Full Name: Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Date of Birth: 28th November 1984
Place of Birth: Rocky Mount, North Carolina

Background
Mary was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the daughter of Betty Lou (née Knight) and James Ronald Winstead. When she was five, her family moved to Sandy, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb. Her interest in performing art also began to emerge with interests in ballet and acting. As a child, Winstead appeared in the Mountain West Ballet's version of The Nutcracker. Hoping to become a ballerina, at the age of eleven, she received the opportunity to study dance in a summer program of the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. There, she studied ballet and jazz dance, but decided to also study acting. Winstead ended up appearing on Broadway during Donny Osmond’s successful run of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She was also a member of the International Children's Choir during her youth and honed her skills performing at her church.

Career - Written by Tiggs, please ask permission before using
These days fans probably know Mary for her recent roles, especially Quentin Tarantino's 'Death Proof', where she played the part of Cheerleader Lee. However Mary has had an acting career since 1997 when she had quest roles in 'Touched by an Angel' and 'Promised Land'. It was this that led on to her first major Television role in the popular American soap 'Passions' which she was in from '99 to 2000 playing the part of Jessica Bennett.

Her entry into the Movie world started out in the Independent Movies but her break came when she took the role of Gwen Grayson in Disney's 'Sky High'. From this she got her role in 'Final Destination 3', although she had wanted to be in the second movie, it turned out this was perhaps fate as the third instalment actually turned out to be the most successful. She needed a little convincing for her role in 'Black Christmas' (alongside Lacey Chabert and Oliver Hudson to name a few), and the movie itself was a flop with both the public and the critics.

It was then in 2007 thanks to Quentin Tarantino that I believe Mary really became known high-profile to the world, when she landed the role in 'Death Proof' part of the 'Grindhouse' double feature that also featured  Rose McGowan and Rosario Dawson. Not only was she a beautiful actress, but it turned out she can also sing. Tarantino asked Mary to sing along to 'Baby it's You' in one of the scenes, and her singing skills where so unexpected and amazing that the whole crew just stopped. Tarantino asked Mary's mother 'Did you know she could sing like that?'

Despite 'Death Proof' failing to produce ticket sales, it did win critical aclaim. It's not however the highest grossingmovie that Mary has been in, that came in Summer of the same year starring alongside Bruce Willis in 'Live Free or Die Hard'. Mary actually took the role of John Mclane's daughter Lucy in the fourth of the 'Die Hard' installments.

Her most recent movie role is in dance movie 'Make it Happen', where Mary plays the role of Lauryn.

Filmography

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2009) (pre-production) .... Ramona V. Flowers
2. Make It Happen (2008) .... Lauryn
3. Live Free or Die Hard (2007) .... Lucy
... aka Die Hard 4.0 (Australia) (UK) (USA: working title)
4. Death Proof (2007) .... Lee
5. Grindhouse (2007) .... Lee (segment "Death Proof")
6. Factory Girl (2006) .... Ingrid Superstar
7. Black Christmas (2006) .... Heather Fitzgerald
8. Bobby (2006) .... Susan Taylor
9. Final Destination 3 (2006) .... Wendy Christensen
10. Sky High (2005) .... Gwen Grayson / Royal Pain
11. Checking Out (2005) .... Lisa Apple
12. The Ring Two (2005) .... Young Evelyn
... aka Samara (Hong Kong: English title) (Singapore: English title)
... aka The Ring 2 (International: English title: alternative spelling) (UK)
... aka Samara: Ring 2 (Philippines: English title: informal title)
13. Monster Island (2004) (TV) .... Maddy
14. "Tru Calling" .... Bridget Elkins (1 episode, 2004)
- Closure (2004) TV episode .... Bridget Elkins
15. Then Came Jones (2003) (TV) .... Rina
16. "Wolf Lake" .... Sophia Donner / ... (10 episodes, 2001-2002)
17. "Passions" .... Jessica Bennett (3 episodes, 1999-2000)
18. The Long Road Home (1999) .... Annie Jacobs
19. "Promised Land" .... Chloe (2 episodes, 1998)
... aka Home of the Brave
- Denver, Welcome Home (1998) TV episode .... Chloe
- Recycled (1998) TV episode .... Chloe
20. "Touched by an Angel" .... Kristy (1 episode, 1997)
- A Delicate Balance (1997) TV episode .... Kristy