Amanda Peet was born on January 11, 1972 in New York City,
second daughter to Charles, a corporate attorney, and Penny, a social worker. As
a child, she was educated at an all-girls prep school in London, then Amanda
attended Friends Seminary High School in NYC. Her parents divorced in 1990.
Although Amanda majored in History at Columbia University, she a met a professor
who convinced her to audition for acting teacher Uta Hagen, with whom she went
on to study drama for four years after she graduated college in 1994. After
college, she appeared in the off-Broadway revival of Awake and Sing. In
order to support herself while she went on acting auditions, she waited tables
at "City Crab" in NYC and lived off of residual checks she received from having
appeared in a Skittles candy commercial.
In 1995, she got her first big break and appeared as a
guest-star on Law and Order (1990). Later that year, her first movie,
Animal Room (1995) was released. After that, Amanda worked on several
indie films and a few films that went straight to video. In 1998, Amanda was
cast in the WB romantic series Jack & Jill. Finally, in 2000,
she starred in some more major films such as Whipped, then Something's
Gotta Give (2003), and The Whole Nine Yards (2004) in which
she appeared topless. In 2005, look to see Amanda in the following
movies: A Lot Like Love, Syriana, and Safety Glass.
Amanda Peet has been dating Brian Van Holt since 2001, whom she
met while working on an indie film and then starred with in Whipped
(2000).
