Elizabeth Banks: The bomb-shell next door

Photography Jeff Lipsky

She's The Hunger Games star, Elizabeth Banks - she knows what she wants and has the drive to get it. Buckle up

Elizabeth Banks once hoped she’d become a famous broadcaster. She didn’t, but she has played one on TV – as 30 Rock’s feisty talking head Avery Jessup. All it takes is one conversation with the candid 38-year-old actress to understand why she opted against a career as a perky on-air personality. “I’m not particularly a shiny, happy person,” she confesses. “I’m fairly cynical, and that’s what draws me to comedy.”

It’s one of the many revelations that surface over drinks at the Bowery Hotel in New York City.

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed former sorority girl and model is far more intelligent than Hollywood stereotypes would have you believe. (She did graduate with distinction from the University of Pennsylvania, after all.) She’s full of little conversational asides (“Low-information voters scare the shit out of me!”), loves political theory (“I read The Economist”), and isn’t afraid to speak her mind (“People, you know what’s bad for you when you go to a grocery store – so don’t pick up the candy bar, pick up a banana!”). Yep, Banks makes no bones about what she thinks – and boy, is it refreshing.

SHATTERING THE ACTOR MOULD

Her dynamic personality is just one reason Banks is so, well, bankable in Hollywood. Drive has a lot to do with it too. “I’m grateful for my career, but there’s a level of dissatisfaction that keeps me going,” she explains. Early on, when she was auditioning for comedic roles, Banks’ perfectly aligned features and firm body used to get in her way. She had to prove she had not just the good looks but also the goods.

“I’m always looking out for challenges,” she says. “I’m open to anything.” Her breakout turn as Beth in The 40-Year-Old Virgin was the game changer, and a slew of comedies – Definitely, Maybe and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, among them – followed.

As her profile rose, doors opened up to different genres. She’s just starred as publicity agent Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games, released last month, based on the best-selling novel about government control, war and personal freedom. “Anytime you can work on something that’s really entertaining but also has an intellectual idea at heart, it’s very exciting,” she says. In May, she’ll appear in the big-screen version of the pregnancy bible What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Elizabeth adds, “It was very poignant to do. I felt connected to that movie.”

How to stay happily wed

Banks and her husband tied the knot in 2003, but they’ve been together for 19 years – an eternity by celeb standards. Her secrets:

“Number one, I never check any previous Google searches that my husband did. I don’t want to know those things and, more than that, I don’t want to confirm the things I think I know! It’s good to maintain that mystery and trust.”

“Time apart is fine. As long as you maintain a good balance in your life, it definitely makes the heart grow fonder. And I love being reunited, whether at home or on location. But to be reunited, you have to go away from each other!”

“Don’t embarrass your husband. Unfortunately everything I do embarrasses him. But he’s very accepting. I’m on screen making out with other men! I know I could never be married to an actor.”

YEAH BABY!

= Connected, that is, because in real life, Elizabeth is a new mum. One year ago, she and husband Max welcomed their son, Felix, who was carried by a surrogate. Banks is frank about her decision to use a surrogate after years of unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant. “It helped that other mums had said that once they got their babies, they forgot they were ever pregnant. So once my focus became the baby and not the pregnancy, it was a very easy decision,” she says.

As much as they love parenting, Elizabeth and Max refuse to let it kill their couple time. The pair, who met when she was in her first year at university, still do practically everything together when home in Los Angeles, from running a production company (they’re producing their second movie, a comedy called Pitch Perfect) to working out with a trainer twice a week.

“The couple that trains together, stays together,” she jokes, but then adds in all seriousness, “Working together provides a lot of balance in our life, and it’s a way for us to [see each other], because I travel so much for work.”

Clearly proud of the home life she’s built, Elizabeth says, “I’m a good role model. I have an amazing marriage and it will be long-lasting. I think I’m a good mum. I could run for office, no problem, because there are no skeletons in my closet. Not that I would run for office…”

BORN THIS WAY

The only running Elizabeth is interested in is outside, when she’s in need of exercise. Having grown up skiing, cheerleading and playing softball and baseball (she broke her leg sliding into third base when she was 12), she’s a natural athlete. Her ideal weekend would include a trapeze class, swimming, playing tennis, hiking near her home and going for a long walk on the beach.

When she’s on location, she finds a local trainer to work out with, or she pops on her iPod and does her own yoga stretches or leg lifts. As for food, Banks admits to a few vices, including cupcakes, cheese, pesto, bread and cookie dough. But she usually sticks to whole, unprocessed foods and, for the most part, tries not to snack too much. This isn’t a far stretch for her, since eating well is in her upbringing. Raised in US state Massachusetts by her father, who worked for General Electric, and her mother, who worked at a bank, Banks and her two sisters and brother were brought up on very healthy fare.

“We were a very meat-and-potatoes, old-school Irish Catholic family, surrounded by farmland, so we ate a lot of fresh food,” she explains. She grew up with a garden in her backyard, but the omnivorous actress loves meat and she believes this makes her popular with men.

“I can hang with dudes because I love beef and baseball and driving fast and flirting. I understand where men are coming from, and I’m interested in typically male endeavours,” she confides. With a mischievous grin, she adds: “But I can also wear the short skirt and cheerlead.”