Elizabeth Banks(II)
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
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 is the daughter of Anne Marie (Wallace), who worked in a bank, and Mark Phineas Mitchell, a factory worker. Elizabeth 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, graduating in 1996. She then moved to New York and worked in the theater, and began getting small roles in films and on television. Seeking more screen work, she moved to Los Angeles and was soon cast in supporting roles. She also had to change her last name, to Banks, in order to avoid confusion with actressElizabeth Mitchell.
Her breakthrough role was as Betty Brant, the secretary of the cantankerous newspaper tycoon inSam Raimi'sSpider-Man (2002).She followed up this performance with small roles in other movies:Swept Away (2002),Steven Spielberg'sCatch Me If You Can (2002),Seabiscuit (2003)andThe 40 Year Old Virgin (2005).In 2003 she won the Exciting New Face Award at the Young Hollywood Awards. The winsome, beautiful Banks projected an exceptionally charming screen presence that drew comparisons toAudrey Hepburn,and Hollywood eventually began to take notice, Banks being cast in the lead in such films asKevin Smith'sZack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)and inOliver Stone's biopic ofGeorge W. Bush,W. (2008),asLaura Bush.
In television, Banks was a recurring guest star onScrubs (2001)as Dr. Kim Briggs, the love interest ofZach Braff's J.D. In 2010 she was cast asAlec Baldwin's love interest in season four of30 Rock (2006).Originally scheduled to appear in only four episodes, 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. Elizabeth has also appeared in such films asOur Idiot Brother (2011),Man on a Ledge (2012),What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012),People Like Us (2012),andPitch Perfect (2012).She also won the coveted role as Effie Trinket inThe Hunger Games (2012)andThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013).
After an eleven-year courtship, Banks marriedMax Handelman,a sports writer and producer, in 2003. They have two sons, Felix, who was born in March 2011, and Magnus, born in Nov. 2012, both by gestational surrogacy.
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, graduating in 1996. She then moved to New York and worked in the theater, and began getting small roles in films and on television. Seeking more screen work, she moved to Los Angeles and was soon cast in supporting roles. She also had to change her last name, to Banks, in order to avoid confusion with actressElizabeth Mitchell.
Her breakthrough role was as Betty Brant, the secretary of the cantankerous newspaper tycoon inSam Raimi'sSpider-Man (2002).She followed up this performance with small roles in other movies:Swept Away (2002),Steven Spielberg'sCatch Me If You Can (2002),Seabiscuit (2003)andThe 40 Year Old Virgin (2005).In 2003 she won the Exciting New Face Award at the Young Hollywood Awards. The winsome, beautiful Banks projected an exceptionally charming screen presence that drew comparisons toAudrey Hepburn,and Hollywood eventually began to take notice, Banks being cast in the lead in such films asKevin Smith'sZack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)and inOliver Stone's biopic ofGeorge W. Bush,W. (2008),asLaura Bush.
In television, Banks was a recurring guest star onScrubs (2001)as Dr. Kim Briggs, the love interest ofZach Braff's J.D. In 2010 she was cast asAlec Baldwin's love interest in season four of30 Rock (2006).Originally scheduled to appear in only four episodes, 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. Elizabeth has also appeared in such films asOur Idiot Brother (2011),Man on a Ledge (2012),What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012),People Like Us (2012),andPitch Perfect (2012).She also won the coveted role as Effie Trinket inThe Hunger Games (2012)andThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013).
After an eleven-year courtship, Banks marriedMax Handelman,a sports writer and producer, in 2003. They have two sons, Felix, who was born in March 2011, and Magnus, born in Nov. 2012, both by gestational surrogacy.
