Amanda Bynes Biography

Amanda Laura Bynes (born April 3, 1986) is an American actress. Bynes rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s on the Nickelodeon series All That and The Amanda Show. From 2002 to 2006, she starred on the sitcom What I Like About You on The WB. Bynes has also starred in several films, including What a Girl Wants (2003), She's the Man (2006), Hairspray (2007), Sydney White (2007) and Easy A (2010).

Early life

Bynes was born on April 3, 1986 and raised in Thousand Oaks, California (part of the Greater Los Angeles Area), the youngest of three children of Lynn (née Organ), a dental assistant and office manager, and Rick Bynes, a dentist. Bynes' ancestors immigrated from Ireland, Poland, Russia, and Romania, and her maternal grandparents are from Toronto, Ontario. Her father is Catholic and her mother is Jewish. In 2007, regarding her religious beliefs, Bynes stated: "As far as religion, I was raised both. I learned about both Judaism and Catholicism. My parents said it was up to me to decide [which faith to adhere to] when I grew up. I'm sort of a spiritual person anyway. I haven't decided yet on a religion. I don't know yet exactly what I believe."

Bynes is interested in illustration and fashion design. Bynes has previously had her own fashion line sold nationwide and moved from Los Angeles to New York in order to facilitate her fashion career.

Acting career

In 1993, Bynes attended a comedy camp, and began professionally acting at the age of seven, appearing in a television advertisement for Buncha Crunch candies. During her childhood, she also appeared on stage in versions of Annie, The Secret Garden, The Music Man, and The Sound of Music. Bynes became a regular cast member of Nickelodeon's Figure It Out and All That. She was a regular cast member on All That for seasons three through six. She also starred in her own sketch comedy show, The Amanda Show (1999"2002).

Bynes made her film debut in 2002's modest box office success, Big Fat Liar. Her first leading role was in 2003's What a Girl Wants, co-starring with Colin Firth, Oliver James, and Kelly Preston. From 2002 to 2006, Bynes starred alongside Jennie Garth in The WB Television Network's sitcom What I Like About You. Bynes had voice parts in 2003's Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure and 2005's CGI animated comedy, Robots. She appeared in Arliss as Crystal Dupree. Bynes appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair's July 2003 edition with nine of Hollywood's other young female stars.

Bynes was named one of Teen Peoples "25 Hottest Stars Under 25" in 2006. Later that year, she starred in She's the Man, a comedy based on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Bynes appeared in another romantic comedy, Love Wrecked, which was shot before She's the Man but released after it, showing in cinemas outside of the United States in 2005 and 2006 and debuting in the U.S. on the ABC Family network on January 21, 2007. She also portrayed Penny Pingleton in Hairspray. Bynes next starred in another comedy, Sydney White, released on September 21, 2007. Later that year, Bynes signed a five-year deal with Steve & Barry's to create her own fashion line, Dear, consisting of apparel and accessories. The clothing line launched in stores August 16, 2007. The line was cut short when Steve & Barry's filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008 and went out of business completely in January 2009.

In 2008, Bynes appeared in the Lifetime Television movie Living Proof as the student assistant of Harry Connick, Jr.'s character. Bynes was also originally set to star as Ryden Malby in the 2009 comedy Post Grad, but was replaced by Alexis Bledel.

In June 2009, Bynes inked a two picture deal with Screen Gems. The first of the two movies was the 2010 teen comedy Easy A, starring Emma Stone and Lisa Kudrow, and the second was to have been a starring role. Bynes also planned to reprise her role as Penny Pingleton in the sequel to Hairspray. However, Hairspray 2 was canceled. Bynes was also originally set to star in the comedy Hall Pass but dropped out and was replaced by Alexandra Daddario.

Bynes appeared in lingerie on the cover of the February 2010 issue of Maxim magazine, highlighting her photo spread inside. She stated, "I think every shot ... was sexy" and that the new look is "who I am." That June, Bynes stated that she planned to retire from acting, announcing on her Twitter page, "I don't love acting anymore, so I've stopped doing it." A month later, Bynes had an apparent change of heart and "unretired". At the 2011 MTV Movie Awards, Bynes told People Magazine that she's merely taking "time off." In September 2012, Bynes said that she has once again retired from acting and would instead focus on launching her career as a fashion designer and rapper.

Legal issues

In March 2012, Bynes was stopped and ticketed by police for talking on a cell phone while driving. A month later, she was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after side-swiping a police car in West Hollywood. On September 4, 2012, Bynes was charged for two alleged hit and run incidents, one occurring in April and the other in August. The hit and run charges were dismissed in December 2012 following a financial settlement between Bynes and the victims.

Bynes' driver's license was suspended on September 6, 2012, by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. On September 16, Bynes was cited for driving with a suspended license, and her car was impounded. In May 2013, Bynes pleaded no contest to the charge, and was sentenced to three years probation. the charge for driving under the influence was still pending.

On May 23, 2013, Bynes was arrested at her home in Manhattan for criminal possession of marijuana, attempted tampering with evidence, and reckless endangerment. According to a prosecutor at Bynes' arraignment, police observed Bynes throwing a bong from the window of her 36th-floor apartment. Bynes claimed that the alleged bong was actually a vase. Following her arrest, Bynes underwent a psychiatric evaluation at a hospital before she was processed at the police station. On May 25, Bynes said on Twitter that she had been sexually harassed by the arresting officer: "[He] slapped my vagina. Sexual harassment. Big deal." The police department has denied the accusation.

On July 24, 2013, Bynes was hospitalized under a 5150 mental health evaluation hold after allegedly starting a small fire in the driveway of a stranger's house in Thousand Oaks, California. Bynes fled the scene and was apprehended by authorities shortly thereafter. Bynes' parents filed for conservatorship of their daughter shortly after her hospitalization began. On August 9, Bynes' mother was granted a temporary conservatorship over Bynes' affairs, including her medical care, as well as control over her finances, after the judge agreed that Bynes had a "lack of capacity to give informed consent to medical care." Bynes has also been diagnosed as having schizophrenia.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996"2000	All That	Various roles	Lead role; seasons 3"6
1997"1999	Figure It Out	Panelist	Lead role; seasons 1"4
1998	Blue's Clues	Herself	"Blue's Birthday" (season 2, episode 9)
1999	Arli$$	Crystal Dupree	"Our Past, Our Present, Our Future" (season 4, episode 2)
1999"2002	The Amanda Show	Host / various roles	Lead role
2000	Double Dare 2000	Herself	Along with the cast of The Amanda Show
2000	Crashbox	Pink Robot	Season 1, episode 34
2001	The Drew Carey Show	Sketch player	"Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" Parts 1 & 2 (season 7)
2001	The Nightmare Room	Danielle Warner	"Don't Forget Me" (season 1, episode 1)
2001"2003	Rugrats	Taffy (voice)	Recurring role; 7 episodes
2002"2006	What I Like About You	Holly Tyler	Lead role
2008	Family Guy	Anna	"Long John Peter" (season 6, episode 12)

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Big Fat Liar	Kaylee
2003	Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure	Nellie	Voice; Direct-to-video
2003	What a Girl Wants	Daphne Reynolds
2005	Robots	Piper Pinwheeler	Voice
2005	Love Wrecked	Jenny Taylor
2006	She's the Man	Viola Hastings
2007	Hairspray	Penny Pingleton
2007	Sydney White	Sydney White
2008	Living Proof	Jamie	Lifetime movie
2010	Easy A	Marianne Bryant

Discography

Soundtrack albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions										Sales	Certifications
		US	AUS	AUT	BEL	CAN	FRA	NLD	NZ	SPA	SWI
Hairspray (with Cast of Hairspray)	Released: July 10, 2007 Formats: CD, digital download Label: New Line / Warner Music	2	5	71	48	2	34	61	7	62	46	US: 1,200,000	RIAA: Platinum
""?" denotes releases that didn't chart or weren't released in that country.

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions

Title	Year	Peak chart positions			Album
		US	US Pop	CAN
"You Can't Stop the Beat" (with Cast of Hairspray)	2007	88	57	55	Hairspray
"Without Love" (with Cast of Hairspray)		"?	89	"?
""?" denotes releases that didn't chart or weren't released in that country.

Awards and nominations

Bynes won Blimp awards at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards four years in a row, from 2000 to 2003 for Favorite Television Actress in 2000 for All That, Favorite Television Actress in 2001 to 2003 for The Amanda Show as well as the following year (A Record Tied with Selena Gomez). In 2003 she also received the award for Favorite Movie Actress for Big Fat Liar and won another award in 2004 for Favorite Movie Actress for What a Girl Wants. Bynes was also a part of the Hairspray ensemble win at the 2008 Critics' Choice Awards.

Year	Result	Award	Category	Nominated work
2000		Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Television Actress	All That
			Favorite Television Actress	The Amanda Show
		Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Leading Young Actress
		YoungStar Awards	Best Young Actress/Performance in a Comedy TV Series
2001		Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Television Actress	The Amanda Show
		Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Leading Young Actress
2002		Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Television Actress	The Amanda Show
		Teen Choice Awards	Film: Choice Chemistry	Big Fat Liar
2003		Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress: Comedy	What I Like About You
		Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a Feature Film: Leading Young Actress	Big Fat Liar
		Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Actress
			Favorite Television Actress	The Amanda Show
2004		Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama): Leading Young Actress	What I Like About You
		Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress: Comedy
		Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Actress	What a Girl Wants
2005		Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Television Star	What I Like About You
		Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress: Comedy
2006		Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Star	She's the Man
		Teen Choice Awards	Movies: Choice Liplock
2007		Hollywood Film Festival	Ensemble of the Year	Hairspray
2008		Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Acting Ensemble	Hairspray
		Palm Springs International Film Festival	Ensemble Cast Award
		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2011		MTV Movie Awards	Best Line From a Movie	Easy A