• Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton to star in 'The Thing' - Hollywood Reporter (blog)

  The Film Stage (blog)

  Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton to star in 'The Thing' Hollywood Reporter (blog) Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton will star in "The Thing," Universal's latest take on the shape-shifting alien who terrorizes a group of people in ... Joel Edgerton & Mary Elizabeth Winstead Cast in The ThingFirst Showing (blog) Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton to Star in The Thing/FILM (blog) Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton to star in Matthijs Van Heijningen's ...Collider.com (blog) The Film Stage (blog) -Reel Loop (satire) (blog) all 5 news articles »

• Sam Worthington and Daniel Dae Kim Are a Couple of Dicks - New York Magazine

  New York Magazine

  Sam Worthington and Daniel Dae Kim Are a Couple of Dicks New York Magazine [HR] Thing Gets Two: Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton have joined Universal's Matthijs Van Heijningen?directed remake of The Thing. ... and more »

• [Movies] Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Gets A Date - 411mania.com

  Collider.com (blog)

  [Movies] Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Gets A Date 411mania.com Scott Pilgrim vs. the World stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Aubrey Plaza, Kieran Culkin, Brie Larson, Mae Whitman, ... SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD Gets a Release DateWe Are Movie Geeks Edgar Wright's 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World' Gets An Official Release Date!Icon Vs. Icon 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' Set to Rumble in AugustReel Loop (satire) (blog) Digital Spy -FemaleFirst.co.uk -Access Hollywood all 16 news articles »

• 'The Thing' Remake Gets A Cast - Reel Loop (satire) (blog)

  Reel Loop (satire) (blog)

  'The Thing' Remake Gets A Cast Reel Loop (satire) (blog) The first two bits of casting news have arrived as well: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who you'll probably know best as Lucy McClane from Live Free or Die Hard ...

• CAST THIS: Commander Shepard - JoBlo.com

  JoBlo.com

  CAST THIS: Commander Shepard JoBlo.com Rachel Hurd-Wood (5%) Man, you guys sure love your Mary Elizabeth Winstead don't you? I remember when you cast her as both Betty AND Veronica in one of my ... and more »

• TOP 7 Anticipated Films of 2010 - Scorecard Review

  TOP 7 Anticipated Films of 2010 Scorecard Review Recap: Michael Cera plays Scott Pilgrim, a young man who meets ?that special girl? (played by the underrated Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and must defeat all ...

• Kendrick: 'Scott Pilgrim is awesome' - Digital Spy

  Kendrick: 'Scott Pilgrim is awesome' Digital Spy Scott Pilgrim vs the World also stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jason Schwartzman and Brandon Routh. The film opens in cinemas later this year. and more »

• Scott Pilgrim Battling The Expendables - ReelzChannel.com

  <em>Scott Pilgrim</em> Battling <em>The Expendables</em> ReelzChannel.com The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him.... As Scott gets closer to Ramona, ...

• Edgar Wright Shares 'Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World' With His Pals - MTV.com

  Edgar Wright Shares 'Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World' With His Pals MTV.com ... (Michael Cera) determined to win the heart of a girl named Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) but forced to do battle with her seven ex-boyfriends. ... and more »

• Universal Pushes Back 'Little Fockers' for Matt Damon's 'Adjustment Bureau' - AceShowbiz (blog)

  AceShowbiz (blog)

  Universal Pushes Back 'Little Fockers' for Matt Damon's 'Adjustment Bureau' AceShowbiz (blog) Playing the titular character, Michael Cera will star opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead who takes the role of his love interest. and more »

Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Winstead at the premiere of Grindhouse, Austin, Texas, March 2007
Born	November 28, 1984 (1984-11-28) (age 25) Rocky Mount, North Carolina, United States
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (born November 28, 1984) is an American actress. Winstead has been called a scream queen because of her roles in the horror films The Ring Two, Final Destination 3, Black Christmas and Death Proof. She has also branched out into other genres, including her roles in the blockbuster films Sky High, Bobby, and Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0. Throughout her career, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her work in Passions, and she was part of the cast of Bobby, where she was also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Early life

Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the daughter of Betty Lou (née Knight) and James Ronald Winstead. When she was five, her family moved to Sandy, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb. Her interest in performing art also began to emerge with interests in ballet and acting. As a child, Winstead appeared in the Mountain West Ballet's version of The Nutcracker. Hoping to become a ballerina, at the age of eleven, she received the opportunity to study dance in a summer program of the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. There, she studied ballet and jazz dance, but decided to also study acting. Winstead ended up appearing on Broadway during Donny Osmond’s successful run of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She was also a member of the International Children's Choir during her youth and honed her skills performing at her church.

Career

Winstead began her acting career in the late 1990s, guest starring in episodes of the CBS dramas Touched by an Angel and Promised Land, before being cast as Jessica Bennett in the NBC soap opera Passions, a role she played from 1999 to 2000. She subsequently appeared in the short-lived CBS drama series Wolf Lake (2001-2002), and in the made-for-television film Monster Island (2002). Trying her hand at comedy, she went the independent film route as the Jewish daughter of a large, zany family in the indie feature Checking Out, but her screen time fared better in the more mainstream Walt Disney Pictures confection Sky High, which was both financially and critically successful. She starred as Gwen Grayson, the in-disguise alter ego of the supervillain Royal Pain.

Winstead at the 2006 Comic-Con International, promoting the film Grindhouse.

After the exposure Sky High provided, 2006 saw her forge a professional relationship with the creative team of James Wong and Glen Morgan, formerly best known for their memorable contributions to The X-Files. She and her co-star, Ryan Merriman, landed in the path of the grim reaper’s master plan in Final Destination 3. She had failed to land a part in the second film in the trilogy, but found her place in the third installment, which to this day is the most successful of the trilogy. Morgan and Wong wanted to collaborate with her again and convinced her to appear in their sorority slasher Black Christmas. The film, however, failed with critics and viewers. One day, she inadvertently received a chance to lampoon horror scream queens when The Tonight Show host Jay Leno, unaware of who she was, knocked on her front door and included her in a comedy segment spoofing horror movies. That same year, she appeared in Emilio Estevez's Bobby, a valentine to the politics and morals of Robert F. Kennedy, which drew moderate critical attention, and became a minor box office success. The film's cast included Laurence Fishburne, Anthony Hopkins, Ashton Kutcher, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, and Sharon Stone, but most of her scenes were with Shia LaBeouf and Brian Geraghty. She and her co-stars were nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture.

In 2007, Winstead appeared in a pair of high-profile event films. Quentin Tarantino cast her as a well-intentioned but vapid and naïve actress in his high-speed segment of Grindhouse called Death Proof, his half of a double-billed feature. The film failed to produce ticket sales, but drew critical acclaim. Death Proof is also the second film to feature both Winstead and Kurt Russell. The same summer, hot off the heels of its release, Winstead received another shot at action as Lucy McClane in Live Free or Die Hard co-starring Bruce Willis (who also starred in a segment of Grindhouse, Planet Terror). The film earned over $130 million domestically, making it the highest grossing film that features Winstead.

She has recently screen tested for the role of Wonder Woman in the film adaption of Justice League.¹ She starred in Make It Happen, a dance film. The film went straight to DVD in the US, and gained a small collection in the UK, which eventually led to its financial failure. It was also announced on May 16, 2008, that Winstead would co-star opposite Michael Cera in forthcoming comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.² Filming began in early March³ and wrapped on August 28th, 2009.⁴ On February 2010, Winstead landed the lead role in the prequel to The Thing, which is directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr..⁵

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mary Elizabeth Winstead

• Mary Elizabeth Winstead at the Internet Movie Database
• Maxim Online interview
• Stumped? Interview
• Passions Central interview (October 28, 1999)
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead at Saturday Night Magazine