Elizabeth Banks Biography

Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress, producer and director. Banks made her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy (1998). She is best known for her roles in the films Seabiscuit (2003), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Invincible (2006), Definitely, Maybe (2008), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), W. (2008), Role Models (2008), The Uninvited (2009), The Next Three Days (2010), The Hunger Games (2012), People Like Us (2012), Man on a Ledge (2012), and Pitch Perfect (2012).

On television, Banks had a recurring role as Avery Jessup on the sitcom 30 Rock, which gained her two Emmy Award nominations. Previously, Banks had starred in a recurring role as Dr. Kim Briggs on Scrubs from 2006 to 2009.

Early life and education

Banks was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the eldest of four children of Ann (née Wallace) and Mark P. Mitchell. Her father was a factory worker for General Electric and her mother worked in a bank.

Growing up, she played baseball and rode horses. She was in little league when she broke her leg sliding into third. She then tried out for the school play which was her start in acting. 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. Banks graduated magna cum laude in 1996 with a major in communications and a concentration in theater arts. In 1998, she completed schooling at the American Conservatory Theater and earned an MFA.

Career

Banks changed her name to avoid confusion with actress Elizabeth Mitchell. She debuted in the 1998 independent film Surrender Dorothy, as Elizabeth Casey, appeared in various films over the next seven years before gaining more prominent widespread exposure through the 2005 comedy film The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

In August 2005, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Banks starred in William Inge's Bus Stop as Cherie, the sexy, blonde, 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). The character appeared throughout seasons six, seven and eight as a recurring guest star.

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 Award. Also that year, she landed the starring role in the comedy-horror film Slither.

In 2007, she played the female lead in the comedy film Meet Bill, alongside Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba. Also that year, Banks had a small role in the Christmas comedy film Fred Claus, co-starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti. In 2008, she played a love interest in the comedy film Definitely, Maybe, alongside Isla Fisher and Ryan Reynolds, 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 thriller The Uninvited, a remake of the Korean horror 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. Banks based her character, Rachel, on Rebecca De Mornay's character in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle". "It was very important to me that every line reading I gave could be interpreted two ways," says Banks of her role, "So that when you go back through the movie you can see that".

Banks is a frequent co-star of actor Paul Rudd, the two having appeared in five films together to date (Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Role Models and Our Idiot Brother).

Banks was cast as a love interest for Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) in the fourth season of the Emmy Award-winning sitcom 30 Rock. Intended to appear in four episodes in 2010, Banks went on to become a recurring character with thirteen appearances by the end of the fifth season, including her marriage in the episode Mrs. Donaghy. Her performance in season five earned her a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards.

Banks appeared in the movie The Hunger Games, playing Effie Trinket, a woman from "The Capitol" who escorts the District 12 tributes to the Hunger Games. In a February 2013 episode, Banks reprised her role as Sal on Modern Family.

Banks will portray Melinda Ledbetter Wilson, current wife of Brian Wilson in the upcoming biopic, Love and Mercy which is based on the legendary musician and founding member of the Beach Boys.

Personal life

Banks met her husband, sportswriter and producer Max Handelman, on her first day at college on September 6, 1992. They were married in 2003. She and her husband had their first child, Felix, who was born via a surrogate in March 2011. In November 2012, Banks announced that her family had welcomed another son, Magnus Mitchell, also born via a surrogate.

Banks was raised in a family of both Irish Catholic and Anglo-Saxon Protestant background. She went through parts of the process of conversion to Judaism, her husband's faith, and studied with rabbis. In 2013, speaking of her religion, she stated that she practices Judaism, though "I did not have my mikveh, so technically I'm not converted", and added, "Frankly, because I'm already doing everything [practicing religious rituals], I feel like I'm as Jewish as I'm ever going to be".

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Surrender Dorothy	Vicki	Credited as Elizabeth Casey
2000	Shaft	Trey's friend	Credited as Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell
2001	Wet Hot American Summer	Lindsay
2001	Ordinary Sinner	Rachel
2002	Spider-Man	Betty Brant
2002	Swept Away	Debi
2002	Catch Me If You Can	Lucy Forrest
2002	Stella Shorts 1998-2002	Woman at yoga class	Short films; direct-to-DVD release
2003	The Trade	Sioux Sever
2003	Seabiscuit	Marcela Howard	Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2004	Spider-Man 2	Betty Brant
2005	Heights	Isabel
2005	Sexual Life	Sarah
2005	The Sisters	Nancy Pecket
2005	The Baxter	Caroline Swann
2005	The 40-Year-Old Virgin	Beth
2005	Daltry Calhoun	May
2006	Slither	Starla Grant
2006	Invincible	Janet Cantrell	Nominated"?MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
2007	Spider-Man 3	Betty Brant
2007	Meet Bill	Jess
2007	Fred Claus	Charlene
2008	Definitely, Maybe	Emily Jones
2008	Meet Dave	Gina Morrison
2008	Lovely, Still	Alex
2008	Zack and Miri Make a Porno	Miriam "Miri" Linky
2008	W.	Laura Bush	Nominated"?Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
2008	Role Models	Beth Jones
2009	Big Breaks	Starlet	Short film
2009	The Uninvited	Rachel Summers
2009	Surrogates		Executive producer
2010	The Next Three Days	Lara Brennan
2011	The Details	Nealy Lang
2011	Just a Little Heart Attack	Director and star	PSA for the American Heart Association Go Red For Women campaign
2011	Our Idiot Brother	Miranda
2012	Man on a Ledge	Lydia Mercer
2012	The Hunger Games	Effie Trinket	Won"?MTV Movie Award for Best Transformation Nominated"?Teen Choice Awards Scene Stealer: Female
2012	What to Expect When You're Expecting	Wendy
2012	People like Us	Frankie
2012	Pitch Perfect	Gail Abernathy-McKadden	Also producer
2013	Movie 43	Amy	Segment "Beezel" Also director
2013	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire	Effie Trinket
2014	Walk of Shame	Meghan Miles
2014	The Lego Movie	Lucy	Filming
2014	Love and Mercy	Melinda Ledbetter Wilson	Post-Production
TBA	Frank or Francis
TBA	What's the Matter with Margie
TBA	Little Accidents		Filming
2014	Every Secret Thing	Detective Nancy Porter	Post-production
TBA	The Big Shoe	Mary Kay

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	All My Children	Waitress	Cameo role
1999	Third Watch	Elaine Elchisak	1 episode: "Patterns" Credited as Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell
2000	Sex and the City	Catherine	1 episode: "Politically Erect"
2001	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Jaina Tobias Jansen	1 episode: Sacrifice""
2002	Without a Trace	Clarissa	1 episode: "Snatch Back"
2005	Stella	Tamara	1 episode: "Meeting Girls"
2006"2007, 2009	Scrubs	Dr. Kim Briggs	Recurring role
2007"2008	Wainy Days	Shelly	3 episodes: "Shelly", "The Date", "Shelly 2"
2007"2008	American Dad!	Becky Arangino Lisa Silver	3 episodes: "The Vacation Goo", "1600 Candles", "Escape from Pearl Bailey"
2008	Comanche Moon	Maggie Tilton	TV mini-series
2009"Present	Modern Family	Sal	2 episodes: "Great Expectations", "Best Man"
2010"2012	30 Rock	Avery Jessup	Recurring role Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (2011-2012)
2012	Family Guy	Pam Fishman	1 episode: "Into Fat Air" Voice only