Elizabeth Banks is an
American actress, producer, and director.
Elizabeth played baseball and
rode horses while she was young. After a baseball injury sidelined Elizabeth,
she tried out for a school play, starting a lifelong love for acting.
She graduated from Pittsfield
High School in 1992 and enrolled into the University of Pennsylvania. She
graduated in 1996 with honors and a degree in theater arts. She completed her
Master’s in American Conservatory Theater in 1998.
Her film debut came that year
with a part in the independent film, ‘Surrender Dorothy’. She appeared in
a handful of movies before her breakout performance in the 2005
comedy, ‘The 40-Year Old Virgin’. She has appeared in such movies
as Invincible, Slither, Role Models and in 2012’s Pitch
Perfect.
In addition to appearing in
the film, she also the film’s producer. She would return to star in and direct
the sequel, 2015’s Pitch Perfect. Elizabeth has also appeared in The
Hunger Games movies as Effie Trinket. On television, Elizabeth made noted
appearances on the series Scrubs and 30 Rock.
Elizabeth changed her name to
avoid confusion with actress Elizabeth Mitchell. She met author and
producer Max Handelman on her first day at college in 1992. They
married in 2003 and had their first child, Felix, through a surrogate, in
2011. Elizabeth welcomed a second son, Magnus Mitchell, in 2012.
