By So in the name of work, Digital Spy scoured the internet for all things Kendrick-related, and the end result is a compilation of various facts about the 5'2" actress that you may not have previously known. And yes, one is 'Cups'-related.
1. Anna Kendrick was born in Portland, Maine on August 9, 1985. Her mother is an insurance accountant, her father was a history teacher before moving to finance as well, and her older brother Michael once appeared in a 2000 independent film named Looking for an Echo. The family has English, Irish and Scottish ancestry.
2. What were you doing at the age of 12? For Kendrick, she was starring in Broadway musical High Society and impressed so much that she bagged a Tony Award nomination, becoming the second-youngest nominee ever at the time. But despite the achievement, she was never one to brag. "Anna was a very modest young woman," her school's drama teacher told Boston Common. "Some kids who achieve will try to lord it over others. But Anna, who walked in with a Broadway show and commercials, never talked about it."
There aren't any clips of High Society on YouTube, but we did find this gem from around the same time. Adorable.
3. You might remember Kendrick as Bella's friend Jessica in the Twilight series, but it was indie Sundance hit Rocket Science (2007) that effectively launched her career (and it's a great film as well - only a few quid on DVD today). Her performance as Ginny Ryerson drew the attention of directors Jason Reitman and Edgar Wright, who ended up casting her in Up in the Air and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World respectively. She went on to earn a deserved Oscar nod for Up in the Air.
But while she has nothing but good things to say about the Kristen Stewart vampire franchise ("I'm tired of hearing people rag on the fans. If you don't like Twilight, don't buy a ticket."), her Up in the Air co-star George Clooney couldn't resist a joke or two at her expense. Kendrick recalled to EW: "He actually teased me about Twilight a lot, because I was shooting New Moon at the same time. When I came back from shooting pieces of New Moon, he'd treat me like a traitor."
What to Read Next
4. One time, she made Barack Obama split his sides - you know, just the President of the United States. "The coolest three seconds of my life," Kendrick tweeted. We're not sure what the killer joke was, but the pictures (from 2012) are brilliant. They're probably BFFs now, right?
5. The Pitch Perfect star is a self-confessed Redditor. In fact, that's how she ended up learning the song and choreography behind the Cup Song, aka 'You're Gonna Miss Me'. She quipped to SheKnows: "I am a huge loser and I decided to devote a whole afternoon of my life to learning how to do the thing with the cups."
The song became an even bigger phenomenon when Pitch Perfect came out. Eventually, 'Cups (When I'm Gone)' was released as a single and peaked at number six in the Billboard Top 100. We had Kendrick's music video on repeat for an evening one day to practice the song. Because we're huge losers.
6. Not content with just having a top ten single, Kendrick joined Korean pop supergroup f(x) in a Funny or Die comedy sketch. Because everything in this video is clearly 100% factually accurate, Kendrick can now speak and sing Korean and is a StarCraft pro. Also, the sketch is amazing:
7. Pow. Pow pow pow pow. Pow pow pow pow. In 2010, Kendrick appeared in a LCD Soundsystem music video for 'Pow Pow' (see below), the band's first single from the top-notch album This Is Happening. She also featured in the video for Ben Folds Five's 'Do It Anyway' alongside Rob Corddry (Hot Tub Time Machine) and stand-up comedian Chris Hardwick.
8. Kendrick is without a doubt one of the best celebrities to follow on Twitter (sample: "Sometimes the only reason I leave my house is so when someone asks about my day I don't have to say 'Netflix and avoiding responsibilities'"). Earlier this year, she even tweeted a picture of herself eating a fast food burger at a fancy Oscar party. Basically, she comes across as really relatable and down-to-earth while being hilarious at the same time. We want to be BFFs with her. Badly.
Kendrick's most popular tweet remains the one about masturbating to Ryan Gosling in a cinema, but it's not one of her favourites. "It wasn't even that funny!", she told Elle. "I attempt to make jokes on Twitter, and sometimes what I think is going to be really funny - nobody likes it. Nobody responds to it. But apparently, I use the word 'vagina' and people go crazy."
Ugh - NEVER going to a Ryan Gosling movie in a theater again. Apparently masturbating in the back row is still considered "inappropriate"
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) January 14, 2013
9. She used to have a hot dog named after her. The Anna Kendrick - formerly known as the Keira Knightley, the Jennifer Garner and the Britney Spears - was a "mighty hot" menu item at an eatery in Chicago named Hot Doug's. Kendrick went one further than her predecessors by eating the thing. "Just had a hot dog called the 'Anna Kendrick'," she tweeted. "My mouth is still burning. Awesome awesome awesome!!" Why Hot Doug's renamed the item (it now goes by the Malin Akerman), we don't know.
That's fine, though, because screw hot dogs. Tacos are the hot thing right now - so hot that Kendrick is a self-confessed addict of American restaurant Taco Bell (skip to 1:40):
10. So we've established with the previous nine tidbits that Kendrick is awesome and we love her. She also loves beer (especially "every single Belgian-style beer", she told GQ) and is close buddies with Parks and Recreation star Aubrey Plaza (one time, they took a spontaneous trip to Mexico). But believe it or not, she hasn't been hit on by anyone since Up in the Air in 2009.
"Honest to god," Kendrick told Elle in the publication's July 2014 issue. How is that possible?
