Elizabeth Banks

Originally from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Banks received her Bachelor's Degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her Graduate Degree at the American Conservatory Theater.

Elizabeth Banks has become one of Hollywood's most sought after and versatile actresses. She has appeared in What to Expect When You're Expecting, Man on a Ledge opposite Sam Worthington and People Like Us opposite Chris Pine and Michelle Pfeiffer.

She can be seen in Walk of Shame, a comedy about a news anchor whose attempt at a dream job promotion is jeopardized by a drunken night out. The film also stars James Marsden and Sarah Wright. She has also lent her voice in The Lego Movie.

Banks worked on Little Accidents opposite Boyd Holbrook. Sara Colangelo wrote and directed the feature adaptation of her 2010 award-winning short film of the same name which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival about a woman whose life spirals downward after a town is left devastated following a mining accident.

She finished the independent film, Love & Mercy directed by Bill Pohland which will take an unconventional look at the life of the celebrated leader of The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, and his legendary battle with mental illness. She also worked on Every Secret Thing directed by Amy Berg and based on the best-selling novel by Laura Lippman. The story follows a detective who looks to unravel a mystery surrounding missing children and the two young women who are prime suspects.

She can be seen in Universal Pictures' Pitch Perfect, which released on September 28, 2012. Banks produced the film with her husband, Max Handelman, through their company, Brownstone Productions. The cast includes Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Rebel Wilson.

In August 2011, she was seen in Our Idiot Brother opposite Paul Rudd, Emily Mortimer and Zooey Deschanel, directed by Jesse Peretz. Our Idiot Brother and The Details premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and were both purchased for distribution by The Weinstein Company.

She also starred opposite Russell Crowe in The Next Three Days, directed by Paul Haggis, in 2010. In 2008, Banks received critical acclaim for her role as 'First Lady Laura Bush' opposite Josh Brolin in Oliver Stone's W. The impressive cast included James Cromwell, Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Burstyn and Jeffrey Wright.  In Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Banks (Miri) and Seth Rogen (Zack) played two broke friends who decide to cure their financial ills by making an X-rated movie.

Banks' additional feature credits include her breakthrough roles in the award Academy Award® winning films Seabiscuit, in which she starred as 'Marcela Howard' opposite Jeff Bridges and Tobey Maguire, and in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can.  She has also appeared in Role Models, Meet Dave, Invincible, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Fred Claus, Sisters, Slither, Heights, The Baxter, The Trade, Ordinary Sinner, The Uninvited, Daltry Calhoun, Sexual Life, John Singleton's Shaft with Samuel L. Jackson and the cult hit Wet Hot American Summer starring Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde Pierce. She also appeared as journalist 'Betty Brant,' a role that director Sam Raimi created for her, in Columbia Pictures' three blockbuster Spider-Man films with Tobey Maguire as the title character.

On the small screen, Banks earned a Primetime Emmy® Award nomination in 2011 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance as 'Avery Jessup' on 30 Rock.  She has also appeared on ABC's Modern Family and in a recurring role as 'Dr. Kim Porter' on NBC's Scrubs. In 2007 she appeared in the CBS mini-series Comanche Moon, Larry McMurtry's prequel to Lonesome Dove.

In addition to producing Pitch Perfect, Banks also produced Disney's 2009 sci-fi thriller The Surrogates starring Bruce Willis. Projects for Brownstone include Tink, a Disney live-action romantic comedy in which Banks stars as the title character of 'Tinkerbell;' Forever 21, a Dreamworks comedy which Banks stars in and produces and Too Far From Home, a Universal film about three astronauts who were stranded on the international space station.

Her extensive theater credits include many roles in American Conservatory Theatre productions, as well as the Guthrie Theater's production of Summer & Smoke directed by David Esbjornson. In 2006 Banks played 'Cherie,' the female lead in William Inge's comedy Bus Stop, as part of the Williamstown Theater Festival.

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