Anna Kendrick Career Summary:
My Oscar Book
Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress whose first starring role was in the 1998 Broadway musical “High Society,”for which she earned Tony Award Nomination for Best Featured Actress.
She made her film debut in the musical comedy Camp (2003) and had a supporting role in The Twilight Saga (2008–2011).
She achieved wider recognition for the comedy-drama Up in the Air (2009), which earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination, and for her starring role in the Pitch Perfect film series (2012–2017).
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 has voiced the lead in the animated musicals of the Trolls film franchise since 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 (2020–2022). She made her directorial debut with the drama Woman of the Hour (2023).
Kendrick sang on soundtracks for some of her films, including the single “Cups” in 2012, and events including the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors, and the 2015 Academy Awards.
Her memoir, Scrappy Little Nobody, was published in 2016.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 older brother, Michael (b. 1983), is an actor and appeared in the drama film Looking for an Echo (2000). She attended Deering High School.
Child Actor
Kendrick started her career at age 12 in supporting role in the 1998 Broadway musical High Society, which earned her Theater World Award and nominations for Featured Actress in Musical at Drama Desk Awards and Tony Awards. 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 nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance.
She played an ambitious high school debater in Rocket Science (2007), earning 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.
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, saying that she “grabs every scene she’s in.”
Up in the Air brought her nominations for several Best Supporting Actress awards, including the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards and BAFTA Awards.
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. 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 has been a member of the Actors’ Branch of the Academy since 2010.
In 2012, Kendrick featured in 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.
Pitch Perfect
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.
In 2013, Kendrick featured in romantic comedy-drama Drinking Buddies, which received mostly positive reviews, as well as the largely panned fantasy comedy Rapture-Palooza.
At the 2014 Sundance Film Fest, Kendrick was featured in 3 films. She played lead 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 limited release 2015.
Kendrick hosted Saturday Night Live in 2014.
At the 2014 Toronto Film Fest, Kendrick appeared in two films.
First, the musical romance The Last Five Years, adaptation of the off-Broadway musical of the same name. While the film received mixed reviews, Kendrick garnered critical acclaim.
She also played supporting role in the comedy-drama Cake. Cake was eventually given wide release in January 2015, while The Last Five Years received limited release in February 2015.
Kendrick played Cinderella in Disney’s Into the Woods (2014), Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of Sondheim’s musical, which became major commercial success and received positive reviews.
Kendrick competed in the first season of Lip Sync Battle against John Krasinski, one of the show’s producers, in episode in April 2015. She first performed “Steal My Girl” by One Direction, in which she jokingly revealed the object of her affection to be Krasinski’s newlywed wife, Emily Blunt.
Kendrick also performed “Booty” by Jennifer Lopez, in which Lopez made surprise appearance at the end of song. The audience declared Kendrick the winner. The episode garnered over 1.75 million U.S. viewers.
Kendrick played supporting role in Digging for Fire, premiering at the 2015 Sundance and received a limited release in August.
In May 2015, she reprised role of Beca Mitchell in Pitch Perfect 2. The film, which followed Mitchell in her senior year of college as the co-president of the Barden Bellas, emerged as box office blockbuster and surpassed the success of first film.
Kendrick starred in the action comedy Mr. Right, which premiered at the 2015 Toronto Fest and was released on April 8, 2016.
She also starred in The Hollars, a comedy-drama directed by and starring Krasinski, which premered at the 2016 Sundance, and was released in August 2016.
She was then seen in the coming-of-age film Get a Job, which received limited release in March 2016 after delays since 2012.
Also in 2016, Kendrick starred in the successful comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, voiced Princess Poppy, the main character of the animated Trolls, and co-starred in the action thriller The Accountant.
Kendrick’s memoir “Scrappy Little Nobody” was published on November 15, 2016.
Kendrick starred in Table 19, which was released March 3, 2017.
She reprised the role of Beca Mitchell in Pitch Perfect 3, released on December 22, 2017. In September 2018, she starred as Stephanie Smothers in the mystery-thriller film A Simple Favor.
In September 2018, Kendrick began appearing in ads across media for Hilton Hotels.
In 2019, Kendrick co-starred in the satirical crime comedy The Day Shall Come, and played the titular character in the Disney+ Christmas comedy Noelle.
Kendrick voiced a character in the Facebook Watch adult animated comedy series Human Discoveries.
In 2019, it was announced that Kendrick would star as state trooper with irreversible hearing loss in Unsound, directed by Bharat Nalluri.
Kendrick reprised her role as Poppy in the 2020 sequel Trolls World Tour. Due to COVID, Universal released it as video on-demand platforms on April 10, 2020.
She starred in the Quibi comedy series Dummy, for which she served as exec producer. She was nominated for Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Actress in Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.
In 2020, Kendrick starred in HBO Max romantic comedy anthology series Love Life, for which she served as an exec producer. She was the lead in Stowaway, a sci-fi thriller released on April 22, 2021. She starred in the films Alice, Darling and Self Reliance.
Kendrick resides in Los Angeles.
Kendrick was raised Episcopalian, but as child she was terrified of passages in Old Testament. She stopped attending church at 14.
She began dating English filmmaker Edgar Wright in 2009, while filming Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. They split up in March 2013. She then dated English cinematographer Ben Richardson in February 2014, after they met during Drinking Buddies.
Kendrick began dating actor Bill Hader in 2020, but by June 2022, they ended relationship.
Her experience in emotionally abusive relationship inspired her performance in Alice, Darling.
