Elizabeth Lail

Elizabeth Dean Lail was born on March 25, 1992, in Williamson County, Texas, and raised in Asheboro, North Carolina. Her interest in acting developed at the age of 14 after participating in a community theater production. She pursued formal acting training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, graduating with a B.F.A. degree in Drama in May 2014. Before her significant television roles, Lail was involved in student short film productions, including ‘Model Airplane’ and ‘Without’.

Lail gained recognition for her portrayal of Anna in the fourth season of ABC’s ‘Once Upon a Time’ in 2014. Following this, she took on a main role as camp counselor Amy in the Freeform horror series ‘Dead of Summer’ in 2016. A turning point in her career was her casting as Guinevere Beck in the Lifetime/Netflix series ‘You’ in 2017, a role she reprised in guest appearances in subsequent seasons. This performance led to a nomination for Best Actress in Streaming Presentation at the 45th Saturn Awards in 2019.

Her career continued with lead roles in horror films such as ‘Countdown’ in 2019, where she played Quinn Harris, and the commercially successful ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ in 2023, as Vanessa Shelly-Afton. In 2021, Lail joined the cast of the comedy film ‘Mack & Rita’ alongside Diane Keaton and took on a recurring role as Lola Morgan in the HBO Max reboot of ‘Gossip Girl’. She also starred as Jenny Banks in the NBC drama series ‘Ordinary Joe’ from 2021 to 2022, and has upcoming roles in ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ (2025) and ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 3’ (2026), demonstrating her engagement across various genres in film and television.