Anna Faris.

On November 29, 1976, Karen and Jack Faris welcomed their daughter Anna Kay in Baltimore, Maryland. Karen was a special education teacher, and Jack was a sociologist. She grew up in Edmonds, Washington, with her brother Robert. At age nine, she landed her first paid acting job at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, performing in local plays and readings. Her parents encouraged her to treat childhood productions as serious work, and she eventually produced her own plays with neighborhood children.

Faris made her film debut in the low-budget horror Lovers Lane 2000 before landing her breakout role when Keenen Ivory Wayans cast her as Cindy Campbell in the parody Scary Movie 2000. The film was a box office success, spawning sequels. She transitioned to dramatic roles in Lost in Translation 2003 and Brokeback Mountain 2005, the latter selected for the National Film Registry. Faris also starred in comedies including Just Friends 2005, The House Bunny 2008, and Take Me Home Tonight 2011. On television, she voiced Samantha Sweetwater on Phineas and Ferb and played Erica on Friends, a role recommended by Matthew Perry after he admired her work in Lost in Translation.

Faris married actor Ben Indra in June 2004, but they divorced in February 2008. She then married Chris Pratt in July 2009, with whom she had a son, Jack Daniel Pratt, born August 25, 2012, nine weeks premature. The couple separated in 2017 and divorced in November 2018. In July 2021, she married cinematographer Michael Barrett. Faris and Pratt each had a dead bug collection before meeting and combined them after marriage.

Anna Faris’s performance as Cindy Campbell in the Scary Movie franchise defined parody comedies of the early 2000s. Her comedic timing in The House Bunny and voice work on Phineas and Ferb established her as a versatile comedic actress. In 2025, she served as a celebrity spokeswoman for Walmart. She continues to act and produce.