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BIOGRAPHY

Amanda Bynes
	BIOGRAPHY | GALLERY | GOSSIP

Amanda Bynes, born April 3, 1986, is an American actress.

Bynes is a comedian and former show host on Nickelodeon. After appearing in several successful television series on Nickelodeon in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bynes has moved into a film career, starring in several successful films aimed at teenage audiences, including her latest, She's the Man.

Thousand Oaks, California to Richard Bynes (a dentist who also practiced stand-up comedy) and Lynn Organ (a dental assistant). Bynes has two older siblings, Tommy, a chiropractor, and Jillian, who has a psychology degree from UCLA. Bynes grew up "half Catholic and half Jewish", and identifies herself as Jewish.

Bynes, who was trained as an actress by Arsenio Hall and Richard Pryor at a comedy camp, started acting at the age of 7, appearing in a television advertisement for Buncha Crunch candies. After taking acting classes, she began her acting career as a regular cast member of the show All That in 1996, and later became the star of The Amanda Show, both on the Nickelodeon channel.

Bynes made her film debut in 2002's mild box office success, Big Fat Liar, where she played opposite Frankie Muniz. Her first solo leading role was in 2003's What a Girl Wants, which also performed fairly at the box office. Subsequently, Bynes starred in the WB Network's sitcom What I Like About You and had a voice part in 2005's CGI animated comedy, Robots.

Bynes came into the public eye during the time period when popular teen actresses Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff became well-known. Although she is often compared with them, Bynes has commented that "It's like being the hot girl at the high school party. I was never that girl. I grew up with terrible acne and feeling insecure. I was tall and skinny. I didn't feel pretty at all, and guys didn't even like me. That's why I got into comedy." Bynes has also said that her relatability to teenage audiences stems from the fact that she is "more similar to them than some... socialite or whatever".

Her newest film is She's the Man, a comedy based on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In the film, which opened in March 2006, Bynes disguises herself as her brother in order to join an elite boarding school. Producers had originally wanted to cast singer Jesse McCartney as Bynes' brother, noting a physical resemblance between McCartney and Bynes disguised as a boy, but McCartney was unavailable.

Bynes has also completed filming on another romantic comedy, Lovewrecked, which was shot before "She's the Man" but will be released after it, at some point in 2006.

Bynes has commented that she wishes to start appearing in more mature roles, and belives that she is still developing her acting skills and maturing as an actress, saying that she is "getting better as I go".