Mary Elizabeth Winstead Biography (2)

2005 was quite a year for actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead and 2006 is looking even better. 2005 saw Mary Elizabeth with her first lead role, starring in the hit Disney film Sky High as a high school student with both superpowers and a secret. She also appeared on the big screen as a young Sissy Spacek in the hit film The Ring Two and in Checking Out, opposite Peter Falk and Laura San Giacomo. She has just finished filming a lead role in Bobby for writer/director Emilio Estevez, joining an all-star cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, William H. Macy and Sharon Stone. Winstead will soon start work on a lead role in Dimension's Black Christmas, a remake of the 1974 horror film about a serial killer who terrorizes a sorority over Christmas break This film will reunite her with some of the creative team from FD3. As soon as she finishes that film she will begin work on the female lead in Love at First Song, a film for writer/director Randall Wallace.

Winstead made her television debut with a guest role on the popular CBS series Touched by an Angel. She followed up that part with a recurring role on another CBS drama, Promised Land, and then landed her first starring role on the NBC daytime drama Passions. That role netted her nominations for a Hollywood Reporter Young Star Award and also a Young Artist Award. Some of her other credits include a starring role on the CBS drama series Wolf Lake, and starring in the MTV original film Monster Island.

Originally from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Winstead is a cousin of the legendary Ava Gardner. Throughout her childhood she had a fondness for the performing arts and studied several types of formal dance including ballet, tap and jazz followed by voice and acting lessons. Her theatre credits include The Nutcracker and the Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Donny Osmond.

Winstead resides mostly in Los Angeles but often takes trips to her home in North Carolina and travels to various other cities and countries for her work. Despite her busy schedule, she is still finding time for higher education, taking college courses over the computer.

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