Elizabeth Banks

VANITIES

This Month NEAL POLLACK THE WORLDS GREATEST LIVING WRITER HITS THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL GEORGE WAYNE FIND OUT-FROM ERICA JONGWHAT WOMEN REALLY WANT Plus: V.F. CAMERA-THE LOUIS VUITTON CUP AND MUCH MORE!

AGE AND OCCUPATION: 27, actor. PROVENANCE: Pittsfield, Massachusetts. DUCK AND COVER: Unlike the rest of us, she was fully prepared for life under the threat of terrorism: "Pittsfield's a General Electric town. Back in the day, we were No. 4 on the hit list for nuclear bombing because G.E.'s major defense systems were there." GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES: After a busy 2002 (with roles in Spider-Man, Catch Me if You Can, and Swept A way), Banks shares the spotlight this summer with Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, and Chris Cooper in Seabiscuit. "I'd grown up going to the racetrack in Saratoga [New York], I don't know how many other actresses can read the Daily Racing Form, but I can." ACTUALLY, YOU SLID INTO ACTING: "I literally fell into acting. I was an athlete and I broke my leg sliding into third base. I needed something to do after school because I couldn't go to practice anymore." GUESS WHAT SHE HAS IN COMMON WITH THE PRESIDENT? "I'm a total cliche—cheerleader, National Honor Society, and all those sorts of silly things. applied early to Penn and got in. I was going to go to law school—the only reason I'm still acting is that doors keep opening and keep walking-through."

KRISTA SMITH