Elizabeth Banks is an American actress, director, writer and producer. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games film series (2012-2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in Pitch Perfect film series (2012-2017). Banks made her directorial debut with Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), whose $69 million opening-weekend gross set a record for the first time director. She also directed, wrote, produced and starred in the action comedy film Charlie’s Angels (2019).
Banks made her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy (1998). She starred in films 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), The Next Three Days (2010), Man on a Ledge (2012), What to Expect When You’re Expecting (2012), The Lego Movie (2014) and its 2019 sequel, Love & Mercy (2014), Magic Mike XXL (2015), Power Rangers (2017) and Brightburn (2019).
On television, Banks had a recurring role as Avery Jessup on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, which earned her two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. She had recurring roles on the comedy series Scrubs and Modern Family, the latter of which earned her a third Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Banks starred in the Netflix miniseries Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015) and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017). As of 2019, she hosts a revival of the 1980s game show Press Your Luck on ABC.