To say that Auden Tremont was a surprise would be an understatement. Her mother, Katerina Volkov, (stage name Katharine Hamilton,) was 21 and between jobs when she discovered she was pregnant. An up and coming actress, she was smitten with Scott Sullivan, an actor well on his way to becoming a household name. Katie told Scott about her pregnancy as soon as she was sure. A week later, the tabloids were full of the news that he had proposed to his pregnant girlfriend, Emily, and the two were "blissfully happy." Katie received a phone call from Scott's agent telling her that Scott was sure he was not the father, and that he never wanted to hear from her again. Not willing to give up that easily, she confronted Scott outside his favorite nightclub. He called her delusional, denying anything to do with her or her baby. Heartbroken, Katie returned home, but not before the tabloids caught wind of her story, as well. Upon her return to Odessa, Katie ran into her high school sweetheart, Blake Tremont, and it was like she had never left. Three months before Auden was born, Blake went to Katie's father, asking permission to marry "Katie and Auden." The two were married in a quiet City Hall ceremony shortly thereafter, and they brought Auden into the world together on September 14, 1984, surrounded by friends and family who couldn't be more ecstatic, despite the less than perfect circumstances.

She was their princess growing up, their only child. Determining they all needed a fresh start, especially Katie, the family moved when Blake took a position as Offensive Coordinator at Southlake Carroll High School, a school that boasted one of the best football programs in a state dedicated to the sport. They left the scandal behind, and Auden grew up knowing nothing of it. It wasn't until a spring afternoon in Auden's junior year of high school that she came outside one day to find paparazzi waiting in front of her car. The family never found out who had leaked the news that Auden was the illegitimate daughter of one of Hollywood's biggest stars, but she found out her parentage along with the rest of the world. Blake and Katie told her everything, and Blake explained kindly that he had never thought of Auden as anything but his, that he loved her unconditionally, that they had been trying to protect her. All she could see was that she had been lied to. She packed her bags that evening and drove all night to her grandmother's in Odessa. After much debate, Blake and Katie finally decided to let Auden file for emancipation, Blake's reasoning being that he had loved her too much for too long not to let her go, and they would lose her for sure if they didn't.

Her grandmother, having believed that Blake and Katie should have told Auden the truth from the beginning, became her biggest ally, helping her find a place of her own in Dallas, co-signing the lease, and sending her more than enough money to make it by every month. She used that money to get an agent, thinking that, if she could make a name for herself in Hollywood, maybe her father, now a household name, would finally acknowledge her. She had a few auditions, initially leaping at whatever was offered. There were bit roles in "Cold Case," "Everwood," and "Nip/Tuck," which she took with an almost greedy vehemence, always looking for the next step. It was her role as Gretchen Weiners in 2004's "Mean Girls" that really put her on the map and helped her begin to establish herself as a legitimate actress. From there, she took a recurring guest role as Alex Kelley, a teenage girl who dated Marissa Cooper, on "The O.C.," and Auden continued to climb the proverbial ladder. It was the role of Lyla Garrity, the sassy ingenue cheerleader on "Friday Night Lights," that really began to develop Auden as a household name. It was the perfect role for the young coach's daughter, putting her back in Texas, back in the world she'd grown up in, and developing her career.

None of this got Scott's attention, but despite the glaring inconsistencies in her personal life, her career began to take off. In 2008, she earned her first Oscar nomination for "Rachel Getting Married," what she'd lovingly dubbed "The little indie film that could." In 2010, it was announced that she had been cast as Lisbeth Salander in the highly anticipated American adaptation of Stieg Larsson's acclaimed novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The news was met with extreme dismay from the media and general public, with fans of the novels leading the charge. Could Gretchen Weiners possibly be Lisbeth Salander? It was the most challenging role of Auden's career, physically, mentally, and emotionally. 2012 brought her second Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. Scott, still, wasn't impressed enough by her achievements to want a relationship with his daughter, but Auden's focus had changed, and the roles she took, she began to take for herself.

After recovering from the all-consuming, exhausting experience that was "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," Auden decided to take a break from the more serious roles she had attempted in the past and try her hand at comedy. She went back to what she had loved doing at the beginning, filming independent projects. 2013 brought with it personal and professional achievements, as she released two films and got engaged to boyfriend Cliff McDonaghy, settling into the home they'd bought in Malibu and crafting their own version of "happily ever after." It lasted for a little over a year that Auden could only describe as blissful before the couple mutually decided to end the relationship, and Auden purchased a bachelorette pad in Santa Monica. She and her own personal zoo (dog, Landry, duck, Daisy, and horse, Molly,) currently split their time between her beachfront sanctuary, a condo she shares with Ilyssa Cohen in New York that they both refuse to give up, and her childhood home in Texas. Riding simultaneously the commercial success and disappointment of her 2016 projects, "Deadpool" and "The Girl on the Train," Auden is cautiously planning her next move while preparing for the press release of her 2017 titles. Despite the fact that things haven't turned out the way she had expected, Auden has found a certain peace in accepting herself, and is content to let the chips fall where they may.