Biography
One of the "Twilight" franchise's most successful graduates, Anna Kendrick picked up an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in "Up in the Air" (2009) before fronting the musical comedy franchise "Pitch Perfect" (2012). Born in Portland, ME in 1985, Anna Kendrick first caught attention as a 12-year-old in a Broadway production of "High Society," picking up a Tony Award nomination for her performance as Dinah Lord. After appearing in Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music," Kendrick focused her attention towards the big screen, landing the role of nerdy Fritzi Wagner in summer camp dramedy "Camp" (2003). She then took a four-year break from the industry before returning as a high school debater in "Rocket Science" (2007) and bagging the role of Bella's friend Jessica Stanley in the adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's young adult phenomenon "Twilight" (2008), reprising the role in three further installments of the franchise. Before wrapping up on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" (2011), Kendrick had also played the leading lady in teen thriller "Elsewhere" (2009), Jason Schwartzman's love interest in "The Marc Pease Experience" (2009) and the eponymous hero's sister Stacey in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" (2010). Most notably, she had picked up an Oscar nomination for her measured turn as an ambitious corporate downsizer in Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air" (2009). Kendrick went on to appear as a fledgling therapist in cancer dramedy "50/50" (2011), an FBI agent in political thriller "The Company You Keep" (2012) and Jake Gyllenhaal's girlfriend in cop tale "End of Watch" (2012) before lending her voice to cheerleader Courtney in the Academy Award-nominated animation "ParaNorman" (2012). Kendrick proved she could front an entire franchise on her own when she was cast as the Barden Bellas leader Beca Mitchell in "Pitch Perfect" (2012), the hit acappella comedy which spawned two sequels and saw its star grace the US Top 10 with a cover version of Lulu and the Lampshades' "Cups." After appearing opposite Chace Crawford in "What to Expect When You're Expecting" (2012), Kendrick ventured into the indie world with roles in mumblecore favorites "Drinking Buddies" (2013) and "Happy Christmas" (2014), co-starred with Craig Robinson in supernatural comedy "Rapture-Palooza" (2013) and played the suicide victim who haunts Jennifer Aniston in grief-stricken drama "Cake" (2014). Kendrick then got the chance to showcase her singing voice again, firstly as Cinderella in the big screen take version of Sondheim classic "Into the Woods" (2014) and then as struggling actress Cathy Hiatt in two-hander musical "The Last Five Years." Her golden streak continued with supporting roles in comedy horrors "Life After Beth" (2014) and "The Voices" (2015), her third collaboration with Joe Swanberg, "Digging for Fire" (2015), and a co-starring role with Sam Rockwell in hitman caper "Mr. Right" (2015). Kendrick then appeared on the big screen five times in the space of 12 months, showing up opposite Ben Affleck in action thriller "The Accountant" (2016), Miles Teller in the long-delayed post-grad comedy "Get a Job" (2016) and John Krasinski in ensemble dramedy "The Hollars" (2016). She concluded her most prolific year playing against type as a slacker party girl in "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" (2016) and providing the voice of Poppy in "Trolls" (2016), the animated hit whose sequel, "Trolls World Tour" (2020), she would also contribute to. After showing up as wedding guest Eloise in "Table 19" (2017), Kendrick impressed as single mother vlogger Stephanie in camp mystery "A Simple Favor" (2018) and FBI operative Kendra Glack in Chris Morris's absurdist satire "This Day Shall Come" (2019). Kendrick then took a rare detour into television to voice cavewoman Jane in prehistoric animated series "Human Discoveries" (Facebook Watch, 2019-), play Santa Claus' daughter in festive comedy "Noelle" (2019) and take center stage as medical researcher Levenson in sci-fi thriller "Stowaway" (2020).
