Who Is Beanie Feldstein? New Details On The Star Of 'Booksmart' Movie (She's Jonah Hill's Sister!)
You know her brother.
Instagram Booksmart is the new teen comedy everyone is talking about. The movie is Olivia Wilde's directorial debut, was written by women and focuses on two teen girls and best friends, Molly and Amy, who spent their high school years studying and being good so they could get into good colleges. It all pays off when Molly is accepted to Yale, except she then finds out that a hard partying slacker classmate who had all the fun in high school also got into Yale. Molly and Amy set out to pack four years of fun into one night and hilarity ensures. Beanie Feldstein plays Molly. Who is Beanie Feldstein?
1. She's from a showbiz family
Elizabeth Greer "Beanie" Feldstein was born on June 24, 1993 in Los Angeles. Her mom Sharon is a costume designer and stylist and her dad Richard is a tour accountant for Guns N' Roses. She has two older brothers: Maroon Five's manager Jordan Feldstein, who passed away in 2017 at age 40 after a heart attack and actor Jonah Hill. Beanie attended the prestigious Harvard Westlake School in Los Angeles and graduated from Wesleyan University in 2015. She got her nickname from the family's English nanny who called her Elizabeanie. Her brothers shortened it to Beanie.
2. Acting roots
Beanie made her acting debut in 2002 in the ABC sitcom My Wife and Kids. In 2015, she was a guest in the third season of Netflix's Orange is the New Black. She made her Broadway debut alongside Bette Midler in 2017 in Hello, Dolly! She also co-starred in Lady Bird. After Booksmart, Beanie will appear in the film How To Build a Girl.
3. She is BFFs with Ben Platt
Beanie has been best friends with the Tony Award winning star of Dear Evan Hansen Ben Platt since high school. In fact, they call each other soulmates and took each other to prom. She told the Los Angeles Times: “I think Ben is the best at what he does because he’s my best friend and I see him through these rose-colored glasses. But at the Tonys, there was this moment where everyone in this room of the best of the best was seeing him the way that I saw him. It was really emotional, everyone seeing the genius I’ve always seen.”
4. She out and proud
In Booksmart Molly's best friend Amy (played by Kaitlyn Dever) is an out lesbian. In real life, Beanie also is. She told People: “The only love scene in the film is a queer love scene, and that’s so radical. By doing that, you’re asking that to be the norm. By showing queer sexuality and making heterosexual people relate to it is actually really deeply meaningful. For me in my life, it is a part of who I am but it is not at all my defining feature. It doesn’t mean I don’t love my girlfriend, it’s just part of who I am. And [the character]’s the same way. To see that in Amy and how beautifully Kaitlyn plays her and how beautifully Katie [Silberman, screenwriter] and Olivia [Wilde, director] crafted her, it’s gonna change a lot of people’s lives.”
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based freelance writer covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. She is deeply devoted to her chocolate Labrador and an avid long distance runner. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.