In 2005, Paquin co-starred along side Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney and Jesse Eisenberg in Noah Baumbach's The Squid and The Whale. The film garnered the Director's Award and the Waldo Salt Screening Award and the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Paquin was last seen on stage in New York opposite Kieran Culkin in After Ashley. She performed in Neil Labute's dark drama The Distance from Here, which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Play and won for Best Cast Ensemble. Directed by Michael Greif, it starred Mark Webber, Melissa Leo, and Marshall Logan-Green.

Paquin stunned the world in 1993 with her film debut in The Piano, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She co-starred alongside Ed Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Spike Lee's The 25th Hour, and starred in Miramax's Buffalo Soldiers, co-starring Joaquin Phoenix and Ed Harris.

In addition to X-Men, Paquin's film credits include Finding Forrester, Almost Famous, A Walk on the Moon, All The Rage, Hurlyburly, She's All That, Amistad, Fly Away Home and Jane Eyre.

She appeared in the theater production of This is Our Youth in London's West End and received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living at New York's MCC Theater.