Virginia Gardner

Biography

Virginia Elizabeth Gardner is an American actress best known for playing the roles of Christina Raskin in the film Project Almanac (2015) and Karolina Dean in the Hulu original series Marvel’s Runaways.

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. 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 film Project Almanac as Christina Raskin, the main character’s younger sister. In February 2017, it was announced that Gardner would star as Karolina Dean in Marvel’s Runaways, a Hulu original series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

On playing one of Marvel’s first gay superheroes:

One of the first things I wondered was whether people will be offended that I’m straight and playing a gay character. I was really nervous when I got the job because I didn’t want to disappoint fans. But I have a brother with autism—and the more I thought about it, I’ve never been offended by actors who don’t have autism playing someone who does because, to me, representation is representation. If you’re doing an accurate job and helping educate people and start a conversation, I personally would not be offended. If some people are, they are, but I’ve done my best to try and bring the character to life.