Amanda Seyfried

Amanda Michelle Seyfried is an American actress whose work spans teen comedy, film musicals, independent drama, prestige television, and biographical performance. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on 3 December 1985, she began modeling as a child and moved into acting as a teenager. Before her film career took off, she appeared on daytime soap operas including As the World Turns and All My Children, experiences that gave her regular screen practice while she was still in school.

Seyfried's breakthrough came in 2004 with Mean Girls, where she played Karen Smith. The film became a lasting pop-culture comedy, and Seyfried's performance stood out for its light comic timing and guileless delivery. She followed it with a long-running television role as Sarah Henrickson on HBO's Big Love, which allowed her to mature on screen in a more dramatic ensemble setting.

Her first major leading-film success came with Mamma Mia! in 2008. Cast as Sophie Sheridan opposite Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Julie Walters, Seyfried used both her acting and singing background in a musical built around ABBA songs. She reprised the role in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, helping make the two films central titles in her popular image. Around the same period, she broadened her range with Jennifer's Body, Dear John, Chloe, Letters to Juliet, Red Riding Hood, In Time, and Les Misérables.

Seyfried's later career brought increasing critical recognition. In David Fincher's Mank, she played Marion Davies, the actress and companion of William Randolph Hearst, and earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. The performance was widely noted for giving Davies warmth and intelligence beyond the caricature often attached to her in Hollywood history.