Elizabeth Lail

Elizabeth Dean Lail^[1] (born March 25, 1992^[2][3]) is an American actress. She played Anna in the fantasy series Once Upon a Time (2014) and Guinevere Beck in the Netflix thriller series You (2018–2019). In film, she starred in the horror films Countdown (2019) and Five Nights at Freddy's (2023).

Elizabeth Lail
Lail as Anna in Once Upon a Time in 2014
Born	Elizabeth Dean Lail (1992-03-25) March 25, 1992 (age 33) Williamson County, Texas, U.S.
Education	University of North Carolina School of the Arts (BFA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2011–present
Spouse	Nieku Manshadi ​ (m. 2021)​

Early life

Lail was born in Williamson County, Texas,^[1] and grew up in Asheboro, North Carolina. She became interested in acting at age 14, after playing a small role in a community theater production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.^[1] After graduating from Asheboro High School in 2010, she attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, graduating with a B.F.A. degree in Drama in May 2014.^[4][5]

Career

Lail mostly worked in student short film productions, such as Model Airplane and Without, while in university from 2011 to 2014.^[6] She had moved to New York City to pursue stage work when she landed an audition for ABC's Once Upon a Time, after which she was cast as Anna in the fourth season of the series, released in 2014.^[7][8] Lail was cast in a starring role in the 2016 Freeform horror series Dead of Summer, playing the role of camp counselor Amy.^[9][10]

In 2017, Lail was cast as Guinevere Beck in the Lifetime/Netflix television series You, opposite Penn Badgley and Shay Mitchell.^[11] Released in 2018,^[12] she received a nomination for Best Actress in Streaming Presentation at the 45th Saturn Awards.^[13][14] Lail reprised her role as Guinevere Beck in guest appearances on both the second and fourth season of You.^[15][16][17] Lail played the lead, Quinn Harris, in the 2019 horror film Countdown.^[18][19]

In March 2021, Lail was set to play the title role of Mack in the comedy film Mack & Rita opposite Diane Keaton; she also joined the cast of the HBO Max teen drama Gossip Girl,^[20][21] in the recurring role of Lola Morgan. The same month, it was revealed that Lail had joined the cast of the NBC drama series Ordinary Joe.^[22]

In January 2023, Lail was cast as Vanessa in the film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy's, which premiered in October of that same year to commercial success.^[23][24]

Personal life

In April 2021, Lail married dentist Nieku Manshadi at Hasbrouck House in Stone Ridge, New York.^[2][25]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018	Unintended	Lea	[26]
2019	Countdown	Quinn Harris	[18][19]
2022	Mack & Rita	Mackenzie "Mack" Martin	[20][27]
2023	Gonzo Girl	Devaney Peltier	[28]
	Five Nights at Freddy's	Vanessa Shelly-Afton	[23]
2025	Five Nights at Freddy's 2		[29]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Once Upon a Time	Anna	Recurring role (season 4)
2016	Dead of Summer	Amy Hughes	Main role[30]
2017	The Blacklist	Natalie Luca	Episode: "Natalie Luca"
2018	The Good Fight	Emily Chapin	Episode: "Day 478"
2018–2023	You	Guinevere Beck	Main role in season 1; guest role in season 2, 4
2021	Gossip Girl	Lola Morgan	Recurring role (season 1)[20]
2021–2022	Ordinary Joe	Jenny Banks	Main role[22]
2022	Robot Chicken	Anna	Voice role; episode: "May Cause Internal Diarrhea"
2024	Elsbeth	Quinn Powers	Episode: Artificial Genius

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Notes
2017	Nibbler	Hayley	Rattlestick Playwrights Theater	Off-Broadway
2024	Pretty Perfect Lives	Tiffany	The Flea Theater	Off-Broadway

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2019	Saturn Awards	Best Actress in a Streaming Television Series	You	Nominated	[14]