Anna Kendrick: Actress celebrates her 40th birthday

On August 9, Anna Kendrick celebrates her 40th birthday. She started her career as a child on the theater stage before celebrating great success in Hollywood. Today she is not only an actress, but also an author, producer and director – and also supports charity organizations.

Anna Cooke Kendrick was born on August 9, 1985 in Portland in the US state of Main as the second child of the accountant Janice and the history teacher William Kendrick. Already at the age of ten, she traveled to New York with her two -year -old brother Michael Cooke Kendrick (42), who also works as an actor to take part in auditions. Shortly afterwards she became a member of the theater ensemble “Cabaret’s Kit Kat Club”.

At the age of twelve, Kendrick received her first role in Broadway: in the play “High Society” she embodied the figure of Dinah. She won several awards for her performance and was nominated for Tony Award as the second youngest actress. Numerous other theater roles followed, including “Jane Eyre” and “The Little Princess”.

After successful years at the theater, Anna Kendrick moved to Hollywood. She gained her first camera experience in 2003 in the television film “The Mayor”. In the same year her cinema debut followed in the comedy “Star Camp”, in which she played the role of Fritzi Wagner. Despite further engagements, the great success failed to materialize – until 2008.

This year Kendrick became part of one of the greatest teen phenomena of all time: In “Twilight – to (s) for dawn” she embodied the figure Jessica Stanley alongside Kristen Stewart (35), Taylor Lautner (33) and Robert Pattinson (39). Also in the sequels “New Moon – to (s) at lunchtime”, “Eclipse – to (s) to the evening red” and “Breaking Dawn – to (s) at the end of the night – Part 1” was there.

Years later, Kendrick looked back on filming for the first film with mixed feelings. “I only remember that it was cold and I felt miserable.” The crew had strongly added to the weather in Portland in the US state of Oregon. Kendrick even described the experience as traumatizing: “I thought: ‘You are definitely a great group of people and at another time we would be friends, but at the moment I just want to kill everyone.'”

With “Twilight” Kendrick became known to an audience of millions, but she celebrated her final breakthrough in 2009 in the tragicomedy “Up in the Air”. On the side of George Clooney (64) and Vera Farmiga (52) she played the ambitious Natalie Keener – a performance that brought her nominations for the Oscar and the Golden Globe. In the following years, Kendrick established itself as a varied actress in comedies and dramas.

In the comedy “Pitch Perfect”, Kendrick took on the main role of the rebellious professor daughter Beca Mitchell in 2012 – and not only proved her acting, but also her vocal talent. The “Cup song”, a cover version of the song “When I’m Gone”, made it into the top 10 US billboard charts. The soundtrack for “Pitch Perfect” was the best -selling in the USA. Production played around $ 115 million at the box office – almost 100 million more than it cost it. No wonder that the story about the A-cappella group “The Barden Bellas” with “Pitch Perfect 2” (2015) and “Pitch Perfect 3” (2017) received two successful sequels.

Since the success of “Pitch Perfect”, Anna Kendrick has not only convinced in other film roles – including “The Accountant” (2016) with Ben Affleck (52), “Only a little favor” (2018) and the continuation “Only a little” (2025) with Blake Lively (37) – but also off the canvas. In 2013 she performed as a singer at the donation gala “Christmas in Washington” and sang, among other things, for the then US President Barack Obama (64). A year later she made her debut as a moderator of the US comedy show “Saturday Night Live”. In 2016 Kendrick published her autobiographical book “Scrappy Little Nobody”.

Kendrick was also active behind the camera: she took on the role of the producer several times and celebrated her directorial debut in 2023 with the feature film “Woman of the Hour”. At that time, she donated the income to two charity organizations that support those affected of sexual abuse and violence, as she explained: “It was the least I could do. It was never a project for me that I wanted to make money with.”

In private, the actress was lined up with director Edgar Wright (51) from 2009 to 2013, whom she had met during the filming of “Scott Pilgrim against the rest of the world”. A year after the separation, a relationship followed with cameraman Ben Richardson (49), which lasted from 2014 to 2020. In the same year she came together with actor Bill Hader (47). This partnership was also ended after two years. For several months now, Kendrick is said to be in a relationship with comedian Alex Edelman (36).

Kendrick doesn’t want children, as she wrote in her book in 2016: “Maternity is not for me.” She once criticized the social clichés about the traditional division of roles in parenthood. However, she often feels the urge to express her opinion to friends who are mothers, but hold back so as not to interfere without being asked. “I always want to say something, and then I just think: ‘Well, I’m the childless cat lady. I will not say anything.'”