Elizabeth Banks, Heights/The 40-Year-Old Virgin/The Baxter

Elizabeth Banks may be among the lucky few who can say they will be featured in the entire Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy. Those films undoubtedly transformed this American Conservatory Theater graduate from a classically-trained struggling Hollywood neophyte to a genuine star. But it was as Jeff Bridges' wife in Seabiscuit that the world began to take notice. And in the summer of 2005, Banks was in three movies that demonstrate her range and willingness to take chances. In Heights, Banks is centerstage in a large ensemble as a photographer coming to grips with her fiance and her celebrity diva of a mother (played by Glenn Close). In
The 40-Year-Old Virgin, she returns to studio movies in the hit comedy that sees her seducing the title character played by Steve Carell and, in The Baxter, she reunites with much of the comedy team that gave her first break in the cult hit Wet Hot American Summer.

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