Taryn Manning was born on November 6, 1978 in Virginia. Because her parents divorced when she was younger, her mother had to work several jobs to support Taryn Manning and her brother Kellin. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, but later moved to Los Alamitos in California with her family. Her father committed suicide when she was 14 years old. She studied at the Orange County High School of the Arts in California. When she was just 12 years old, she took up dancing, and is also active with kickboxing and tae-bo, and has a third degree green belt in karate.

Taryn Manning began her acting career in the nineties. She had small roles for television series such as The Practice, Get Real, Boston Public, NYPD Blue, Popular as well as television movies Speedway Junky, and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. Her first major role was for the movie crazy/beautiful where she starred alongside Kirsten Dunst and Jay Hernandez. She played the best friend of Kirsten Dunst’s character. Her next roles would be mostly supporting characters and movies built around music, including 8 Mile, Crossroads, and the television movie: Come on, Get Happy

Taryn Manning also appeared in the movies A Lot Like Love, Debating Robert Lee, Lucky 13, and Cold Mountain. The characters she gets gives her a chance to play out a variety of people from different backgrounds, showing her versatility and talent in acting. In 2004’s Dandelion, Taryn Manning plays a carefree girl from Idaho who has an affair with a former convict, while in the drama Hustle & Flow she prostitute with serious troubles. She was nominated a Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards for Best Breakthrough Performance for her role in Hustle & Flow, and the cast also received two nominations for best ensembles.

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