Julia May Whelan (born May 8, 1984) is an American actress, narrator and author. As an actress, she is best known for her role as Grace Manning on the television family drama series Once and Again (1999–2002), and her co-starring role in the 2002 Lifetime movie The Secret Life of Zoey. A noted child actor, Whelan first appeared on screen at the age of 11 and continued to take television roles until her matriculation into Middlebury College in 2004; Whelan graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury in 2008 after spending the 2006–2007 academic year as a visiting student at Lincoln College, Oxford. Whelan returned to film acting in November 2008 with a role in the fantasy thriller Fading of the Cries. In the 2010s, Whelan stepped away from her acting career to become an audiobook narrator. As of August 2025, she has narrated over 600 audiobooks. In 2018, she published her debut novel My Oxford Year.
Early life Julia May Whelan was born in Oregon on May 8, 1984. Her father was a firefighter and her mother a teacher. Whelan first acted in community theater at the age of five, and yearly trips to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon deepened her interest in an acting career. At age ten she began acting lessons with actor/screenwriter Geof Prysirr. They developed a close relationship, and eventually Prysirr became her guardian, escorting her on trips to Los Angeles, where she soon found professional success.
Whelan moved to Los Angeles with Prysirr and his wife, Days of Our Lives actress Derya Ruggles, so that Whelan could advance her career. Her first TV role was in an April 8, 1996, episode of the drama series Nowhere Man.
Early acting career Whelan was first introduced to a broader audience in the 1998 TV movie Fifteen and Pregnant as the younger sister of Kirsten Dunst, who portrayed the movie's pregnant protagonist. In 1999 Whelan landed the role for which she is still best known, playing insecure teenager Grace Manning on the family drama Once and Again. The cast included Sela Ward and Billy Campbell as single parents trying to nurture a romance and eventually build a blended family together.
Once and Again was noted for the high quality of its actors, particularly the younger cast members, who were praised for their sensitive performances; they were given screen time commensurate with that of the adult leads. Whelan, Meredith Deane, Shane West, and Evan Rachel Wood played the children of Ward and Campbell, respectively; Mischa Barton joined the show in its final season as Evan Rachel Wood's girlfriend. This lesbian storyline was dovetailed with an equally controversial plot involving Whelan's character in a doomed romance with her high school drama teacher "Mr. Dmitri", played by Eric Stoltz. Whelan, Deane, and Wood were recognized for their performances in April 2001, winning that year's Young Artist Award (from Young Artist Association) for Best Ensemble in a TV Series (Drama or Comedy); Whelan was nominated individually in March 2000 for Best Performance in a TV Drama Series – Supporting Young Actress.
After Once and Again wrapped up its three-year run, Whelan co-starred in the 2002 Lifetime Television movie, The Secret Life of Zoey, as a model student struggling with a prescription drug addiction. Mia Farrow portrayed her mother and Andrew McCarthy was her rehab counselor. The movie was promoted alongside Lifetime TV rebroadcasts of Once and Again. Whelan continued to take television roles through 2004, when she enrolled in Middlebury College.
Whelan spent the 2006–2007 academic year as a visiting student at Lincoln College, Oxford.
Audiobook narration Whelan has won acclaim for her narration of many audiobooks, including Gillian Flynn's 2012 thriller Gone Girl (co-read with Kirby Heyborne), Nora Roberts' The Witness, for which she won Best Romance at the 2013 Audie Awards, and Tara Westover's Educated, for which she won Best Female Narrator in 2019 at the same awards. Whelan also narrated the award-winning novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, the New York Times bestseller Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, and her own novel, My Oxford Year.
As of July 2022, Whelan had narrated more than 400 audiobooks, as well as articles for New York, The New Yorker and other magazines.
Whelan also narrates long-form nonfiction journalism, including articles from The New Yorker, The Atlantic, ProPublica, and Vanity Fair.
In 2024, Whelan started the audiobook publisher and distributor Audiobrary.https://splashmags.com/2024/02/introducing-audiobrary/
Author In 2018, Whelan published her debut novel, My Oxford Year, which Entertainment Weekly called "a breathtakingly perfect picture of Oxford" and "a powerfully heartbreaking and life-affirming tribute to love and to choice". In 2022, she released her sophomore novel, Thank You for Listening.
Adaptation In 2024, filming began on an adaptation of the film My Oxford Year for Netflix.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1996 Nowhere Man Young Laura Episode: "Through a Lens Darkly" Christmas Every Day Jacey JacksonTelevision film1998 Fifteen and Pregnant Rachel SpanglerTelevision film Promised Land Mazie Andrus Episode: "On My Honor" ER Laura Episode: "The Miracle Worker" 1999–2002 Once and Again Grace Manning Main Role 2002 The Secret Life of Zoey Zoey Carter Television film2004 Dr. Vegas Claire Episode: "Advantage Play" Clubhouse Maggie Archer Episode: "Spectator Interference"2011 Fading of the Cries Emily Television filmNCIS: Los AngelesKaren DavisEpisode: "Greed"2012The ConfessionAlysonTelevision filmThe CloserNatalie GilbertEpisode: "Hostile Witness"CastleTina MasseyEpisode: "Pandora"2017NCISGreta FensternachtEpisode: "Pandora's Box (Part 1)"
Bibliography
Awards and honors AudioFile has named Whelan a Golden Voice narrator.
Awards YearTitleAwardResultRef.2013The Witness by Nora RobertsAudie Award for RomanceWinner2015The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse AndersonAudie Award for TeensFinalistLove Letters to the Dead (2014) by Ava DellairaAmazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsTop 10The Sixteenth of June by Maya LangAudie Award for Multi-Voiced PerformanceFinalistUntil the End of the World by Sarah Lyons FlemingAudie Award for Solo Narration – FemaleFinalist2017Traffick by Ellen HopkinsAmazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsTop 102018Good Behavior by Blake CrouchAudie Award for Short Stories or CollectionsFinalistThe Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins ReidAudie Award for Multi-Voiced PerformanceFinalist2019Educated by Tara WestoverAmazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsTop 10Audie Award for Autobiography or MemoirWinnerAudie Award for Best Female NarratorWinnerFar from the Tree (2012)Audie Award for Young Adult TitleFinalist (2018) by Kristin HannahAudie Award for FictionFinalist2020Birthday Suit by Lauren BlakelyAudie Award for Audio DramaFinalistCharlotte's Web (1952) by E. B. WhiteAudie Award for Middle Grade TitleWinnerAudie Award for Audiobook of the YearFinalistEvidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins ReidAudie Award for Short Stories or CollectionsFinalist2021 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) by V. E. SchwabAudie Award for FantasyFinalist2022The Four Winds by Kristin HannahAudie Award for Best Female NarratorFinalistAudie Award for FictionFinalist
"Best of" lists YearTitleListRef.2010The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy NelsonAudioFile Best Young Adult2012The Grimm LegacyMagisteriumThe Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy NelsonAmazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsZombies v. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier2013In the AfterAudioFile Best Young AdultThe Witness by Nora RobertsAudioFile Best Romantic Fiction2014Flat-Out Love by Jessica ParkAmazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsI'll Give You the Sun by Jandy NelsonAudioFile Best Young AdultThe Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse AndersonTeam Human by Justine Larbalesti & Sarah Rees BrennanAmazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsWe Are The GoldensAudioFile Best Young Adult2015The Impossible Knife of Memor by Laurie Halse AndersonAmazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsPrincess of ThornsAudioFile' Best Young Adult2016Girl In PiecesSlasher Girls and Monster Boys by April Genevieve TucholkeAmazing Audiobooks for Young Adults2017Flying Lessons and Other StoriesAudioFile Best Children & Family ListeningHighly Illogical Behavior by John Corey WhaleyAmazing Audiobooks for Young Adults2018Educated by Tara WestoverAudioFile' Best MemoirA Million Junes by Emily HenryAmazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsThe Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine by Mark Twain and othersNotable Children's Recordings2019Daisy Jones & The SixAudioFile Best Fiction, Poetry, & DramaEducated by Tara WestoverRUSA Listen ListA Heart in a Body in the World by Deb CalettiAmazing Audiobooks for Young Adults2021People We Meet On Vacation (2020) by Emily HenryAudioFile Best Romance2022The Cousins by Karen M. McManusAmazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
References
External links
Prominent unofficial Julia Whelan website – multimedia, links, biography Description of character "Grace Manning" at www.oandafans.com Photos of Whelan as "Grace Manning" TV Guide profile of Julia Whelan, linked at www.angelfire.com/tv/onceagain Julia Whelan Photos and Videos Online description of Fading of the Cries