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Amanda Peet extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet in February 2008
Born	January 11, 1972 (1972-01-11) (age 37) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1995–present
Spouse(s)	David Benioff (2006–present)

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

After studying with Uta Hagen, Peet began her career in television commercials, and progressed to small roles in television and indie movies. Featured roles in films such as The Whole Nine Yards (2000) brought her recognition and she was named one of People's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World". Her subsequent film roles were more prominent, and included Something's Gotta Give (2003) and Syriana (2005).

Peet married screenwriter David Benioff in 2006.

Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

Life and career

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.²³ She has one older sister, who is a doctor of internal medicine at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, 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. Peet's first role in a widely-released feature film came in 2000, with The Whole Nine Yards with the actress in several partially nude scenes, starring with Bruce Willis , 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 Jason Biggs, Jack Black and Steve Zahn, where she portrayed martial artist Judth. 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 2009, Peet will star as Kate in 2012, a disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich.

Personal life

Peet married screenwriter David Benioff on September 30, 2006 in New York City⁷ 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.

In 2008 Peet volunteered to be a spokeswoman for Every Child By Two (ECBT), a non-profit organization which advocates childhood vaccination. Peet began working with the group after becoming concerned by the "amount of misinformation floating around [about vaccines], particularly in Hollywood."⁹ In an interview with Cookie, Peet stated: "Frankly, I feel that parents who don't vaccinate their children are parasites," referring to the benefit unvaccinated children derive from herd immunity and the concern that dropping vaccination rates may put all children at increased risk of preventable disease.⁹ Peet's comments stirred controversy; in response, she apologized for using the term "parasites", but affirmed her position on the importance and safety of vaccination.¹⁰¹¹

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995	Animal Room	Debbie
1996	One Fine Day	Celia
	She's the One	Molly
	Winterlude
	Virginity
1997	Touch Me	Bridgette
	Grind	Patty
	Sax and Violins
1998	Playing by Heart	Amber
	Southie	Marianne Silva
	Origin of the Species	Julia
1999	Body Shots	Jane Bannister
	Two Ninas	Nina Harris
	Jump	Lisa
	Simply Irresistible	Chris
2000	Takedown	Karen
	Whipped	Mia
	The Whole Nine Yards	Jill
	Isn't She Great	Debbie
2001	Saving Silverman	Judith Fessbeggler
2002	Igby Goes Down	Rachel
	Changing Lanes	Cynthia Delano Banek
	High Crimes	Jackie
2003	Something's Gotta Give	Marin
	Identity	Paris
2004	The Whole Ten Yards	Jill
2005	Syriana	Julia Woodman
	A Lot Like Love	Emily Friehl
	Melinda and Melinda	Susan
2006	Griffin & Phoenix	Sarah Phoenix
2007	The Ex	Sofia Kowalski
	Battle for Terra	Maria (voice)
	Martian Child	Harlee
2008	The X-Files: I Want to Believe	FBI Agent Dakota Whitney
	Five Dollars a Day	Maggie
	What Doesn't Kill You	Stacy Reilly
2009	Please Give	TBA	in post-production
	Important Things With Demetri Martin	Actress
	2012	Kate	in post-production

References

External links

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

Persondata
NAME	Peet, Amanda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American actress
DATE OF BIRTH	November 1, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH	New York City, New York, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH