Her time in Seattle led to her first major role in a film entitled Lovers Lane, a low budget teen-slasher pic about a man with a hook who escapes a mental institution and hunts for teenage victims. This proved not to be Faris' only experience with horror films, for just a short time later, she received the call in Los Angeles to audition for Scary Movie. It was with this film that she won her first lead role.
After completing Scary Movie, Faris relocated to Los Angeles and began landing roles in other features such as The Hot Chick (2002) and Brokeback Mountain (2005) as well as three Scary Movie sequels. She's also lent her voice to animated movies, including Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (both 2009).
In 2004, Anna married fellow actor Ben Indra but they divorced four years later. In 2009 she married actor Chris Pratt.Seemingly coming out of nowhere, actress Anna Faris made a name for herself in broad comedies, starting with the horror spoof-within-a-spoof "Scary Movie" (2000) - itself a send-up of other horror parodies like "Scream" (1996) and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997). Faris made an immediate impact, which led to several sequels atop other studio comedies like "The Hot Chick" (2003), though she wisely began to break away, following a surprisingly memorable turn in the acclaimed indie "Lost in Translation" (2003). Her small, but potently comedic performance as a ditzy actress opened the doors to other more varied projects, including the romantic comedy "Just Friends" (2005) and the Oscar-winning drama, "Brokeback Mountain" (2005). But broad comedy remained her bread and butter - though sometimes to her detriment, particularly with her fourth go-round in "Scary Movie 4" (2006). By the time she starred opposite Seth Rogen in the raunchy "Observe and Report" (2009), Faris had established herself as the go-to actress for Hollywood comedies.
Born on Nov. 29, 1976 in Baltimore, MD, Faris was raised by her father, Jack, and her mother, Karen, who encouraged their daughter to act from an early age. When she was nine, Faris made her professional debut in Arthur Miller's "Danger: Memory" at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. She soon followed with performances as Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird," the title character in "Heidi," and Rebecca in "Our Town." While she was attending Edmonds Woodway High School, Faris starred in a frozen yogurt commercial that solidified her standing as a professional actress, even though she endured relentless teasing from her classmates. After graduating from the University of Washington, where she earned her bachelor's in English literature, Faris made her feature debut in "Lover's Lane" (1999). On set, she met future first husband, actor Ben Indra, who she married in 2004, only to divorce four years later. Shortly after her first feature, she had her breakout role as the hapless Cindy Campbell in the Wayans Brothers' horror spoof feature, "Scary Movie" (2000).It was during the filming of "Scary Movie" that Faris decided to dye her blond hair to black in an attempt to make her character look more like Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt from "Scream" (1996) and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997) respectively, the already-self-aware slasher hits that "Scary Movie" parodied. The good-natured, consistently amusing, but often crude spoof became a surprise hit, with much deserved credit going to Faris for her giving performance. She returned the following year for the less appealing sequel, "Scary Movie 2" (2001). Continuing to make a name for herself in broad comedy, Faris was one of the few redeeming qualities in the low-brow Rob Schneider comedy "The Hot Chick" (2002), playing the best friend of a mean-spirited high school girl (Rachel McAdams) who is cursed to occupy the body of a 30-year-old man (Schneider). Following "Scary Movie 3" (2003), in which her character deviated from parodying Neve Campbell to focus on Courteney Cox, Faris surprised many with her brief, but hilarious supporting turn as a vacuous actress who visits her lonely friend (Scarlett Johansson) in Japan in "Lost In Translation" (2003). She later admitted to basing her empty-headed performance on a real-life Hollywood actress, but denied much-circulated rumors that Cameron Diaz was her inspiration.
Hoping to avoid Hollywood "flavor of the month" labels while exploring more challenging and dramatic indie fare, Faris also shrewdly gained mainstream exposure when she was cast in a three-episode stint during the final season of "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004), playing the birth mother of the baby Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) plan to adopt. In the low-budget comedy "Waiting" (2005), Faris played a seductive waitress at a restaurant full of misfits, including two cooks (Luis Guzman and Dane Cook) who do disgusting things to the food, a waiter (Ryan Reynolds) whose only care in life is partying, a dishwasher (Chi McBride) who likes to wax philosophical, and another waiter (Justin Long) who hates his dead-end job. Weeks after the release of "Waiting," she reunited with Reynolds in "Just Friends" (2005) for another brilliantly funny out-there character, playing the spoiled socialite, diva and magazine pin-up girl Samantha James, whom formerly fat Reynolds is charged with turning into a pop-singing sensation just as he is reuniting with the high school best pal (Amy Smart) he has pined for all his life.Faris next had a brief, but scene-stealing turn as an all-too-chatty Southern trophy wife in director Ang Lee's award-winning and much ballyhooed "Brokeback Mountain" (2005). Returning to the well perhaps once too often, she revived the clueless Cindy Campbell for "Scary Movie 4" (2006); this time seeking a career in home healthcare that leads her to a creepy old lady in a creepy old house where she encounters numerous horrors - plane crashes, alien sphincters and Oprah. "Scary Movie 4" snatched the No. 1 spot on an opening weekend with little competition, taking in a whopping $40 million. In "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" (2006), Faris was the beautiful office worker whose budding romance with a lovelorn guy (Luke Wilson) spurs the wrath of his superhero ex-girlfriend (Uma Thurman). In "Smiley Face" (2007), she was a college dropout and aspiring actress whose love of marijuana-laced cupcakes leads to a misadventure of epic proportions. After appearing as herself in a few episodes of "Entourage" (HBO, 2005- ), she starred as a former Playboy Playmate kicked out of the mansion who becomes the house mother at a nerdy sorority in "The House Bunny" (2008). She next starred as the target of a flasher whose protected by a buffoonish mall security guard (Seth Rogen) in the comedy "Observe and Report" (2009).
* Also Credited As:
Anna Kay Faris
* Born:
Anna Kay Faris on November 29, 1976 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
* Job Titles:
Actor
Family
* Brother: Bob Faris.
* Father: Jack Faris.
* Mother: Karen Faris.
Significant Others
* Husband: Ben Indra.
* Husband: Chris Pratt. Announced engagement in January 2009 and married July 9, 2009 in a small ceremony in Bali
Education
* University of Washington, Seattle , Washington, Literature, Bachelors of Arts, B.A.
* Edmonds Woodway High School, Edmonds , Washington
Milestones
* 1999 Cast as Jannelle in the independent horror feature Lover s Lane
* 2000 Breakout role in the Wayan Brothers horror spoof Scary Movie
* 2001 Re-teamed with the original cast for the sequel Scary Movie 2
* 2002 Co-starred in the comedy feature The Hot Chick, which starred Rob Schneider
* 2003 Featured as a dizzy actress in Sofia Coppola s Lost in Translation
* 2003 Returned once again as Cindy Campbell in Scary Movie 3
* 2004 Had a recurring role on the final season of Friends (NBC) as the birth mom Erica
* 2005 Cast in Ang Lee s Brokeback Mountain as the motor mouthed LaShawn Malone
* 2005 Had a supporting role as a pop-diva singer in director Roger Kumble s romantic comedy Just Friends
* 2006 Played Luke Wilson s love interest in the Ivan Reitman comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend
* 2006 Reprised her role as the hapless Cindy Campbell in Scary Movie 4
* 2007 Guest-starred as herself in the fourth season of HBO s Entourage
* 2007 Starred in the comedy Smiley Face with Adam Brody and John Cho
* 2008 Made producing debut with The House Bunny ; also starred as a retired Playboy bunny
* 2009 Co-starred with Seth Rogan in the mall cop comedy, Observe and Report
* 2009 Voiced Sam Sparks in the animated film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
* Performed her first professional performance at the age of nine
* Raised in Seattle, Washington