Born Viola Lynn Collins, reported variously in May or June 1977,[1][dead link][2][3] Collins is from

Houston, Texas. She has English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, "[3][4] She spent her formative years
in Singapore,[5] with "summers in Japan where my parents were getting their fourth and fifth and
sixth Dan (sic) in Shitaru ... Okinawa style karate".[6] During a childhood Christmas pageant in
which she played Mrs. Claus, Collins discovered her love for acting.[7]

She attended Singapore American School and Klein High School in Texas.[8] She graduated from
the Juilliard School's Drama Division (Group 28: 1995–1999)[9] with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree.[2]

Career
Collins made her television debut in 1999, in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,
and went on to star onstage as Ophelia opposite Liev Schreiber in Hamlet, followed by a turn as
Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.[7][better  source  needed] After bit parts that included a stint on the show
Haunted and roles in the movies Down with Love, 50 First Dates and 13 Going on 30,[7]
[better  source  needed]
she gained notice in the film The Merchant of Venice, starring with Al Pacino,
Joseph Fiennes and Jeremy Irons as the female lead Portia,[7][better  source  needed] Collins' audition tape
for the supporting role of Jessica having so impressed director Michael Radford that—upon Cate
Blanchett's opting out as Portia (due to pregnancy)—Radford had championed Collins becoming
Blanchett's replacement.[10][11]

She furthered her profile in 2008 when she was cast as Jason Stackhouse's girlfriend Dawn Green
in the first season of the HBO vampire series True Blood, and through a featured role as the
hero's love interest in the 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine opposite Hugh Jackman. Her first
leading film role came in 2012 when she was cast as the headstrong Martian princess Dejah
Thoris in John Carter.[12][13]