Biography
Amanda Peet was born on January 11, 1972 in New York. It could
be said that the five-foot-six beauty was destined for showbiz,
when at the age of three she jumped onstage during a play.
Amanda began studying acting more as a hobby than anything else.
It was while she was majoring in history at Columbia University,
that a drama professor convinced her to audition for acting teacher
Uta Hagen, with whom she would later go on to study for a four year
period; during which time, she participated in the off-Broadway
revival of Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing".
Voted one of the 50 most beautiful people in the World in 2000
by People Magazine, Amanda supported herself during the audition
phase of her career by waitressing and with the residual checks
she received from a Skittles candy commercial she had managed to
nab.
In 1990 she was cast in a guest-starring role on the hit series
"NYPD Blue" (1993), playing a kidnap victim who later
falls for her abductor. Her feature film debut came in 1995 in the
movie Animal Room (1995). For a while after, Amanda continued to
find steady work, but also found herself appearing in a depressingly
large number of indie films that were never picked up. She did however,
meet her boyfriend Brian Van Holt on the set of one of those indies;
the movie Whipped (1999).
But it was her turn as the ditsy hit-woman with the heart of gold
in the hit comedy The Whole Nine Yards (2000) opposite Bruce Willis,
that took her from supporting role status to leading lady. |
