Lindsay Dee Lohan was born in New York City on 2 July 1986. Her mother, Dina Lohan (née Donata Melina Nicolette Sullivan), is a former Wall Street analyst, and her father, Michael Lohan, is a businessman and former Wall Street trader. She has Irish, Italian, and German ancestry.
Lohan began her career at age three as a model at the Eileen Ford Agency, and made appearances in over 60 television commercials, including spots for The Gap, Pizza Hut, Wendy's and Jell-O (opposite Bill Cosby). Lohan made her acting debut in 1996 as the third actress to play Ali Fowler in the television drama Another World (1964). Shortly afterward she was hand-picked by Oscar-nominated writer Nancy Meyers as estranged twin sisters in an adaptation by Walt Disney Pictures of a novel by Erich Kästner, which marked Meyers' directorial debut. Lohan's first feature film, The Parent Trap (1998), a remake of The Parent Trap (1961), was a modest commercial success, earning her widespread critical acclaim and a Young Artist award for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film, as well as Blockbuster Entertainment and YoungStar award nominations.