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Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American film and television actress. Despite a Quaker upbringing, actress Amanda Peet has depicted some wildly offbeat and often risque characters throughout her career. Born in New York, NY on January 11, 1972, Peet attended the Friends Seminary until she was 7-years-old, when her family moved to London. Four years later, the family returned to New York where Peet continued her Quaker education before attending Columbia University where she earned a degree in American History. During her college years, however, Peet developed an interest in acting, taking theater coach Uta Hagen’s class junior year. Her four year stay with Hagen prepared the actress for small parts on television and in commercials, as well as an off-Broadway production of Clifford Odets’ “Awake and Sing." A short stint on "One Life to Live” (ABC, 1967-) soon followed, launching her career in earnest. Peet was born in New York City, the daughter of Penny (née Levy), a social worker, and Charles Peet, a corporate lawyer. The two are now divorced. Her father is a Quaker and her mother is Jewish. She has one older sister, who is a doctor. Peet attended Friends Seminary, then studied history at and graduated from Columbia University, where she auditioned for acting teacher Uta Hagen and decided to become an actress after taking Hagen's class. During her four-year period of study with Hagen, Peet appeared in the off-Broadway revival of Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing. Peet continued landing television roles, including a two-episode arc on NBC's "Law & Order" (NBC, 1990- ) in 1995 and an appearance the following year in "The Single Guy" (NBC, 1995-97). Prior to her regular starring turn in The WB's twenty-something romantic comedy series "Jack & Jill" (1999-2001), Peet's best-remembered TV role was likely that of Lanette, one of Jerry's especially demanding girlfriends-of-the-week on a 1997 episode of NBC's monumentally popular sitcom "Seinfeld” (NBC, 1989-1998). That same year, she gave a disarming performance as the hippie-like Julia, a young concerned teacher and temporary guardian of abused child "Ellen Foster" (Jena Malone) in the moving CBS TV-movie adaptation of Kaye Gibbons' novel. Before taking on the role of New York City's somewhat unpolished new arrival Jacqueline 'Jack' Barrett on "Jack & Jill,” she disappeared from the small screen for a time to undertake several film projects. Peet's first screen performance was a television commercial for Skittles. Her early roles included a guest role on the television series Law & Order. She made her film debut in Animal Room (1995). Peet maintained a steady acting career in relatively obscure indie movies. Peet's movie career commenced in 1994 when she filmed a featured role in the independent drama "Grind,” starring Billy Crudup and Adrienne Shelly. The film wouldn't see release until 1997, so film audiences weren't introduced to the actress until her memorable supporting role as Jennifer Aniston's sister in "She's The One" (1996). The following year, Peet took on a featured role in the independent ensemble comedy "1999,” set at a New Year's Eve party, then went on to appear as Donnie Wahlberg's jilted ex-girlfriend in the gritty Boston-set drama "Southie" (1998). She impressed as co-star of the independent "Origin of the Species" (1998), and cut a surprisingly strong and sympathetic figure as an actress and aerobics instructor who is diagnosed with HIV in the formulaic drama "Touch Me" (1998). Peet would next take a small and uncharacteristically malicious role as the bewitched Sean Patrick Flanery's former girlfriend in the 1999 Sarah Michelle Gellar starrer "Simply Irresistible.” Her busy filming schedule from 1998 on led to a spate of late 1999-early 2000 releases featuring the young up and comer. Among them was "Body Shots,” a "Rashomon"-inspired ensemble piece chronicling different takes on a wild night by a group of eight young partiers. While the film was disappointingly executed, Peet's performance as the down-to-earth Jane (again opposite Flanery) made the character especially relatable, and gave audiences a peek at her notable acting capabilities. Her first major role was as "Jack" in the 1999 WB network series Jack & Jill (which aired for two seasons). She also appeared in the eighth-season finale of Seinfeld ("The Summer of George") as a waitress whom Jerry Seinfeld meets. Her character is notable for seemingly dating two men at once: Jerry and her apparent roommate ("dude"), Lyle. Peet's first role in a widely-released feature film came in 2000, with The Whole Nine Yards, elevating her status from supporting actress to lead. That same year, she was voted one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by People magazine. Peet was also in the movie Saving Silverman with Jack Black and Steve Zahn. She also starred in Something's Gotta Give in 2003, playing Diane Keaton's daughter, and, at one point, Jack Nicholson's girlfriend but not lover. Peet continued her upward climb, breaking into higher-profile features, including her turn in the Jacqueline Susann biopic "Isn't She Great?" (2000), starring Bette Midler as the popular novelist and socialite. She also starred opposite Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry as a dental hygienist with mob ties in the comedy "The Whole Nine Yards" (2000)—along complete with a stunning nude scene involving firearms that demonstrated her flair for comic timing. The actress later reprised the role in the unnecessary sequel "The Whole Ten Yards" (2004). Not forsaking smaller independents, Peet acted in the suicide-themed black comedy "Jump,” which premiered at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, then had a starring turn as a Nina, a blonde beauty vying with another captivating Nina (Cara Buono) for the affections of a writer ("Body Shots" co-star Ron Livingston) in the acclaimed 1999 festival-run feature "Two Ninas.” Something of a fixture on the independent film scene, Peet later starred in "Whipped" (2000), playing a woman simultaneously carrying on relationships with three self-absorbed playboys, much to their surprise. The unfunny mega-dud "Saving Silverman" cast her as Jason Biggs' gorgeous but shrewish fiancé who inspires his buddies (Jack Black and Steve Zahn) to go to absurd lengths to break them up. in 2002 Peet snagged secondary parts in a pair of watchable thrillers, "High Crimes" and "Changing Lanes," before getting one of her best roles to date in writer-director Burr Steers' seriocomic "Igby Goes Down," in which she played Rachel, the icily beautiful but troubled young mistress of the distant father (Jeff Goldblum) of teen Igby (Keiran Culkin). She next appeared in the mysterioso hit thriller "Identity" (2003) as one of the group of seemingly unrelated people stranded at a roadside motel who realize they are being killed off one by one. Peet exhibited a tremendous amount of appeal in an underdeveloped supporting role in the romantic comedy "Something's Gotta Give" (2003), playing the pert young girlfriend of an aging Lothario (Jack Nicholson) who against his will finds himself attracted to the free spirit's tightly wound mother (Diane Keaton). Peet had an amusing supporting turn as Will Ferrell's career-obsessed filmmaker wife in writer-director Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda" (2005), and delivered one of her most beguiling and well-etched performances to date in the romantic comedy "A Lot Like Love" (2005), in which she plays an edgy, romantically challenged aspiring actress who finds herself diverted every few years by his encounters with an earnest young man with ambitious plans for his life (Ashton Kutcher) who, though their timing always seems to be off, just might be her soul mate. In 2005, Peet appeared in the play This Is How It Goes, filling in for Marisa Tomei at the last minute after six days of rehearsal. In the same year, she also co-starred in the films Syriana with Matt Damon, and A Lot Like Love, with Ashton Kutcher. In February 2006, she was performing in Neil Simon's Broadway production of Barefoot in the Park. She also had a nicely etched supporting turn in the political potboiler "Syriana" (2005) as the devastated young wife of an oil analyst (Matt Damon) whose family loss leaves him obsessed with helping an oil rich nation being fought over by many political corners. That year Peet also earned strong reviews for her turn in New York's Public Theater production of "This Is How It Goes," Neil Labute's play about an interracial love triangle that she joined just six weeks before opening night. Peet was a member of the cast of the television series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which premiered on NBC on September 18, 2006. She starred with Matthew Perry, with whom she worked in The Whole Nine Yards and The Whole Ten Yards, and Sarah Paulson, with whom she co-starred in Jack & Jill. In the show; Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, Peet's character Jordan McDeere was the newly-appointed president of the National Broadcasting System (NBS). In 2006, she also starred along with Dermot Mulroney in Griffin and Phoenix, where she played a terminally-ill woman living life to the fullest. Meanwhile, Peet started 2006 with a whimper, starring as the oddly adorable newlywed, Corie Bratter, in Neil Simon’s valentine to first wife Joan Baim, “Barefoot in the Park.” Critics admonished the Broadway production for being dated and unfunny, while slapping Peet’s wrists for trying to hard with her performance. Returning to the small screen, Peet joined an ensemble cast for Aaron Sorkin’s highly anticipated, but ultimately disappointing behind-the-scenes look at a late night sketch show, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (NBC, 2006-2007). Peet portrayed incoming network president Jordan McDeere, hired by the brass to save the network, especially the long-running “Saturday Night Live”-like show that has fallen into abject irrelevance. Cool, calm and whip-smart, McDeere’s solution is to rehire two fired producers (Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford) while she does routine battle the network’s authoritarian corporate boss (Steven Weber). “Studio 60” entered the fall season with high expectations, but the hysteria quickly died when audiences began tuning out in droves. Though the show was picked up for a full season, low ratings gave the impression that “Studio 60” might be off the 2007-2008 schedule. Hedging her bets, Peet returned to features to play a high-powered corporate attorney who quits her job to have a baby, forcing her underachieving, but loving husband (Zach Braff) to pick up the slack in the derivative romantic comedy, “The Ex” (2007). Her most recent role was in 2007's The Ex, a comedy co-starring Zach Braff in which Peet plays an attorney who stays home to raise a new baby. She will next co-star with Hilary Duff, Amanda Seyfried and Amber Tamblyn in Safety Glass, a film set around the Space Shuttle Challenger launch; filming will begin this fall. She will also play an FBI agent in 2008's Untitled X-Files Sequel. Peet married screenwriter David Benioff (whom she met on a blind date) on September 30, 2006 in New York City and gave birth to a daughter, Frances Pen, on February 20, 2007. The three live in Manhattan and Los Angeles. |
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