Amanda Peet

 Amanda Peet was raised in New York City. She is the daughter of Penny (Levy), a social worker and Charles Peet, a lawyer, and has an older sister. Her father was of mostly English and German origin, and her mother came from an ethnically Jewish family (from Germany, Russia, and Hungary). Her great grandparents were S.L. Rothafel, a showbiz impresario and politician. Rothafel. Peet's unique stage debut was when she leapt onto the stage for a show when she was just three years old. Later, she pursued acting as a hobby despite her young beginning. Columbia University was her home. A drama professor encouraged her to apply for Uta Hagen, who was acting instructor. She was able to take classes with Uta for four years. She also performed in the off Broadway revival of Clifford Odets’s "Awake and Sing" She financed herself through the auditions phase of her career through work as a waitress as well as the residual checks she received from the Skittles commercial. She persevered and worked hard to be a guest star in the TV show Law & Order (1990) in 1995.