Born in a small town in Western Massachusetts Elizabeth describes herself as having been a “goody two-shoes” a side of her which is hard to see in films like The 40 Year Old Virgin or Zack And Miri Make A Porno.
In 2003 Elizabeth married college sweetheart Max Handleman in a mansion in Beverly Hills. Max and Elizabeth met on her first day at the University of Pennsylvania. Ten years later he proposed unexpectedly saying that after being together for 10 years he owed it to her to be spontaneous. They welcomed son Felix last year via gestational surrogate after years of trying to get pregnant and unsuccessful fertility treatment. The adorable actress compared gestational surrogacy to baking saying, ” we make a ‘baby cake’ and bake it in another woman’s oven.” Two months after Felix arrived home Elizabeth started filming The Hunger Games. Felix is such a nice, normal celebrity baby name, Elizabeth and Max chose it as it means happy and lucky in Latin.
Her movie roles are quite diverse which showcases her acting range. In The 40 Year Old Virgin she plays nymphomaniac who tries seducing Steve Carrell’s character. In W (thats pronounced ‘dubya’) she plays President George W. Bush’s wife , a role which garnered lots of praise for Bank’s performance as Laura Bush, and in The Hunger Games she plays Effie Trinket whose ensemble consisting of a cottoncandy-like wig and pale pink skin makes Banks almost unrecognizable in the film.
Coming from playing Effie Trinket in the widlyly successful film adaptation of book series The Hunger Games, Elizabeth stars in What To Expect When You’re Expecting. In the film she plays Wendy, a baby crazy author and advocate who gets a taste of her own militant mommy advice when pregnancy hormones ravage her own body.
What To Expect When You’re Expecting is due in cinemas 24 May.