Elizabeth Banks

Elizabeth Banks is an actress, director, and producer from the United States. She was born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell on February 10, 1974. She is best recognized as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games film trilogy (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in Pitch Perfect (2012–2017). Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) marked Banks’ directorial debut, with a $69 million opening weekend gross that set a new record for a first-time filmmaker. She also starred in the action-comedy flick Charlie’s Angels, which she directed, wrote, produced, and starred in (2019). Brownstone Productions was formed by Banks and her husband Max Handelman in October 2002.

Surrender Dorothy, a low-budget independent film, marked Banks’ film debut (1998). After that, 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), Man on a Ledge (2012), What to Expect When You’re Expecting (2012), Movie 43 (2013), The Lego Movie (2014) and its 2019 sequel, Love & Mercy (2014), Magic Mike X (2019).

Banks had a recurring role as Avery Jessup on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. In addition, she has recurring parts on Scrubs and Modern Family, the latter of which earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015) and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2015) were both Netflix miniseries starring Banks (2017). She now presents an ABC reboot of the 1980s game show Press Your Luck.