Anna Kendrick

Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress.

Kendrick was born in Portland, Maine, on August 9, 1985, the daughter of accountant Janice (née Cooke) and history teacher William Kendrick.

She is of English, Irish, and Scottish descent.

Her first starring role was in the 1998 Broadway musical High Society, for which she earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Kendrick started her career at age 12 in a supporting role in the 1998 Broadway musical High Society, which earned her a Theater World Award and nominations for Featured Actress in a Musical at the Drama Desk Awards and Tony Awards.

Her older brother is an actor and appeared in the drama film Looking for an Echo (2000).

She attended Deering High School.

She made her film debut in the musical comedy Camp (2003) and had a supporting role in The Twilight Saga (2008–2011).

She went on to a supporting role in the 2003 New York City Opera production of Stephen Sondheim's musical A Little Night Music.

Her film debut in the musical Camp as nerdy Fritzi Wagner earned her a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance.

She played an ambitious high school debater in Rocket Science (2007), earning an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female.

Kendrick rose to prominence in 2008 for the fantasy romance Twilight, a major box-office hit based on Stephenie Meyer's 2005 novel of the same name; Kendrick played Jessica Stanley, a friend of protagonist Bella Swan.

She achieved wider recognition for the comedy-drama film Up in the Air (2009), which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and for her starring role in the Pitch Perfect film series (2012–2017).

In 2009, she appeared in the comedy The Marc Pease Experience, in her first leading role in the crime thriller Elsewhere, and reprised her Jessica Stanley role in Twilight 's sequel, New Moon.

She then starred alongside George Clooney in director Jason Reitman's Up in the Air (2009).

Critics praised her performance as an ambitious college graduate, calling it "funny and touching" and saying that she "grabs every scene she's in".

It brought her nominations for several Best Supporting Actress awards, including the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards and BAFTA Awards.

She starred in the comedies Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and 50/50 (2011), the crime drama End of Watch (2012), the musicals The Last Five Years (2014) and Into the Woods (2014), the thrillers The Accountant (2016) and A Simple Favor (2018), and the fantasy comedy Noelle (2019).

She voiced the lead role in the animated musicals of the Trolls film franchise.

In 2010, Kendrick again portrayed Jessica Stanley in the Twilight saga's third installment, Eclipse.

Later that year, she appeared in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, as the sister of the title character.

The film did not fare well at the box office, but has since become a cult classic.

Kendrick has been a member of the Actors' Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2010.

In 2011, she appeared in the critically acclaimed comedy-drama 50/50, as an inexperienced therapist to a cancer patient played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Later that year, she made her final appearance as Jessica Stanley in Twilight 's fourth installment, Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011).

Kendrick sang on soundtracks for some of her films, including the single "Cups" in 2012, and at events including the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors, and the 2015 Academy Awards.

In 2012, Kendrick featured as part of the ensemble cast of What to Expect When You're Expecting, loosely based on the pregnancy guide of the same name.

Also that year, she lent her voice to the stop-motion animated film ParaNorman, starred in the commercially successful crime drama End of Watch, and appeared in Robert Redford's political thriller The Company You Keep.

Kendrick's most successful film of 2012 was the musical comedy Pitch Perfect (2012), loosely based on the non-fiction book Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory.

Kendrick played Beca Mitchell, a rebellious college freshman who joins an a cappella group called the Barden Bellas and finds that her more modern approach to music clashes with the traditional approach of the group's leader.

The film emerged as a major commercial success and received mostly positive reviews from critics, who called Kendrick's performance "splendid", saying that she "hits just the right note between pithy and chummy".

In 2013, Kendrick featured in the romantic comedy-drama Drinking Buddies, which received mostly positive reviews from critics, as well as the largely panned fantasy comedy Rapture-Palooza.

At the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014, Kendrick was featured in three films.

She played leading roles in the comedy-drama Happy Christmas and the horror comedy The Voices, which both received generally favorable reviews from critics, as well as a supporting role in the zombie comedy Life After Beth.

Both Happy Christmas and Life After Beth received limited releases later in 2014, while The Voices was given a limited release in early 2015.

Kendrick hosted Saturday Night Live in 2014.

At the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2014, Kendrick was featured in two films.

Her memoir, Scrappy Little Nobody, was published in 2016.

She starred in the short form comedy series Dummy (2020), for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series, and in the romantic comedy series Love Life (2021–2022).

She made her directorial debut with the drama Woman of the Hour (2023).