Anna Kendrick

Anna Cooke Kendrick, born August 9, 1985, in Portland, Maine, is an American actress, singer, and film director. Her mother, Janice, works as an accountant, and her father, William, is a history teacher. Kendrick is of English, Irish, and Scottish descent. She began performing in community theater at age six, and her older brother, Michael, born in 1983, is also an actor, having appeared in the drama film Looking for an Echo in 2000. Kendrick attended Deering High School in Portland.

Kendrick launched her professional career at age twelve when she took on a supporting role in the 1998 Broadway musical High Society. The production earned her a Theatre World Award, a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and a nomination at the Drama Desk Awards in the same category. Following her Broadway work, she appeared in a supporting role in the 2003 New York City Opera production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music.

Her film debut came in the 2003 musical comedy Camp, in which she played Fritzi Wagner, earning her a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance. In 2007, she played an ambitious high school debater in Rocket Science, which brought her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female. Kendrick rose to wider prominence in 2008 with the fantasy romance Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's novel, in which she played Jessica Stanley, a friend of protagonist Bella Swan. She reprised that role in the sequels New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn – Part 1, completing her appearances in the franchise by 2011.

Her performance alongside George Clooney in Jason Reitman's Up in the Air in 2009 marked a significant turning point in her career. Critics praised her portrayal of an ambitious college graduate, and the role earned her nominations for Best Supporting Actress from the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and BAFTA Awards. Kendrick has been a member of the Actors' Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2010. Also in 2009, she appeared in the comedy The Marc Pease Experience and took her first leading role in the crime thriller Elsewhere.

In 2010 and 2011, Kendrick appeared in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, playing the sister of the title character, and in the critically acclaimed comedy-drama 50/50, as an inexperienced therapist to a cancer patient played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The year 2012 brought several notable projects, including the stop-motion animated film ParaNorman, the ensemble comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting, Robert Redford's political thriller The Company You Keep, and the crime drama End of Watch. Her most commercially successful film that year was the musical comedy Pitch Perfect, in which she played Beca Mitchell, a rebellious college freshman who joins an a cappella group called the Barden Bellas. The film was a major commercial success and received largely positive critical notices. Also in 2012, Kendrick released the single "Cups" from the film's soundtrack.

In 2013, she appeared in the romantic comedy-drama Drinking Buddies and the fantasy comedy Rapture-Palooza. At the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, she featured in three films: the comedy-drama Happy Christmas, the horror comedy The Voices, and the zombie comedy Life After Beth. Later in 2014, she starred in The Last Five Years, an adaptation of the off-Broadway musical, at the Toronto International Film Festival, and played a supporting role in the comedy-drama Cake at the same festival. That year she also played Cinderella in Rob Marshall's film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, which became a major commercial success. Kendrick hosted Saturday Night Live in 2014 and performed at the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors and the 2015 Academy Awards. In May 2015, she reprised the role of Beca Mitchell in Pitch Perfect 2, which surpassed the box office performance of the first film. She also appeared in Digging for Fire, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

Beginning in 2016, Kendrick voiced the lead role in the animated musical Trolls and continued in that franchise in subsequent installments. That same year, she starred in the action comedy Mr. Right and the thriller The Accountant, and published her memoir, Scrappy Little Nobody. In 2018, she starred in the thriller A Simple Favor, and in 2019 she appeared in the fantasy comedy Noelle. In 2020, she starred in the short-form comedy series Dummy, for which she received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress. She made her directorial debut with the self-starring thriller Woman of the Hour in 2023. Across her career, Kendrick has accumulated nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award.