Elizabeth Banks

Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker.

She graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1992 and is a member of the Massachusetts Junior Classical League.

She attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority and was elected to the Friars Senior Society.

She graduated magna cum laude in 1996 with a major in communications and a minor in theater arts.

Banks made her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy (1998).

In 1998, she completed schooling at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California, where she earned an MFA degree.

Banks changed her name upon joining the Screen Actors Guild, as actress Elizabeth Mitchell was already registered in the union under that name.

After auditioning in New York, she was offered a role on the soap opera Santa Barbara.

Taking the role would have required her to quit her education at the American Conservatory Theater, and as she had taken out student loans to complete her degree, she declined the offer.

She made her acting debut in the 1998 independent film Surrender Dorothy as Elizabeth Casey, and appeared in various films over the next seven years, including Wet Hot American Summer (2001), Swept Away (2002) and Seabiscuit (2003).

She has appeared in the films Wet Hot American Summer (2001), Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007), Seabiscuit (2003), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Slither (2006), Invincible (2006), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), Role Models (2008), The Next Three Days (2010), Man on a Ledge (2012), What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012), Movie 43 (2013), The Lego Movie (2014) and The Lego Movie 2 (2019), Love & Mercy (2014), Walk of Shame (2014), Magic Mike XXL (2015), Power Rangers (2017), Brightburn (2019), and Call Jane (2022).

Banks founded the film and television production company Brownstone Productions in 2002 with her husband, Max Handelman.

Her most notable role up to that point was Betty Brant in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007).

In 2002, Banks set up her own production company, Brownstone Productions, with her future husband, Max Handelman.

Banks gained more prominent widespread exposure with her role in the 2005 comedy film The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

In August 2005, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, she starred in William Inge's Bus Stop as Cherie, the aspiring nightclub singer.

Jeffrey Borak wrote that Banks' portrayal was acted "with poise, clarity and a shrewd feel for Cherie's complexities. Her performance is all of a piece and in harmony, stylistically, with the performances around her."

In 2005, she appeared on the series Stella, and in May 2006, she had a role in the season five finale of the NBC sitcom Scrubs as Dr. Kim Briggs, the love interest of J.D. (Zach Braff).

Banks appeared throughout seasons six, seven, and eight as a recurring guest star.

She also had recurring roles on the comedy series Scrubs (2006–2009) and Modern Family (2009–2020), the latter of which earned her a third Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

In 2006, Banks appeared in the American football drama film Invincible, in which she played Mark Wahlberg's love interest.

Later, she and co-star Wahlberg were nominated for the "Best Kiss" award at the MTV Movie Awards.

That same year, she landed the starring role in the comedy-horror film Slither.

In 2007, Banks played the female lead in the comedy film Meet Bill, alongside Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba.

That same year, she had a small role as Santa's little helper, Charlyne, in the Christmas comedy film Fred Claus, co-starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti.

In 2008, she played the ex-wife of Ryan Reynolds’ character and mother to his daughter in the comedy film Definitely, Maybe alongside Isla Fisher and Rachel Weisz, starred with Seth Rogen as the eponymous female lead in the Kevin Smith comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and played United States First Lady Laura Bush in W., Oliver Stone's biopic of George W. Bush.

In 2009, Banks appeared in the horror film The Uninvited, a remake of the South Korean film A Tale of Two Sisters.

The film was about an intrusive stepmother who makes life miserable for the teen daughters of her new husband.

On television, Banks had a recurring role as Avery Jessup on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2010–2012), which earned her two Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

She is known for playing chaperone Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015) and an ICCA commentator in the Pitch Perfect film series (2012–2017).

She made her directorial film debut with Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), whose $69 million opening-weekend gross set a record for a first-time director.

She starred in the Netflix miniseries Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015) and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017).

She has since directed the action comedy Charlie's Angels (2019) and the horror comedy film Cocaine Bear (2023).

Since 2019, Banks has hosted the ABC revival of the game show Press Your Luck.

Banks was born and raised in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the eldest of four children of Ann (née Wallace) and Mark P. Mitchell.

Her father, a Vietnam War veteran, was a factory worker for General Electric, and her mother worked in a bank.

She described her family as "very meat-and-potatoes, old-school Irish Catholic."

Growing up, she played baseball and rode horses.

She was in Little League when she broke her leg sliding into third base.

She then tried out for the school play, which was her start in acting.