25 Things About Lizzy Caplan

Lizzy Caplan has been quietly taking Hollywood on by storm for years. Catch her next film, ‘Save the Date,’ on Friday – and learn everything you need to know about her here!

-Lucia Peters

You may have only recently started recognizing Lizzy Caplan when you see her. She’s quite the chameleon: The free-spirited and somewhat questionable Amy on True Blood? That was Lizzy. The ill-fated Marlena in Cloverfield? That was Lizzy, too. Aron Ralston’s sister Sonja in 127 Hours? Lizzy. Casey Klein on Party Down? Lizzy again. Gena in Bachelorette? You guessed it—Lizzy.

But though she’s just becoming a name to recognize now, she’s steadily been building a career for herself for years. Now, in Save the Date, she takes center stage as a woman who begins to confront her shortcomings after she rejects her boyfriend’s hasty proposal. Lizzy’s performance is already being lauded as the breakout performance of the year. Check out the trailer here:

Save the Date hits cinemas this Friday—and we can’t wait! In honor of the occasion, here’s a crash course in everything you need to know about Lizzy.

1. Elizabeth Anne Caplan was born on June 30, 1982 in Los Angeles. That makes her an even 30 years old.

2. She’s the youngest of three kids. She has both an older sister (Julie) and an older brother (Ben).

3. Lizzy attended Alexander Hamilton High School on L.A.’s Westside, graduating in 2000.

4. While at Hamilton High, she was a student of the school’s prestigious Academy of Music with the goal of becoming a professional pianist.

5. After she lost interest in the piano, she took up drama instead. She subsequently starred in productions of the Kafuman and Hart comedy You Can’t Take It With You and Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

6. Her former classmates include Into the Wild actor Emile Hirsch.

7. Looks like we’ve got another star to add to our list of celebs who have appeared in music videos: Lizzy played the bank teller interest of Jason Mraz’s affections in his video for “You and I Both.”

Read 25 Things About Anna Faris

8. Lizzy may not have had a “big break” in the classic sense, but she definitely made an impression as Janice Ian in 2004’s Mean Girls alongside Lindsay Lohan.

9. Although she had fun making Mean Girls, she made the conscious choice to keep varying up the types of roles she played afterwards. In a 2005 interview, she said of her then-starring role of Marjee Sorelli in the short-lived WB show Related, “She’s just fun. I almost never get to play the one who has the good clothes and lots of boyfriends and is crazy and wild. Mean Girls was fantastic but I want to step it up. I don’t want to be the best friend. I want to be the girl. I loved my part in Mean Girls but I figured I had to change it up completely or I’d get typecast.”

10. One of Lizzy’s favorite TV shows is Saved by the Bell.

11. She’s even got a cat named Lisa Turtle, after Lark Voorhies’ character on the show.

12. Lizzy was raised in a Reform Jewish family…

13. …However, while she loves being Jewish, she’s not, as she puts it, a “Super Jew.” She’s said in the past, “I’m more about the traditional aspects of it rather than the religious at this point, but I plan on raising my kids Jewish.”

Up next: Lizzy on her chameleon-like nature, how she feels about nude scenes, and more!