A native New Yorker who studied with famed acting teacher Uta Hagen as a teen, Peet launched her career in a 1995 off-Broadway revival of
Awake and Sing!. After a brief stint on
One Life to Live she moved to Hollywood. With her strong, perfectly plucked eyebrows and sparkling blue eyes, Peet never lacked for work, appearing in a succession of romantic comedies before landing her breakthrough role as a relationship-challenged twentysomething on the dramedy
Jack & Jill. During her tenure she racked up multiple big-screen credits (her turn in the 2000 comedy
The Whole Nine Yards earned her a bevy of fans). But instead of settling for being eye candy, Peet began tackling challenging supporting roles that made the most of her intelligence, including a junkie in the indie
Igby Goes Down, a hellish bride-to-be in
Saving Silverman and a grieving mother in
Syriana. In 2006 she took time out from her jam-packed schedule to make her Broadway debut in the 2006 revival of
Barefoot in the Park. The production wasn't a success, commercially or critically, but she soon bounced back, landing a flashy part as a TV-network president in Aaron Sorkin's series set behind the scenes of a late-night sketch-comedy show,
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
Amanda Peet Fast Facts:
- Her father, a lawyer, and her mother, a social worker, raised her as a Quaker.
- Became interested in acting at age 3, when she jumped on stage during a play.
- Named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2000.
- Amanda Peet Relationships:
- Brian Van Holt - Ex-significant Other
- Charles Peet - Father
- David Benioff - Husband
- Frances Pen Benioff - Daughter
- Penny Peet - Mother
- College:
- Columbia University, New York, NY (BA in History, 1995)
