Elizabeth Banks
Biography
Elizabeth Banks was born Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on February 10, 1974.
As a young child, she was a contestant on the Nickelodeon game show Finders Keepers. She graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1992 and is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (1996). In 1998 she completed schooling at the American Conservatory Theater. In 2003, Banks married Max Handelman, who had been her boyfriend since college. She converted to Judaism upon marrying him. Growing up in her small Berkshires town near the New York State border, Elizabeth rode horses, was nominated to be the local Harvest Queen and generally stayed out of trouble. After graduating from Pittsfield High School in 1992, she moved away from home for the first time to attend college at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1996, she graduated magna cum laude.
Banks is known for her roles in Seabiscuit, Heights, the Spider-Man films (playing the part of Betty Brant), and the cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer. She quickly gained widespread exposure through movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Slither. She also plays Mark Wahlberg's love interest in the Disney movie, Invincible.
In May 2006, she appeared in the season five finale of the NBC sitcom Scrubs as Dr. Kim Briggs, the love interest of J.D. (Zach Braff). The character has appeared throughout season six and seven as a recurring guest star.
In 2005, she also appeared on the show Stella, as she is a long time friend of its creators/stars, the Stella comedy troupe. In 2007, Banks played the female lead in the comedy Meet Bill, alongside Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba. Banks also has a small role in the 2007 family comedy Fred Claus, along with Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti, and played a love interest in the 2008 comedy Definitely, Maybe.
Banks stars with Seth Rogen as the eponymous female lead in the Kevin Smith comedy, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which is scheduled to be released in October 2008. She is filming the thriller The Uninvited, and is in final talks to play United States First Lady Laura Bush in Oliver Stone's biopic on the life of President George W. Bush, W, both of which are scheduled for 2009 release.
Elizabeth Banks was able to break into Hollywood in a few short years. She started acting in commercials in the late 1990s, then quickly started getting guest spots on prominent New York-based TV shows like Third Watch and Sex and the City. In 2003, Elizabeth won a Young Hollywood Award for Most Exciting New Face. She has also had notable parts in movies like Catch Me If You Can (2002) and The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005).
Elizabeth hasn’t had many starring roles, but her fame is still growing. She’s best known to genre fans for her recurring role as Betty Brant in the Spider-Man films and as the slime-drenched Starla Grant in Slither (2006). Her most recognizable role that didn’t involve mutants or monsters was that of Marcela Howard in Seabiscuit (2003).
Elizabeth Banks’ good looks and charm combine to give her instant sex appeal. She may not have the kind of bad-girl persona that could really get your blood pumping, but we know there’s a naughty side to her. Just witness Elizabeth’s memorable performance as one of the girls who nearly deflowers Steve Carell in The 40 Year Old Virgin. She has a magnetism that would trap any man, virgin or not.
But there’s a discouraging fact for those who might otherwise drool at the sight of Elizabeth Banks: The lady’s already taken. In July 2003, she married Max Handelman, her longtime boyfriend whom she began dating in college.
Elizabeth chose to pursue a career as an actress, and next relocated to San Francisco, where she studied at the American Conservatory Theater. Two years later, Elizabeth moved to New York and began taking bit parts in movies like Surrender Dorothy (1998), Shaft (2000), Wet Hot American Summer (2001), and Ordinary Sinner (2001), as well as on TV shows, including Third Watch, Sex and the City and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. During this time, Elizabeth began to be credited as Elizabeth Banks, taking a stage name because there was already an established actress named Elizabeth Mitchell.
elizabeth banks in spider-man
Following a final move to Los Angeles, Elizabeth began to have roles in much bigger projects, even if those roles remained small. She had a brief appearance in Spider-Man (2002) as J. Jonah Jameson’s put-upon secretary, Betty Brant. That same year, she acted alongside Madonna in Guy Ritchie’s Swept Away, and alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can.
2003 marked Elizabeth’s first substantial role in a major film: She played Marcela Howard, Jeff Bridges’ wife, in Seabiscuit. She later appeared as Glenn Close’s daughter in the Merchant-Ivory production Heights (2004). Also in 2004, Elizabeth reprised her Betty Brant role in Spider-Man 2, and was considered to play Invisible Girl in another Marvel comic adaptation, Fantastic Four (2005) -- though the part eventually went to Jessica Alba.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth continued to expand her onscreen credits. In 2005, she had her first starring role in The Baxter, and appeared in other smaller films like Sexual Life, The Sisters and Daltry Calhoun. She also had a memorable role as an oversexed bookseller in the comedy hit The 40 Year Old Virgin.
Elizabeth’s career milestone came in the sci-fi horror flick Slither (2006), in which she played Starla Grant, the ultimate stand-by-your-man wife whose husband is infested by space aliens. Elizabeth has also been cast in Invincible (2006) and The H-Man Cometh (2006), and she will reprise her role in the third installment of the Spider-Man series.
