Amanda Bynes was born on April 3, 1986 in
Thousand Oaks, California to Lynn and Rick Bynes (dentist and amateur
comedian). She has two older siblings, a sister, Julian and a brother Tommy
(chiropractor).
At a very young age she showed great talent and
began appearing in community theaters in productions of To Kill A
Mockingbird, The Music Man and the Secret Garden. She was in her first
commercial at age seven (for Nestle’s Buncha Crunch candy bar).
She also attended comedy schools such as The
Comedy Store and the Laugh Factory in nearby Los Angeles. In fact, it was
at a Laugh Factory showcase that she was “discovered” by an executive at
Nickelodeon in 1996 and quickly signed to appear on a kids variety show
called All That. She stole the spotlight on the show and continued to
appear on it until 1999 – winning a Kids’ Choice award for each of the four
years.
During this time, she also made a number of
television appearances, such as the Drew Carey Show in 2001 and leant
her voice to the character of Taffy on the animated children’s TV series,
The Rugrats.
In 1999, Nickelodeon gave their big – little
star her own show, The Amanda Show. The show became one of the most
popular on the network. She was nominated for many awards for her talents
on this show, including: the 2000 YoungStar Award for Best Young
Actress/Performance in a Comedy TV Series, 2000 Young Artist Award for Best
Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Leading Young Actress and the Young
Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Leading Young
Actress. She dated actor Taran Killam from about 2001 to 2002.
Amanda made her big screen debut in the 2002
comedy entitled Big Fat Liar with
Frankie Muniz and it showed a wider
audience her range of talents. For this role she was nominated for the Young
Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young
Actress. This same year she was asked to co-star with
Jenny Garth in the
television comedy series, What I Like About You. The show is now on
for its third season. She has been nominated for her role on this show with
the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama)
- Leading Young Actress. [Note: Strange coincidence - Amanda and Jenny both
share the same birthday.]
She received her first leading role in a movie
in 2003 as the Character Daphne Reynolds in What a Girl Wants in
which she goes to England in search of her father. She also leant her voice
in 2003 to the animated movie (for video) Charlotte’s Web 2: Wilbur’s
Great Adventure. Her voiceover experience with Charlotte’s Web 2
helped her in another animated movie, the very successful Robots in
2005.
Amanda takes education very seriously. She
took classes for the Thousand Oaks High School's independent study program
and graduated in 2004 with a straight “A” average.
In 2006 she starred in the comedy
She's The Man, However, she declared that she wanted to
begin appearing in more mature roles. She then, in 2007 appeared in
Lovewrecked, and her first musical, Hairspray, based on the
Broadway hit of the same name. That year she also appeared in
Sydney White, based on the classic movie Snow White.
She launched her own clothing line in 2007
called Dear with the Steve & Barry's clothing line. Although she
signed a five year deal with them, her line was cut when the company went
Chapter 11 in 2008 (and folded completely the following year).
In 2008, she only appeared in one film for the
small screen called Living Proof about the creation of the Herceptin
drug.
She began filming the teen comedy Easy A,
which is due to be released in late 2010, and originally, she was going to
be in Hairspray 2, but the project has been cancelled.
In February, 2010, Bynes decided to undress for
the camera, although not nude, she did appear in lingerie on the cover of
Maxim, as well as for the sexy photo spread within.
On June 19, 2010, Amanda Bynes sent a startling
Twitter about her career - she was retiring. The 24 year old wrote “I
don’t love acting anymore so I’ve stopped doing it,” and ""Being an actress
isn't as fun as it may seem." According to several sources (e.g.,
Star Magazine), a rumor had been circulated that she was recently
fired from her most recent acting project, Hall Pass, because of bad
behavior. However, her publicist quickly and put these rumors to rest that
Amanda had a scheduling conflict, and left on her own accord.
Hobbies and Interests: Pets (she own dogs, cats
and fish); drawing, painting, writing, shopping, watching TV, cooking,
spending time with friends and family
Favorites: Drink = coke; flower = rose;
designer = Narciso Rodriquez; music = no doubt; TV shows = Friends,
Felicity, The Gilmore Girls
Trivia: She needs to wear contact lenses
Biography by Ian Ripley,
PopStarsPlus.com, Sr. Staff Writer
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