Elizabeth Banks

Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015), collectively with Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci, Willow Shields, Paula Malcomson, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffery Wright, and Julianne Moore; and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the Pitch Perfect film series (2012–2017), with Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Adam DeVine, Ben Platt, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee, Ester Dean, Hailee Steinfeld, Chrissie Fit, and John Michael Higgins.

Banks made her feature directorial film debut with Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), whose $69 million opening-weekend gross set a record for a first-time director. She also directed, wrote, produced, and co-starred in the action comedy film Charlie’s Angels (2019), with Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska, Djimon Hounsou, Sam Claflin, Noah Centineo, Nat Faxon, and Patrick Stewart. She also directed and appeared in the anthology comedy Movie 43 (2013), with Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Seth MacFarlane, Leslie Bibb, Kate Bosworth, Josh Duhamel, Anna Faris, Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Justin Long, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Chris Pratt, Liev Schreiber, Seann William Scott, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet. She then directed the comedy thriller Cocaine Bear (2023), with Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Kristofer Hivju, Hannah Hoekstra, Aaron Holliday, Margo Martindale, and Ray Liotta.

Banks made her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy (1998), under the name Elizabeth Casey. She used the name Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell for her next two films: Uninvited (2000), with Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero, Eli Wallach, Adam Hann-Byrd; and John Singleton‘s Shaft (2000), with Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa L. Williams, J Wright, Christian Bale, Dan Hedaya, Busta Rhymes, Toni Collette, and Richard Roundtree.

Films in the early 2000s include David Wain’s Wet Hot American Summer (2001), with Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau, Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Zak Orth, Joe Lo Truglio, and A.D. Miles; Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man Trilogy (2002, 2004, 2007), collectively with Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, J.K. Simmons, and Bruce Campbell; Guy Ritchie’s Swept Away (2002), with Madonna, Adriano Giannini, Bruce Greenwood, and Jeanne Tripplehorn; Steven Spielberg‘s Catch Me If You Can (2002), with Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, and Amy Adams; and Gary Ross’s Seabiscuit (2003), with Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Gary Stevens, and William H. Macy.

Films in the mid 2000s include Heights (2005), with James Marsden, Glenn Close, Jesse Bradford, Eric Bogosian, George Segal, and Isabella Rossellini; The Sisters (2005), with Maria Bello, Mary Stuart Masterson, Erika Christensen, Alessandro Nivola, Rip Torn, Eric McCormack, Steven Culp, Tony Goldwyn and Chris O’Donnell: The Baxter with Showalter (who also directed), Michelle Williams, Justin Theroux, and Peter Dinklage; Judd Apatow‘s The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), with Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, and Jane Lynch; James Gunn‘s Slither (2006), with Nathan Fillion, Tania Saulnier, Gregg Henry, and Michael Rooker; Invincible (2006), with Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, and Michael Rispoli; and Fred Claus (2007), with Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates, and Kevin Spacey.

Films in the late 2000s include Definitely, Maybe (2008), with Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Weisz, Abigail Breslin, and Kevin Kline; Meet Bill (2008), with Aaron Eckhart, Logan Lerman, Jessica Alba, and Timothy Olyphant; Lovely, Still (2008), with Martin Landau, Ellen Burstyn, and Adam Scott; Oliver Stone‘s W. (2008), with Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Burstyn, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn, and Richard Dreyfuss; Kevin Smith‘s Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), with Rogen, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes, Traci Lords, Jeff Anderson, Katie Morgan, and Ricky Mabe; Role Models (2008), with Seann William Scott, Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Jane Lynch, and Ken Jeong; and The Uninvited (2009), with Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel, and David Strathairn.

Films in the early 2010s include The Next Three Days (2010), with Russell Crowe, Brian Dennehy, Olivia Wilde, Ty Simpkins, and Liam Neeson; The Details (2010), with Maguire, Dennis Haysbert, Liotta, Kerry Washington, and Laura Linney; Jesse Peretz’s Our Idiot Brother (2011), with Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Steve Coogan, Hugh Dancy, Kathryn Hahn, Rashida Jones, Shirley Knight, T.J. Miller, and Adam Scott; Man on a Ledge (2012), with Sam Worthington, Jamie Bell, Edward Burns, Anthony Mackie, Genesis Rodriguez, and Ed Harris; What to Expect When You’re Expecting (2012), with Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Chace Crawford, Brooklyn Decker, Kendrick, Matthew Morrison, Dennis Quaid, Chris Rock, and Rodrigo Santoro; People Like Us (2012), with People Like Us (2012), with Chris Pine, Wilde, Jon Favreau, Michael Hall D’Addario, and Michelle Pfeiffer; and Little Accidents (2014), with Boyd Holbrook, Chloë Sevigny, and Josh Lucas.

Films in the mid to late 2010s include Every Secret Thing (2015), with Diane Lane, Dakota Fanning, Danielle Macdonald, Nate Parker, and Common; Love & Mercy (2015), with John Cusack, Paul Dano, and Paul Giamatti; Magic Mike XXL (2015), with Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Adam Rodríguez, Gabriel Iglesias, Amber Heard, Donald Glover, Andie MacDowell, and Jada Pinkett Smith; Power Rangers (2017), with Dacre Montgomery, Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Bill Hader, and Bryan Cranston; Brian Henson’s The Happytime Murders (2018), with Melissa McCarthy, Bill Barretta, Joel McHale, Maya Rudolph, and Leslie David Baker; and Brightburn (2019), with David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones, and Meredith Hagner.

Films in the 2020s include Call Jane (2022), with Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina, Kate Mara, Wunmi Mosaku, Cory Michael Smith, Grace Edwards, and John Magaro; The Beanie Bubble (2023), with Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Snook, and Geraldine Viswanathan.

Banks also voiced Wyldsyle/Lucy in the hit animated action comedy The Lego Movie (2014), with Pratt, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman; The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), with most of the previous cast plus Stephanie Beatriz, Tiffany Haddish, and Maya Rudolph; and Migration (2023), with Kumail Nanjiani, Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina, and Danny DeVito.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

Surrender Dorothy (1998) – directed by Kevin DiNovis – credited as Elizabeth Casey
Uninvited (1999) – directed by Carlo Gabriel Nero – credited as Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell
Shaft (2000) – directed by John Singleton – credited as Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell
Wet Hot American Summer (2001) – directed by David Wain
Ordinary Sinner (2001) – directed by John Henry Davis
Spider-Man (2002)* – directed by Sam Raimi
Swept Away (2002) – directed by Guy Ritchie
Catch Me If You Can (2002) – directed by Steven Spielberg
The Trade (2003) – directed by Thomas Halikias
Seabiscuit (2003)* – directed by Gary Ross
Sexual Life (2004) – directed by Ken Kwapis
Spider-Man 2 (2004)* – directed by Sam Raimi
Heights (2005) – directed by Chris Terrio
The Sisters (2005) – directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman
The Baxter (2005) – directed by Michael Showalter
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)* – directed by Judd Apatow
Daltry Calhoun (2005) – directed by Katrina Holden Bronson
Slither (2006) – directed by James Gunn
Invincible (2006) – directed by Ericson Core
Spider-Man 3 (2007)* – directed by Sam Raimi
Meet Bill (2007) – directed by Bernie Goldmann & Melisa Wallack
Fred Claus (2007) – directed by David Dobkin
Comanche Moon (2008) – directed by Simon Wincer – miniseries
Definitely, Maybe (2008)* – directed by Adam Brooks
Meet Dave (2008) – directed by Brian Robbins
Lovely, Still (2008) – directed by Nik Fackler
W. (2008) – directed by Oliver Stone
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)* – directed by Kevin Smith
Role Models (2008)* – directed by David Wain
Big Breaks (2009) – directed by David Krumholtz – short
The Uninvited (2009) – directed by Charles & Thomas Guard
The Next Three Days (2010) – directed by Paul Haggis
Our Idiot Brother (2011) – directed by Jesse Peretz
Just a Little Heart Attack (2011) – also director – short
The Details (2011) – directed by Jacob Aaron Estes
Man on a Ledge (2012) – directed by Asger Leth
The Hunger Games (2012) – directed by Gary Ross
What to Expect When You’re Expecting (2012) – directed by Kirk Jones
People Like Us (2012) – directed by Alex Kurtzman
Pitch Perfect (2012) – directed by Jason Moore – also producer
Movie 43 (2013) – also directed with Steven Brill, Peter Farrelly, Will Graham, Steve Carr, Griffin Dunne, James Duffy, Jonathan van Tulleken, Patrik Forsberg, Brett Ratner, Rusty Cundieff, James Gunn, Bob Odenkirk, Steve Baker, & Damon Escott – anthology
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)* – directed by Francis Lawrence
Face in the Crowd (2013) – directed by Alex Prager – short
Little Accidents (2014) – directed by Sara Colangelo
The Lego Movie (2014) – directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Walk of Shame (2014) – directed by Steven Brill
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) – directed by Francis Lawrence
Every Secret Thing (2015) – directed by Amy J. Berg
Love & Mercy (2015) – directed by Bill Pohlad
Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) – also director, producer
Magic Mike XXL (2015) – directed by Gregory Jacobs
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015) – directed by Francis Lawrence
Uber for Jen (2015) – directed by Oz Rodriguez & Matt Villines – short
Asteroids! (2017) – directed by Eric Darnell – short
Power Rangers (2017)* – directed by Dean Israelite
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017) – directed by Trish Sie – also producer
The Happytime Murders (2018)* – directed by Brian Henson
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)* – directed by Mike Mitchell
Brightburn (2019) – directed by David Yarovesky
Charlie’s Angels (2019) – also director, writer, producer
Call Jane (2022) – directed by Phyllis Nagy
Cocaine Bear (2023)* – director only – also producer
The Beanie Bubble (2023) – directed by Kristin Gore & Damian Kulash Jr.
Migration (2023) – directed by Benjamin Renner & Guylo Homsy
Skincare (202-) – directed by Austin Peters
Signal Hill (202-) – directed by Taylor Hackford
A Mistake (202-) – directed by Christine Jeffs
DreamQuil (202-) – directed by Alex Prager

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