Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell (born February 10, 1974), known professionally as Elizabeth Banks, is an American actress. Banks had her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy. Since then, she is best known for her roles in the films Definitely, Maybe, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, W., Role Models, Wet Hot American Summer, The Uninvited and the Spider-Man franchise.
On television, Banks currently stars in the recurring role of Avery Jessup on the sitcom 30 Rock, which gained her a nomination for an Emmy Award. Previously, Banks had starred in the recurring role of Dr. Kim Briggs on Scrubs from 2006 to 2009.
Banks was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the eldest of four children of Ann and Mark Mitchell. As a girl, she loved playing baseball and riding horses. She played little league until she broke her leg sliding into third at a game. Looking for something else, she tried the school play. After that, acting became her very passion.
Her father was a factory worker for General Electric and her mother worked in a bank.[3] As a young teenager, she was a contestant on the Nickelodeon game show Finders Keepers. She graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1992 and attended the University of Pennsylvania where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority. Banks graduated magna cum laude in 1996. In 1998, she completed schooling at the American Conservatory Theater and earned an MFA.
Banks changed her name to avoid confusion with actress Elizabeth Mitchell. She debuted in the independent film Surrender Dorothy, as Elizabeth Casey, and quickly gained widespread exposure through the 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, blond, 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 show Stella, and in May 2006, she had a role in the season five finale of the NBC comedy Scrubs as Dr. Kim Briggs, the love interest of J.D. (Zach Braff). The character has 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. The film is based on the true story of bartender Vince Papale. 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 Slither. Despite mildly positive reviews from critics, it grossed only $12 million worldwide, less than half the budget of the film.
In 2007, she played the female lead in the comedy 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 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.
On July 5, 2003, Banks married sportswriter and producer Max Handelman, who had been her boyfriend since she met him on her first day at college, September 6, 1992. She converted to Judaism upon marrying him. She and her husband welcomed their first child, a boy named Felix, via gestational host in March 2011.
