Tony-nominated, Drama Desk award-winning actress Anna Kendrick got her start on the stage before segueing into film with roles in the Todd Graff musical comedy Camp and Spellbound director Jeffrey Blitz's post-Napoleon Dynamite teen misfit comedy Rocket Science. Cast in the latter as the love interest of a stuttering high-school student seeking to steady his voice by joining the debate team, Kendrick charmed viewers with her effervescent radiance before taking the lead as a teen desperately searching for her missing best friend in cinematographer-turned-director Nathan Hope's 2007 thriller Elsewhere. Later that same year, Kendrick could be seen opposite Ben Stiller and Jason Schwartzman in director Todd Louiso's arrested-development comedy The Marc Pease Experience. In 2008 she landed a recurring part in the highly successful Twilight series, but her real breakthrough came in 2009 with her Oscar-nominated turn opposite George Clooney in Up in the Air. In 2010 she appeared in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and a year later she earned strong reviews playing a psychiatrist counseling a young cancer victim in 50/50. In 2012 she was in the ensemble pregnancy comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting, lent her voice to the animated film ParaNorman, and scored a huge hit with the a capella comedy Pitch Perfect.
Anna Kendrick
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Biography by AllMovie
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- Aspired to be an actor from an early age, traveling from Maine to New York for auditions.
- Became the second-youngest Tony nominee ever in 1998, when she was recognized for her performance in a Broadway production of High Society.
- Made her big-screen debut in the 2003 musical comedy Camp.
- Breakthrough film role came with the coming-of-age indie Rocket Science (2007).
- Nearly missed her opportunity to appear in The Twilight Saga when she fell ill during an audition for the part of Bella's best friend, Jessica.
- Appeared in the music video for Ben Folds Five's "Do It Anyway" in 2012, which also featured the Fraggles from Fraggle Rock.
- A song from Pitch Perfect, "Cups (When I'm Gone)," was expanded into a proper single and reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.