Virginia Elizabeth Gardner (also known as Ginny Gardner; born April 18, 1995) is an American actress who played Karolina Dean in the Hulu original series Marvel's Runaways (2017–2019), Vicky in David Gordon Green's horror film Halloween (2018), and Shiloh Hunter in Lionsgate's survival film Fall (2022).
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Early life
Virginia Elizabeth Gardner was born on April 18, 1995 in Sacramento, California. She attended Sacramento Country Day School from kindergarten to eighth grade, taking part in many of her middle school's productions. In 2011, she took online schooling when she moved to Los Angeles, but then chose to take the California High School Proficiency Exam when she was allowed to, in October 2011. Her desire to act was due to the 2001 film I Am Sam, explaining "[I wanted to] make things that can affect people and that people can relate to." Her nonverbal autistic brother Chas inspired her as well.
Gardner initially lived with her mother to pursue acting full-time. Gardner lived with her mother for the first year; however, once she started to be more successful and able to handle herself, she moved into her own apartment and began to live on her own.
Career
After appearing on the Disney Channel series Lab Rats, she took a year off from acting to work on modeling. When she became absorbed in modeling, she was going to stop acting, but then heard about the audition for Glee. She has modeled for Kohl's, Love Culture, HP, Hollister, LF, and Famous Footwear.
In 2015, Gardner starred in the found footage science fiction thriller film Project Almanac as Christina Raskin, the main character's younger sister. The movie helped Gardner to establish herself in Hollywood. In February 2017, it was announced that Gardner would star as Karolina Dean in Marvel's Runaways (2017), a Hulu original series. She received wide recognition for her portrayal of the LGBTQ hero. She starred as Vicky in the horror film Halloween (2018), a sequel to the 1978 film of the same name.
In 2022, she played Shiloh Hunter in Scott Mann thriller Fall alongside Grace Caroline Currey.
Personal life
Gardner describes herself as a feminist. In August 2023, she married Jed Elliott, bassist of The Struts. She has a black belt in taekwondo, and also took up boxing and nunchucks.
