Read the whole biography of Elizabeth Banks, including her net worth, age, height, family, parents, husband, children, movies, and other relevant facts.
Introduction
Elizabeth Banks is an actor, director, writer, and producer from the United States. She is best recognized for her roles as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games film series (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 established a new record for a first-time filmmaker. She also starred in the action-comedy Charlie’s Angels, which she directed, wrote, produced, and acted in (2019).
Banks had a recurring role as Avery Jessup on the NBC comedy 30 Rock, for which she was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. She has recurring parts on Scrubs and Modern Family, the latter of which garnered 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.
Early life
Name | Elizabeth Banks |
Net Worth | $52 million |
Profession | Actress, Writer, Director, Producer |
Height | 1.65m |
Age | 47 years |
Elizabeth Banks’ net worth is estimated to reach $1 billion in 2021.
Elizabeth Banks, whose true name is Elizabeth Irene Mitchell, was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on February 10, 1974, at the age of 47. Ann Mitchell, the eldest of Ann and Mark P. Mitchell’s four children, grew up on Brown Street. Her father, a Vietnam War veteran, worked for General Electric as a manufacturing worker, while her mother worked in a bank. She grew up “Irish + WASP + Catholic,” according to her. Banks used to ride horses and play baseball as a kid. She shattered her leg going into third base while playing Little League. She subsequently auditioned for the school play, which was her first acting experience.
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She is a member of the Massachusetts Junior Classical League and a 1992 graduate of Pittsfield High School. She was a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority and was chosen to the Friars Senior Society at the University of Pennsylvania. With a degree in communications and a minor in theatrical arts, she graduated magna cum laude in 1996. She graduated from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California, in 1998 with an MFA in acting.
A Career in Acting
Because there was already an Elizabeth Mitchell on the SAG lists when Banks became serious about acting and joined the Screen Actors Guild, she changed her name to the one we know today. Banks made her on-screen debut in the indie film Surrender Dorothy later that year. A few years later, she scored a minor but memorable role in David Wain’s 2001 film Wet Hot American Summer, which had a cast of many future stars, including Bradley Cooper (she has since reprised her role in two Netflix follow-up series to the film). In 2002, she portrayed Betty Brant in Spider-Man, followed by roles in Seabiscuit and The 40-Year-Old Virgin with Steve Carrell in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
She also worked a lot on television at this time. She had a recurring part on Scrubs as Dr. Kim Briggs for 15 episodes, and her work as Avery Jessup on 30 Rock got her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
Invincible, a sports drama starring Mark Wahlberg, starred Banks in 2006. (the two were nominated for “Best Kiss” at the MTV Movie Awards for their roles in the film). In 2008, Banks starred in Zack and Miri Make a Porno alongside fellow 40-Year-Old Virgin alum Seth Rogen and director Kevin Smith, as well as appearing as Laura Bush in Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic W.
Banks is best known for her humorous roles, however, she did feature in The Uninvited, a remake of the Korean horror film A Tale of Two Sisters, in 2009. In 2012, she landed one of her most well-known parts in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, as Capitol official Effie Trinket, a role she continued to play throughout the film series.
She then got the part of Wyldstyle in The Lego Movie in 2014, a role she returned to in the 2019 sequel. In 2015, she starred in Love & Mercy, a biopic based on the life and career of Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson. Then, in 2017, she appeared in a feature film adaptation of the Power Rangers franchise as the villainous Rita Repulsa.
She starred in The Happytime Murders in 2018 and Brightburn, a superhero/horror mashup the following year. Mrs. America, an FX miniseries starring Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne, premiered in 2020.
Managing a Career
Banks, who has continued to perform in films and television shows, has also found success as a filmmaker since taking over the Pitch Perfect franchise after starring in and directing the first installment. In 2015, she made her film directing debut with Pitch Perfect 2, and in 2017, she directed Pitch Perfect 3. Then, in 2019, she directed Charlie’s Angels, a remake of the 1970s action series’ film franchise. She has two directorial credits before Pitch Perfect 2, a short film called Just A Little Heart Attack in 2011, and a piece in the famed comedic anthology Movie 43 in 2013.
Miscellaneous Projects
Banks has a few video game credits thanks to her roles in the Spider-Man and LEGO movies, as well as a vocal role in The LEGO Movie: 4D – A New Adventure at Legoland in Florida. She’s also participated in a few music videos, including Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” with Cardi B and Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Rey’s “Don’t Call Me Angel” for the 2019 Charlie’s Angels film. In the same year, she made her game show hosting debut on ABC’s Press Your Luck.
Banks is one of the few persons to have starred as herself in both the Muppets and Curb Your Enthusiasm franchises, and she was one among the celebs to sign up for the public service campaign COVID Is No Joke in 2020.
Personal Experiences
Since 2003, she has been married to sportswriter Max Handelman. In 1992, the pair met on her first day of classes at the University of Pennsylvania. Felix and Magnus Mitchell, their two boys, were born to them.
Purchasing Real Estate
According to reports, Elizabeth and Max spent $1.625 million on a property in Studio City, California in 2007. After 13 years, the couple decided to sell their property for $2.4 million in May 2020.
They bought a custom-built gated 1-acre hilltop property in adjacent Sherman Oaks for $6.85 million in 2018.
Brownstone Productions
Brownstone Productions, which Elizabeth and Max co-founded in 2002, is a film production firm. Their studio was the driving force behind the Pitch Perfect film franchise. She made her directorial debut with the second part of the Pitch series, which cost $30 million to film but grossed $300 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing musical comedy of all time at the time of its release.
Breakthrough
With her part in the 2005 comedy picture The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Banks acquired more global recognition. Banks played Cherie, a sultry blonde wannabe nightclub singer, in William Inge’s Bus Stop at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in August 2005. Banks’ character was played “with grace, clarity, and a keen understanding of Cherie’s nuances,” according to Jeffrey Borak.
Her performance is cohesive and artistically in sync with the acts surrounding her.” In 2005, she starred in the series Stella, and in May 2006, she played Dr. Kim Briggs, J.D.’s love interest, in the season five finale of the NBC sitcom Scrubs (Zach Braff). Throughout seasons six, seven, and eight, Banks starred as a recurrent guest star.
Invincible, a 2006 American football drama film starring Mark Wahlberg, featured Banks as Mark Wahlberg’s love interest. She and co-star Mark Wahlberg were later nominated for the MTV Movie Awards’ “Best Kiss” category. She secured a leading part in the comedy-horror flick Slither the following year.
In 2007, Banks starred opposite Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba in the comedy picture Meet Bill as the female protagonist. In the same year, she appeared in the Christmas comedy film Fred Claus, alongside Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti, in a tiny part as Santa’s young helper, Charlyne. She co-starred with Seth Rogen as the titular female protagonist in Kevin Smith’s comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno in 2008, and she played Laura Bush, the first lady of the United States, in Oliver Stone’s biography of George W. Bush, opposite Isla Fisher and Ryan Reynolds.
In 2009, Banks starred in The Uninvited, a horror thriller based on the South Korean classic A Tale of Two Sisters. The story revolved around an overbearing stepmother who made life difficult for her new husband’s teenage kids. Rachel is based on Rebecca De Mornay’s character in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, which Banks adapted for the screen. “It was really essential to me that every line reading I did could be taken two ways,” Banks says of her performance, “so that you can see that when you go back through the movie.”
Banks is a regular co-star of actor Paul Rudd, with whom she has been in five films (Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Role Models, and Our Idiot Brother). She is also a regular co-star of actor Tobey Maguire, with whom she has shared the screen in five films (Spider-Man, Seabiscuit, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and The Details).
In the fourth season of the Emmy Award-winning sitcom 30 Rock, Elizabeth Banks plays a love interest for Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). Banks was supposed to appear in four episodes in 2010, but she ended up making 13 appearances by the fifth season’s finale, including her marriage in the episode “Mrs. Donaghy.” She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in season five at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards.
Banks appeared in the romantic comedy What to Expect When You’re Expecting and the action flick Man on a Ledge both in 2012. She also starred as Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the critically and commercially successful musical comedy film Pitch Perfect. She directed and appeared in distinct pieces of Movie 43, a critically panned comedic anthology film, the following year.
Banks appears as Effie Trinket, a lady from “The Capitol” who leads the District 12 tributes to the yearly Hunger Games, in the science fiction adventure film The Hunger Games (2012). She returned to the character in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015). (2015).
Banks co-starred in the 2014 film Every Secret Thing as Detective Nancy Porter, who was tasked with investigating the disappearance of a small kid who resembled a case she had previously worked on. She also gave the voice of Master Builder Wyldstyle in Warner Bros.’ animated feature The Lego Movie that same year.
Banks was honored by Elle Magazine during The Women in Hollywood Awards in 2014, which honored women for their remarkable achievements in cinema across all sectors of the industry, including acting, directing, and producing.
Debut as a director and sustained success
Banks made her feature directing debut with Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), which she directed after producing and acting in Pitch Perfect. She also co-produced and acted in the sequels Pitch Perfect 2 and Pitch Perfect 3. (2017).
In the 2015 movie Love & Mercy, Banks played Melinda Ledbetter Wilson, Brian Wilson’s wife, based on the life of the singer and founding member of The Beach Boys, as portrayed by John Cusack.
She was selected as a member of the Main Competition Jury at the 2015 Venice Film Festival 2015. Alfonso Cuarón is the festival’s president. Banks also became a spokesperson for Realtor.com in a series of television advertisements in 2015. Banks took over as Old Navy’s advertising face in mid-February 2016. She also starred as Rita Repulsa, a space creature, in the 2017 Power Rangers remake film.
In 2018, Banks played opposite Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph in the comedy film The Happytime Murders as Jenny. In the animated comedy film The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, she resumed her main role as Lucy / Wyldstyle. She later featured in the superhero horror flick Brightburn as Tori Breyer.
Banks was named the host of the summer 2019 reboot of the game show Press Your Luck, which she also executive produces, on May 2, 2019. In November 2019, Banks directed, produced, wrote and appeared as Bosley in the action comedy film Charlie’s Angels. In the FX drama Mrs. America, she played feminist Jill Ruckelshaus in 2020.
Banks was planned to appear in, direct, and produce a new version of The Invisible Woman (1940), based on her own original plot proposal, in November 2019. The relaunch of the female monster will be written by Erin Cressida Wilson, with Max Handelman and Alison Small serving as producer and executive producer, respectively.
Banks were allowed to pick a Universal Pictures film from the Universal Monsters roster in February 2020, and she chose The Invisible Woman. Banks was cast as Ms. Frizzle in a live-action/animated hybrid of The Magic School Bus in June 2020, which she will also produce through her business Brownstone Productions alongside directors and writers Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell.
Politics
Banks was a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, performing with other celebrities at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in a performance of Rachel Platten’s track “Fight Song.” She also considers herself a feminist. Banks asked her Instagram followers to contact VoteRiders for voter ID information and help in September 2020.
Husband
Elizabeth Banks is married to Max Handelman, his longtime boyfriend. On September 7, 1992, she met her husband, Max Handelman, a sportswriter and producer from Portland, Oregon, on her first day of college. In 2003, they tied the knot. The couple has two boys who were born through surrogacy. Banks and her future husband, Max Handelman, founded their own production business, Brownstone Productions, in 2002.
Banks went through the process of converting to Judaism, studying with rabbis, and learning about her husband’s beliefs. In 2013, she stated that she practices Judaism, even though she “did not have my mikveh, so technically I’m not converted,” and that she has “been essentially a Jew for like 15 years,” adding, “Frankly because I’m already doing everything [practicing religious rituals], I feel like I’m as Jewish as I’ll ever be.”
Elizabeth Banks’s net worth is unknown.
What is Elizabeth Banks’ net worth? Elizabeth Banks’ net worth is expected to be about $52 million in 2021. Her film roles and productions provide her with the most of her income. However, in March 2021, it was revealed that Banks will helm the forthcoming thriller Cocaine Bear, which she would co-produce with Brownstone Productions’ Max Handelman, as well as Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Peacock announced in May 2021 that Banks will direct and appear in the forthcoming Peacock TV show Red Queen, which is based on the dystopian novel of the same name.