From playing one of horror’s most chilling villains in The Orphan to wielding knives as Clove in The Hunger Games, Isabelle Fuhrman has starred in some of your favorite movies since she was just 10 years old.
Now, with the release of her latest thriller Unit 234, we talked with the actor to reflect on the past roles that have shaped her career.
DAILY DOT: You jumped into acting at such a young age — what’s the story behind how you first found yourself in front of the camera?
ISABELLE FUHRMAN: I love to play pretend. Since I was a kid, make-believe was my favorite game to play. My sister, I always joke was my first director, because she would just dress me up and tell me what to do. We would have plays for our parents. We would do theatrical, musical theater for our dinner guests. That was my childhood growing up, and so when I realized that this was something that I could do as a job, it just seemed like a no-brainer.
My sister and I did theater camp and ended up getting a small job on Cartoon Fridays, and that was sort of what spurred my obsession with doing this was being able to make people laugh and make jokes on camera. I just realized that was definitely where I thrived. And then storytelling, as you get older, you start to work on more projects.
Orphan was kind of the first film that I had done where that was hard work. That was a job. I was working like five days a week, and I remember my weekends, I was just cramming schoolwork in, I was learning a dialect, I was learning stunts—and I just loved every single moment of it.
Since then, I’ve always checked in with myself. Especially as I was around 20 years old, I was like, “Is this something I still want to do?” And it is what I love to do. I live it, I breathe it. I love being able to be a part of making movies and telling stories. I think it’s just such a beautiful way to express yourself, and they feel really fortunate that I get to do it.
Reflecting on your experience filming The Orphan from your perspective today, is there anything that stands out to you now that your 10-year-old self might not have understood or fully appreciated at the time?
IS: When I look back on Orphan, I just feel so grateful to have worked with such professionals. To work with someone like Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard—who are just incredible actors and who have no ego and no attitude by any source of the imagination—I think it really shaped the kind of person that I am on set and how I would like to always be when I work with people. It comes from a place of we’re doing this together as a team.

Also, just in terms of the themes of that movie, I was 10 and turned 11 when I was filming, and there were a lot of adult themes in that film. I was really lucky that my parents were really protective of me, but also that the producers and Jaume [Collet-Serra], our director, were sensitive and understanding to the fact that you don’t have to explain everything for me to be able to understand it, or feel the emotions and the feelings.
I worked with a great acting coach at the time who explained sexual rejection to me at 10 years old: someone doesn’t think that you’re beautiful, they think you’re ugly, and they don’t like you, and they think you’re gross. That is the same feeling, but they didn’t have to explain to me what all of that was.
Looking back on The Hunger Games, is there a particularly emotional or meaningful moment from your time filming that has really stayed with you?
IS: I have a great, embarrassing, funny moment, I actually don’t think I’ve ever talked about it! So it’s a big cast. We had all been rehearsing, practicing stunts, everything together, hours and hours in the day. We were filming the scene where I chase after Katniss at the cornucopia, and I throw a knife at her, and she blocks it. The way that the stunt coordinator had explained was, “You’re going to pretend to throw the knife, you’re going to drop it on the ground in front of you, and then we’re going to see CGI knife in.” I wanted to do a good job. I was 14 years old, I was so excited to be there.
The first take, the knife fell out of my hand and was flying towards Jennifer [Lawrence]. It obviously didn’t hit her. We were so far apart in all of this, but I freaked out! I was like, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.” And Gary [Ross] came over to me, and he was like, “Isabelle, don’t worry about it. These are not real knives. They’re plastic. She was protecting herself. Don’t need to freak out about it. Let’s just do it again, but stay in it because that was such a good take.”

Jennifer would joke, “You just tried to kill me…you know, it’s totally fine.” I felt so bad! I mean, you’re like, 14 years old and it’s like my favorite book. I’m being a part of the movie, and you just screwed up that battle the first day! But it was good. Everybody, everybody forgave me, and everything was fine. Making that movie was so fun. We were all so young, and so it was like summer camp.
From knife-throwing lessons for The Hunger Games to long days of rowing for The Novice, you’ve had to work hard to get into character in past films. Was there anything you did to prepare for your role as Laurie in Unit 234?
IS: I think Lori for Unit 234, I was just really grateful that I had a minor obsession with running for a few years and I have good physical fitness and stamina. There were so many nights we were filming where I was just running through the rain at that storage facility, over and over and over and again. I remember at a certain point thinking, “I think I’m getting in the best shape of my life making this movie.”
As far as like, preparing for this role, a lot of it was just memorizing my lines and making sure that I understood where Lori was at whether or not she’s ready for the life that she and her boyfriend are planning, or if she wants to stay where she is in this sort of rut since her parents have passed away and taking over the family business. It’s through this crazy circumstance that she really discovers who she is. And so for me, a lot of that was just making sure I was present and running as fast as I could.
Were there any roles you’ve played in the past that helped you commit to your character Laurie?
IS: I feel like every movie is totally unique and different in terms of why you choose to do it, and a lot of it is where you are in your life when you’re reading something. This film came across me when it was the middle of COVID, and we weren’t sure what was going on with everything. So a lot of questions, naturally, I felt like I related to that part of Lori’s life. Like are things gonna go back to normal, or am I gonna be stuck in my apartment for the rest of my life? And so there were naturally things that I think I gravitated towards.
In terms of preparedness, working on a movie like The Novice really taught me so much, just in terms of physically demanding. Working on a film like that, I had so much stamina and energy, and I think I’ve been able to carry that through since working on it. That movie definitely shaped me in a lot of ways that have helped me move forward in my life and in my career.

Unit 234 is a tense thriller with a lot of bloodshed. How did you manage to keep things light on set between takes?
IS: I think just a lot of jokes. You work with someone like Jack Houston, who’s like a big kid, you’re constantly laughing and making jokes with each other. I think that’s part of making a movie that’s really intense in terms of its content.
You’re naturally looking for things to lighten the mood because you’re crying and screaming one minute, and they call cut, and you realize you’re still surrounded by 150 people who are all doing their jobs. And so there’s something just naturally funny to that. I think that lightens the mood when you’re working on films like this.