Elizabeth Banks
Date of Birth
10 February 1974, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA
Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)
Mini Biography
Actress Elizabeth Banks was born Elizabeth Mitchell in Pittsfield, a small city in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts near the New York border, on February 10, 1974. She describes herself as having been seen as a "goody two-shoes" in her youth who was nominated for the local Harvest Queen.
Banks left home to attend college at the University of Pennsylvania, from which she graduated Magna cum Laude, and went on to attend the Advanced Training Program at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, from which she graduated in 1996. She then moved to New York and worked in the theater as well as obtaining her first roles on-screen, small parts in movies and guest-star roles on television series. Seeking more screen work, Banks moved to Los Angeles and the supporting roles soon came, and required that she change her name to avoid confusion with another actress named Elizabeth Mitchell.
Her first breakthrough role was as Betty Brant, the secretary of the cantankerous newspaper tycoon in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002). Banks followed up this performance with small roles in other movies: Swept Away (2002), Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002), Seabiscuit (2003), and The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005). In 2003, she won the Exciting New Face Award at the Young Hollywood Awards.
Although the winsome, beautiful Banks projected an exceptionally-charming screen presence that drew comparisons to Audrey Hepburn, she primarily remained in supporting roles. Audiences began to take notice when Banks took the lead in such films as Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) and as Laura Bush in Oliver Stone's biopic of George W. Bush, W. (2008/I).
In television, Banks was a recurring guest star on "Scrubs" (2001) as Dr. Kim Briggs, the love interest of Zach Braff's J.D. In 2010, she was cast as Alec Baldwin's love interest in season four of "30 Rock" (2006). Originally her character was only scheduled to appear in four episodes, but she was brought back as a recurring character for two more seasons, and earned Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for two consecutive years.
Now in the spotlight, Banks appeared in back to back films, co-starring in Our Idiot Brother (2011), Man on a Ledge (2012), What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012), and People Like Us (2012). She also won the highly coveted role as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games (2012). In 2012-2013, she will also star in such films as Pitch Perfect (2012), Frank or Francis (????), and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013).
Banks married her husband, Max Handelman, a sports writer and producer, in 2003. They welcomed a son, Felix Handleman, who was born via a surrogate in March 2011.
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