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Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead at the Comic Con in San Diego, July 2006
Born	November 28, 1984 (age 22) Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Notable roles	Final Destination 3 (2006) Sky High (2005) Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (born November 28, 1984) is an American actress who is most famous for her Hollywood film performances of Final Destination 3 (2006), Disney's Sky High (2005) and the upcoming Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 2 Selected filmography 3 External links

Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina to James Ronald Winstead and Betty Lou Knight; she has four older siblings (three sisters and a brother) and is a distant cousin of actress Ava Gardner. She grew up in North Carolina and Salt Lake City, Utah. Wanting to be a ballerina from a young age, Winstead attended the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City at age 11, and began taking acting classes shortly after.

Winstead began acting in the late 1990s, appearing in episodes of the television series Touched by an Angel and Promised Land, before being cast as Jessica Bennett in the 1999 soap opera, Passions, a role she played until 2000. She subsequently appeared in the short-lived series, Wolf Lake, and in the made-for-television film, Monster Island.

In 2005, Winstead was part of a large ensemble of teen actors in the commercially successful Disney film, Sky High. In the same year, she appeared in the independent film, Checking Out, playing one of the members of a dysfunctional Jewish family; the film has yet to be released. Her next film, Final Destination 3, was a horror sequel that was released in February 2006 to strong box office grossing nearly 160,000,000 worldwide(Winstead had previously auditioned for Final Destination 2); her co-star in the film was actor Ryan Merriman, who had appeared in the Ring Two, a film in which Winstead had a minor role which was cut from the finished film.

Winstead became quite famous after that. She was given one of the leading roles in Black Christmas, a remake of the 1974 horror film of the same name. Winstead turned it down because she didn't want to be a typecast. The director later convinced her to play "Heather Lee" a supporting role. She also plays a role in Emilio Estevez's all-star cast Bobby, which co-stars Sharon Stone, Helen Hunt, Anthony Hopkins, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Nick Cannon, Elijah Wood, Joshua Jackson, Heather Graham, Shia LaBeouf and many more, for which she received SAG nomination for Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture.

Other upcoming projects include Grindhouse where she plays Lee and is reunited with Kurt Russell. A Maxim interview with Mary about her role in the movie can be seen here along with a photo shoot. She has also recently wrapped up the shooting of Live Free or Die Hard where she will play "Lucy McClane" daughter of John McClane played by Bruce Willis. The film is going to be released on July 4, 2007

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Live Free or Die Hard	Lucy McClane	Lead Role
	Grindhouse	Lee	Lead Role
	Factory Girl	Ingrid Superstar	Small Role/Cameo
2006	Black Christmas	Heather Lee	Supporting Lead Role
	Bobby	Susan Taylor	Supporting Lead Role
	Final Destination 3	Wendy Christensen	Lead Role
2005	Checking Out	Lisa Apple	Small Supporting Role
	Sky High	Gwen Grayson	Supporting Lead Role
	The Ring Two	Young Evelyn	Minor Role - was cut from the finished film

• MaryEWinstead.com- Fansite
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead Fan
• FilmStew interview (February 15, 2006)
• About.com interview (July, 2005)
• Horror Movies &stuff - Mary Winstead Black Christmas interview (December, 2006)
• PassionsCentral interview (October 28, 1999)
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead at the Internet Movie Database
• Photo and trivia gallery