Sofia Vassilieva

Everyone is robbed of the way their lives might have gone had Kate never been sick. Sofia Vassilieva has the hardest job: she plays Kate. In a radical departure from the prettified illnesses of yore, Kate's nose bleeds, her lips...

In this article: My Sister's Keeper, Kate, Cameron Diaz, Cancer, The Notebook, and Alec Baldwin

...on "The Notebook") have fashioned from Jodi Picoult's best-selling novel. Vassilieva plays Kate, who at 14 has been living with a rare cancer for more than a decade. Her mother, Sara (Cameron Diaz), has given up a law practice to care for...

In this article: Kate, Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, Jason Patric, Abigail Breslin, My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult, Nick Cassavetes, and Cancer

The toughest scenes were where Kate had to admit she was going to die. Vassilieva mustered up all her strength to show how Kate was realistically facing the inevitable. Off screen, she would be in tears. "That was the journey for me. The...

In this article: Cancer, Kate, Cameron Diaz, Leukemia, My Sister's Keeper, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Jodi Picoult, and Abigail Breslin

Sofia Vassilieva, who plays Sara's cancer-stricken daughter Kate, won the role after Dakota Fanning ( Charlotte's Web, War Of The Worlds), who was originally cast, refused to shave her head for the part and dropped out of the film. Her...

In this article: Cameron Diaz, Kate, My Sister's Keeper, Babel, Nick Cassavetes, Abigail Breslin, and Hollywood

STRONG SUPPORTING CAST Oscar-nominated Abigail Breslin, 13, plays younger sister Anna, who is forced to serve as a donor to the older Kate, played by Sofia Vassilieva, 16, who stars in TV's "Medium." A hotshot attorney (Alec Baldwin)...

In this article: Cameron Diaz, My Sister's Keeper, Nick Cassavetes, Kate, Hollywood, Long Beach, Oscar, Leukemia, The Notebook, and Princess Fiona

...helped me get through it." In the Nick Cassavetes-directed film opening June 26, Diaz plays Sara, a strong-willed yet flawed mother who refuses to give up on her daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) dying of leukemia. Sara stubbornly tries to...

In this article: Cameron Diaz, Nick Cassavetes, My Sister's Keeper, Shrek, Princess Fiona, Jodi Picoult, Justin Timberlake, and Hollywood

...had been absolutely faithful. Fans of the TV series "Medium" will recognize 16-year-old Vassilieva as the actress who plays Ariel Dubois, the eldest daughter of Patricia Arquette's psychic. For the movie, she shaved her eyebrows...

In this article: My Sister's Keeper, Kate, Cameron Diaz, My Sister's Keeper, Leukemia, Evan Ellingson, and Abigail Breslin