Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet, February 2008
Born	January 11, 1972 (1972-01-11) (age 36) New York City, New York
Occupation	Actress
Spouse(s)	David Benioff (2006 – present)

Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American film and television actress.

Biography

Early life

Peet was born in New York City, the daughter of Penny (née Levy), a social worker, and Charles Peet, a corporate lawyer.^[1] The two are now divorced. Her father is a Quaker and her mother is Jewish.^[2][3] She has one older sister, who is a doctor named Alisa Peet. Peet attended Friends Seminary, then studied history at and graduated from Columbia University,^[4] where she auditioned for acting teacher Uta Hagen and decided to become an actress after taking Hagen's class.^[5] During her four-year period of study with Hagen, Peet appeared in the off-Broadway revival of Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing.

Career

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.

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, which, together with the cult film Whipped, helped to elevate 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.

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 alongside Matt Damon and George Clooney, 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.

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 Studio 60, 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.

In 2007's The Ex, a comedy co-starring Zach Braff, Peet played an attorney who stays home to raise a new baby. In 2008, Peet went on to play an FBI agent in The X-Files: I Want to Believe.^[6] In 2008 she was hired by the American Academy of Pediatrics to be an advocate for the "Every Child by Two" vaccination campaign.

Personal life

Peet married screenwriter David Benioff (whom she met on a blind date)^[5] on September 30, 2006 in New York City^[7] and gave birth to a daughter, Frances Pen, on February 20, 2007.^[8] The three live in Manhattan and Los Angeles. She was also maid of honor at Lauren Holly's marriage in 2001 with Francis Greco.

Controversy

As a spokesperson for the "Every Child by Two" vaccination campaign, she has caused some controversy with the statement "Frankly, I feel that parents who don't vaccinate their children are parasites" although she later apologized for using the word "parasite" ^[9]. This was in relation to the controversy that vaccination is one of the causes of autism, though independent studies show no correlation.

Filmography

References

External links

• Amanda Peet at the Internet Movie Database
• Amanda Peet interview for A Lot Like Love