Amanda Bynes

Amanda Laura Bynes (born April 3, 1986) is a former American actress.
== Early life ==
Bynes was born and grew up in Thousand Oaks, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. She is the youngest of three children born to Lynn (née Organ), a dental assistant and office manager, and Rick Bynes, a dentist. Her father is Catholic and is of Irish, Lithuanian, and Polish descent. Her mother is Jewish, born to a Canadian couple whose families were from Poland, Russia, and Romania.
== Career ==
=== 1993–2005: Child acting and breakthrough ===
Bynes began professionally acting at age seven, appearing in a television advertisements for Buncha Crunch candies, Cut and Style Barbie, and Taco Bell. During her childhood, she also appeared on stage in versions of Annie, The Secret Garden, The Music Man, and The Sound of Music. Later she attended a comedy camp at the Los Angeles Laugh Factory, at which she received advice from Richard Pryor and Arsenio Hall. A Nickelodeon producer spotted her at a performance at the Laugh Factory, which prompted the network to cast her on the sketch comedy series All That, where she played various roles from season three to season six. The show brought Bynes considerable recognition, and she won a Kids' Choice Award in 2000. Bynes was also a regular member of the series Figure It Out from 1997 to 1999.
At the age of 13, Bynes starred in the All That spin-off comedy The Amanda Show from 1999 to 2002. She had her breakthrough on the show, earning praise and acclaim. She won four Kids' Choice Awards and received two Young Artist Award nominations. In 2002, Bynes made her feature film debut in Big Fat Liar starring as Kaylee, best friend of co-star Frankie Muniz's character. Although the film had a mixed reception, it was a commercial success, and she won another Kids' Choice Award for her performance. Also in 2002, she landed a starring role in the WB sitcom What I Like About You from 2002 to 2006, co-starring with Jennie Garth. The series garnered positive reviews and Bynes received a number of nominations from the Teen Choice Awards and the Young Artist Awards.
In 2003, Bynes appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair's July 2003 edition. She had a voice role in the direct-to-video film Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure, which was panned by critics. She also had a voice role as Piper Pinwheeler in the 2005 animated film Robots, which was a commercial success. Also in 2005, she starred in the romantic comedy Love Wrecked.
=== 2006–2010: Mainstream stardom and hiatus ===
Bynes was named one of Teen People's "25 Hottest Stars Under 25" in 2006. In 2006, Bynes starred in the teen sports romantic comedy film She's the Man, based on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. She portrays Viola Hastings, a girl who pretends to be her twin brother to play with the boys' soccer team at an elite boarding school after the girls soccer team at her school gets cut. Critic Roger Ebert wrote "Of Amanda Bynes let us say that she is sunny and plucky and somehow finds a way to play her impossible role without clearing her throat more than six or eight times. More importantly, we like her."
In 2007, Bynes starred as Penny Pingleton, a sheltered young girl, in the musical comedy film Hairspray, based on the musical theater adaptation of John Waters' 1988 film. The film was a critical and commercial success premiering in over 3,000 theaters, the largest debut for any musical film. It went on to become Bynes's most successful film at the time, and she and the rest of the cast were acclaimed for their performances. She won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble and received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination in 2008, among others. She was also featured on the Hairspray soundtrack, which went on to get a Grammy nomination. It was announced Bynes would reprise her role in Hairspray 2, but the project was canceled. In August 2007, Bynes teamed up with Steve & Barry's to create her own fashion line called Dear, consisting of apparel and accessories. The line was cut short when Steve & Barry's filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008.
Bynes' next role was in another comedy, Sydney White, released in 2007. The film was a critical and commercial failure, although Bynes' performance was praised. Review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes wrote "Amanda Bynes is charming, but Sydney White is a poorly adapted take on Snow White, relying on tired ethnic stereotypes laughs." In 2008, she appeared in the Lifetime Television movie Living Proof as the student assistant of Harry Connick, Jr.'s character. The film and the cast were praised. Also in 2008, Bynes voiced Anna in the Family Guy episode "Long John Peter".
In 2009, she was set to star in the comedy Post Grad, but she dropped out and was replaced by Alexis Bledel amid rumors that she was having difficulties. In 2010, Bynes co-starred alongside the then-relatively unknown Emma Stone in the comedy Easy A. She starred as Marianne Bryant, the president of a high school Bible study club who becomes the personal nemesis of Stone's character. The film was a critical and commercial success, with Stone and Bynes receiving critical praise for their performances. In the same year, Bynes started shooting the Farrelly Brothers comedy film Hall Pass, but dropped out of the film and was replaced by Alexandra Daddario. In July 2010, Bynes announced an indefinite hiatus from acting.
In 2018, Bynes considered returning to acting, but nothing happened at that time. She was going to reunite with former All That cast members at '90s Con in March 2023, her first public appearance since the end of her conservatorship, but she did not attend. In December 2023, Bynes debuted as the co-host of an interview-style podcast, Amanda Bynes & Paul Sieminski: The Podcast, but she left after one episode to "get [her] manicurist license and have a consistent job".
== Filmography ==
* Big Fat Liar
* Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure
* What a Girl Wants
* Robots
* Love Wrecked
* She's the Man
* Hairspray
* Sydney White
* Easy A
Category:Actresses
Category:American voice actresses
Category:Voice actresses
Category:1986 births
Category:American actresses
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:Jewish American actresses
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent