Amanda Seyfried

Amanda Michelle Seyfried (born December 3, 1985) is an American actress.

Amanda Michelle Seyfried was born on December 3, 1985, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Her mother, Ann Seyfried (née Sander) is an occupational therapist, and her father, Jack Seyfried, is a pharmacist.

She is of mostly German descent with smaller amounts of English, Scots-Irish, and Welsh ancestry.

She has an older sister, Jennifer Seyfried, who is a musician in the Philadelphia rock band Love City.

She began acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery in the CBS soap opera As the World Turns (1999–2001) and Joni Stafford in the ABC soap opera All My Children (2003).

From 2000 to 2001 she played the recurring character Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns and, from 2002 to 2003, Joni Stafford on the ABC soap All My Children.

Seyfried attended William Allen High School, a large public school in Allentown, where she graduated in 2003.

She enrolled at Fordham University in New York City in the fall of 2003, but chose not to attend after being offered a leading role in the 2004 film Mean Girls.

While attending William Allen High School in Allentown, Seyfried began modeling.

She appeared in several print ads for clothing companies, including Limited Too with Leighton Meester, and was featured on three covers of the Sweet Valley High novel series.

At age 17 she stopped modeling and started a job as a waitress in a retirement community.

While still a teen, she took vocal lessons, studied opera, trained with a Broadway coach, and began her acting career as an extra in Guiding Light, a daytime television drama.

In 2003, Seyfried auditioned to play Regina George in Mean Girls, but the role eventually went to Rachel McAdams.

While she was initially considered for the lead role of Cady Heron, ultimately played by Lindsay Lohan, the film's producers decided that Seyfried should play Karen Smith, Regina's dim-witted "plastic" friend and sidekick.

The film was a box office success, grossing over $130 million in its theatrical run.

Seyfried's performance in the film earned her, along with Lohan, Lacey Chabert, and McAdams, an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Best On-Screen Team".

Seyfried then auditioned to play the title character on UPN's television series Veronica Mars.

The role eventually went to Kristen Bell, and Seyfried portrayed Veronica's murdered best friend Lilly Kane.

Her character was only shown in flashbacks.

She came to prominence for her feature film debut in the teen comedy Mean Girls (2004), and for her roles as Lilly Kane in the UPN mystery drama series Veronica Mars (2004–2006) and Sarah Henrickson in the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011).

From 2004 to 2006, she made multiple guest appearances on several television series, including House, Justice, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, American Dad! and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

With her role in the HBO drama television series Big Love, Seyfried's profile as an actress grew substantially; the series centered on a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in which Seyfried plays Sarah Henrickson, Bill and Barb's first daughter, who struggles with her family's polygamous faith.

In 2005, she played the lead character Samantha, a role written by director Rodrigo García specifically for her, in one of the nine parts of the film Nine Lives, composed of nine short films with different themes and an ensemble cast.

For her performance, Seyfried, along with the film's other female leads, won the role Best Actress at the Locarno International Film Festival.

That year, she played the supporting character Mouse in the independent film American Gun.

In 2006, she appeared in five episodes of Wildfire as Rebecca and played the lead role Chrissy in the short film Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves, written and directed by Andrea Janakas.

She also contributed in a minor role as Julie Beckley in Alpha Dog.

Big Love premiered in the United States on March 12, 2006.

Seyfried has starred in a number of films, including Mamma Mia! (2008) and its sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018), Jennifer's Body (2009), Dear John (2010), Letters to Juliet (2010), Red Riding Hood (2011), In Time (2011), Les Misérables (2012), A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014), Ted 2 (2015), and First Reformed (2017).

Following Big Love, Seyfried played a supporting role, as Zoe, in the 2008 horror drama film Solstice and co-starred with Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!, a romantic comedy film adaptation of the 1999 musical of the same name.

Mamma Mia!, which was Seyfried's first leading role, was the fifth highest-grossing film of 2008, and, as of February 2021, the 159th highest-grossing film of all time.

Five songs from her musical performance in Mamma Mia! were released on the film's soundtrack.

As part of promotion for both the film and its soundtrack, Seyfried recorded a music video of the song "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)".

In March 2008, Seyfried was cast in the comedy horror film Jennifer's Body as Anita "Needy" Lesnicki, the title character's best friend.

In December 2009, HBO confirmed that Seyfried would return for the show's fourth season, but that it would be her last since she wished to begin concentrating on her film career and other upcoming projects.

The film, which premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and was released to theaters on September 18, 2009, received mixed reviews from critics.

She received critical acclaim and nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Marion Davies in David Fincher's biopic Mank (2020).

For her starring role as Elizabeth Holmes in the Hulu miniseries The Dropout (2022), she won the Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress.

In 2022, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.