Elizabeth Greer "Beanie" Feldstein (born June 24, 1993) is an American actress. She first gained recognition for her starring roles in the comedy film Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), the comedy-drama film Lady Bird (2017), and the coming-of-age comedy film Booksmart (2019), the last of which earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture–Comedy or Musical.
Feldstein has appeared on the Broadway stage, making her debut as Minnie Fay in Hello, Dolly! (2017–18), and portraying the lead role of Fanny Brice in the first revival of Funny Girl (2022), a performance for which she earned a nomination for the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. In 2021, she portrayed Monica Lewinsky in the third season of the FX anthology series Impeachment: American Crime Story.
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Early life and education
Feldstein was born in Los Angeles, the only daughter of Sharon Lyn (née Chalkin), a costume designer and fashion stylist, and Richard Feldstein, a tour accountant for Guns N' Roses. She is Jewish, and the youngest of three children in her family; her older brother is actor Jonah Hill, and their oldest brother, Maroon 5 manager Jordan Feldstein (1977–2017), died suddenly of a blood clot at age 40.
Her nanny nicknamed her "Beanie" when she was an infant, and her brothers also called her by the name at the time. She attended the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles as well as Stagedoor Manor, a theatre camp in New York. She and fellow Broadway and film actor Ben Platt have been best friends since high school.
She graduated from Wesleyan University in 2015 with a degree in sociology.
Career
Feldstein made her acting debut in 2002, appearing in the ABC comedy series My Wife and Kids. In 2012, she played Megan in the musical television pilot Madison High. In 2015, Feldstein appeared as a guest in the third season of Netflix's comedy series Orange Is the New Black. In the same year she played the role of Anna in the comedy film Fan Girl.
Feldstein received recognition with a more significant role in the comedy film Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, alongside Seth Rogen and Zac Efron. The film was released on May 20, 2016. She was cast as Lydia Harris in HBO's period drama pilot The Devil You Know. She guest starred in an episode of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace.
On October 18, 2016, Feldstein's casting as Minnie Fay in the 2017 Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Bette Midler as Dolly Levi, was announced. Feldstein made her Broadway debut in the role. The show began previews on March 15, 2017, and opened on April 20, 2017. Feldstein's performance was positively received by critics.
Feldstein starred in Whitney Cummings' directorial debut comedy film The Female Brain, which premiered at the LA Film Festival in June 2017. She co-starred alongside Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf in Greta Gerwig's solo directorial debut, Lady Bird, which was released to critical acclaim in 2017. The film earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Along with the cast, she was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
In 2019, Feldstein had a recurring role as Jenna in the first season of the television horror comedy series What We Do in the Shadows, an adaptation of the film of the same title. Her performance earned positive reviews from critics. She was not able to return for the second season, as was originally planned, due to other filming commitments. Also in 2019, she starred in Olivia Wilde's directorial debut, the high school comedy Booksmart. Her performance garnered widespread critical acclaim and a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. She later portrayed the British lead character Johanna Morrigan in the coming-of-age comedy film How to Build a Girl, which was an adaptation of Caitlin Moran's 2014 novel of the same title. The film and her performance garnered positive reviews from critics.
Personal life
Feldstein is queer. She met English film producer Bonnie-Chance Roberts on the set of the 2019 film How to Build a Girl. The two were engaged in June 2022 and married on May 19, 2023. In May 2026, Feldstein announced she was pregnant with her and Roberts's first child.
