Elizabeth Banks
Biography
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 Ann (Wallace), who worked in a bank, and Mark P. 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 actress Elizabeth Mitchell.
Her breakthrough role was as Betty Brant, the secretary of the cantankerous newspaper tycoon in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002). She followed up this performance with small roles in other movies: Swept Away (2002), Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002), Seabiscuit (2003) and The 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 to Audrey Hepburn, and Hollywood eventually began to take notice, Banks being cast in the lead in such films as Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) and in Oliver Stone's biopic of George W. Bush, W. (2008), as Laura Bush.
Family
Trivia
Graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996, where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta. Was the first in her family to graduate from college.
Graduated from American Conservatory Theater's Advanced Training Program in 1998.
Enjoys fantasy football as a hobby.
Was considered for the role of Susan Storm/Invisible Girl in Fantastic Four (2005), as was Fernanda Romero.
Wife of Max Handelman. She and her husband work as a production team (Brownstone Productions). They met at the University of Pennsylvania.
College friends with Todd Lieberman.
Oldest of four children in a divided house. (Her mom was for the Boston Red Sox and her dad was for the New York Yankees.).
She went through most of the process of conversion to Judaism when marrying her husband, and said in 2013, "I've been essentially a Jew for like 15 years".
Met President George W. Bush when Seabiscuit (2003) was screened at the White House.
In Oliver Stone's W. (2008), she plays the role of Laura Bush, the president's wife.
Taking a course on flying the trapeze with a girlfriend (2008).
Her father, Mark Mitchell, was a factory worker for General Electric and her mother, Ann Mitchell, worked, until recently, in a bank.
Former Brownie and Girl Scout.
Graduated from Pittsfield (Massachusetts) High School in 1992.
Poltergeist (1982) was the scariest movie she has ever seen. She saw it, with her sister, when she was eleven.
Is a major fan of David Letterman.
Turned down a role in The Crazies (2010) because the role was too similar to her character in Slither (2006), and she didn't want to repeat herself.
Got the role in Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) after Rosario Dawson turned it down.
Bad Santa (2003) is her favorite holiday movie.
Personal Quotes
I really think that we do a disservice to young people in America by not being more open about sex. Abstinence programs do not work. It's a natural, physical thing having sex.
I'm pleased that Hollywood hasn't figured out how to pigeonhole me yet...
I love physical comedy. I love Oscar Wilde, I love [William Shakespeare] comedies, I love improv. I knew I had a knack for it at a certain level, but I came into this business as a classically trained drama student and that was my reputation. When you live in a leading lady's body, which I do, you have to constantly prove that you are funny.
Every once in a while I play a true idiot, and they're really fun to play.
[in 2013, on going through the process of converting to her husband's religion, Judaism] I did not have my mikveh, so technically I'm not converted . . . I've been essentially a Jew for like 15 years . . . I haven't had a Christmas tree in 15 years . . . My kids go to Jewish pre-school, we only celebrate Jewish holidays, I love seder . . . Frankly, because I'm already doing everything [in terms of the religion], I feel like I'm as Jewish as I'm ever going to be.
[on the misogyny she's encountered in the film industry] The first agent I ever met in this industry told me to get a boob job. I was so grateful that I didn't have enough money at the time to follow his advice. I also did not sign with him despite that. [2017]
[after stating that Steven Spielberg never directed a female-led feature] OK, I was wrong. He directed and produced The Color Purple (1985).
