day brought a talent-call audition thing with her and my mom was like, “Hey, you want to act today?” and I was like, “Sure!” And it just kind of happened. I was never forced to do it, and I never forced them to take me to auditions. It was just kind of one of those things that worked for everybody,” she said during the conference call.

A younger Shailene.

And although she’s been acting for quite some time now, Shailene - or ‘Shai’ as her friends call her – has never viewed it as a job but rather a hobby and a passion.

“I’ve been acting for almost 13 years, and it’s just been my hobby. My friends went to soccer practice; I went to auditions. So I’ve never really thought of it as a job or something that my life could be created after. It’s just been something that I have an immense passion for,” she said.

Amy and Ben on The Secret Life of the American Teenager

“I’m the kind of person who likes to try everything in the world, and I will always act just because it’s really the one thing I can express myself fully in and let go of all prerequisites and just be myself in that character, whatever that character may be. So I’ll always act just because it’s my passion, but I want to do other things on the side, too. So we’ll see where the path takes me, and I’ll follow and do what I want to do at the time.”

In her spare time Shailene enjoys trying out new things and has been parasailing, bungee jumping, and stunt flying. She is also very creative and enjoys activities such as sewing.

The cast of The Secret Life of the American Teenager at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards.

“I love to make bags or shirts or dresses or whatever. So I do a lot of sewing, and my best friend and I actually—she’s an amazing photographer; she wants to be a fashion photographer when she’s older—so we’ll go to the mountains or whatever and we’ll take pictures and I’ll pose for her so she can get a portfolio together. We’re just very creative. We like to go around and make things out of random scraps of anything.”

The Juergens family.

Hanging out with friends and being a normal teenager is very important to Shailene.

“I’m a senior in high school. It’s such a great point in my life,” she said. “I’ve had to figure out how to juggle my job and my school and my friends. I don’t want to miss out on a thing at this age.”

Shailene attends Simi Valley High School and has attended public schools her whole life, juggling it with acting. Education is important to Shailene – whose father is a school principal, and mother a school counselor - and one day she wants to attend university.

Shailene in 2006.

“I want to live in New York at some point in my life. I want to go to NYU, and I want to study psych and interior design. They’re completely opposite, but I’m creative and I love the arts, so that’s why I like interior design; and I think psychology is just so fascinating to be able to study the human mind and the human characteristics and the way that we work. So I think that’s definitely up my alley. I want to have options.”

But for now those plans will have to go on hold, as a second season of The Secret Life of the American Teenager is due to start airing in January. Can Shailene give us any gossip as what to expect? “Lots of drama,” said Shailene in an interview on the red carpet with TV Guide. “It’s triplets...quadruplets actually,” she jokes.

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