Early life

Eisenberg was born in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey

East Brunswick Township, New Jersey

The town is located southwest of New York City and 48 miles northeast of Philadelphia.Lawrence Brook, a tributary of the Raritan River, runs along the western border of the township...

, the daughter of Amy, who worked as a clown

Clown

Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...

 at children's parties, and Barry Eisenberg, who ran a hospital and later became a college professor. She has two siblings, actor Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Adam Eisenberg is an American actor. He made his screen debut with the comedy-drama television series Get Real from 1999 to 2000...

, star of The Social Network

The Social Network

The Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...

, and Kerri. She was raised in a Jewish

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 family that originated in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

.
She now attends American University in Washington, DC.

Career

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, she was "the Pepsi Girl" in a series of Pepsi

Pepsi

Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...

 commercials. She made her film debut in the 1998 children's film Paulie

Paulie

Paulie is a 1998 family film about a talking parrot named "Paulie". It was directed by John Roberts and written by Laurie Craig, and it was produced by Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn, and Allyson Lyon Segan for Mutual Film Company and DreamWorks...

, playing the young owner of the title parrot. After appearing in a few made-for-television films, she had supporting parts in 1999's The Insider

The Insider (film)

The Insider is a 1999 film based on the true story of a 60 Minutes television series segment, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand. The 60 Minutes story originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because of objections by CBS’ then-owner, Laurence Tisch, who...

and Bicentennial Man

Bicentennial Man (film)

Bicentennial Man is a 1999 American drama and science fiction film starring Robin Williams and Sam Neill. Based on the novel The Positronic Man, co-written by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg which is itself based on Asimov's original novella titled The Bicentennial Man, the plot explores issues...

.

In 2000, Eisenberg co-starred with Minnie Driver

Minnie Driver

Minnie Driver is an English actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, as well as for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her work in the television series The Riches.- Early life...

 in the feature film Beautiful, which received generally negative reviews. She also starred as Helen Keller

Helen Keller

Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....

 in a television remake of The Miracle Worker

The Miracle Worker

The Miracle Worker is a cycle of 20th century dramatic works derived from Helen Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life. Each of the various dramas describes the relationship between Keller—a deafblind and initially almost feral child—and Anne Sullivan, the teacher who introduced her to...

.

In 2004, she played opposite Jeff Daniels

Jeff Daniels

Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels is an American actor, musician and playwright. He founded a non-profit theatre company, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in his home state of Michigan...

 and Patricia Heaton

Patricia Heaton

Patricia Helen Heaton is an American actress, comedienne, producer and model, best known for portraying Debra Barone on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996 to 2005, for which she won two Emmy Awards....

 in the television remake of the The Goodbye Girl

The Goodbye Girl

The Goodbye Girl is a 1977 American romantic comedy-drama film. Directed by Herbert Ross, the film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings, and Paul Benedict...

.

In 2006, Eisenberg appeared in How to Eat Fried Worms

How to Eat Fried Worms (film)

How to Eat Fried Worms is a 2006 American film based on the 1973 children's book of the same name by Thomas Rockwell. It was produced by New Line Cinema with Walden Media. Development began in 1998 and theatrical release for the U.S. and Canada was August 25, 2006. The DVD for the film was released...

, the New Line Cinema

New Line Cinema

New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...

 adaptation of Thomas Rockwell

Thomas Rockwell

Thomas Rhodes Rockwell is the author of a number of books for young readers. He was the recipient of the Mark Twain Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Sequoyah Book Award for How to Eat Fried Worms, which was made into a TV movie in 1985 and was filmed as a theatrical release in 2006...

's book of the same name

How to Eat Fried Worms

How to Eat Fried Worms is the title of a children's book written by Thomas Rockwell, first published in 1973. It was later turned into a CBS Storybreak episode in the mid-1980s, and a movie of the same name in 2006...

.

In 2007, she co-starred in the independent feature film P.J. alongside John Heard, Vincent Pastore

Vincent Pastore

Vincent Pastore is an Italian-American actor, often cast as a mobster and best known for the role of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on The Sopranos.-Early life:...

 and Robert Picardo

Robert Picardo

Robert Picardo is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Dr. Dick Richards on ABC's China Beach, the Emergency Medical Hologram , also known as The Doctor, on UPN's Star Trek: Voyager, The Cowboy in Innerspace, Coach Cutlip on The Wonder Years , Ben Wheeler in Wagons East, and as...

.

Eisenberg made her Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 debut in the Roundabout Theatre's production of Claire Booth Luce's play The Women.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1998	Paulie Paulie Paulie is a 1998 family film about a talking parrot named "Paulie". It was directed by John Roberts and written by Laurie Craig, and it was produced by Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn, and Allyson Lyon Segan for Mutual Film Company and DreamWorks...	Marie Alweather
	Nicholas' Gift	Eleanor	Television movie
1999	Blue Moon	Josie Medieros	Television movie
	Swing Vote	Unknown	Television movie
	A Little Inside	Abby Mills
	The Insider The Insider (film) The Insider is a 1999 film based on the true story of a 60 Minutes television series segment, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand. The 60 Minutes story originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because of objections by CBS’ then-owner, Laurence Tisch, who...	Barbara Wigand
	Bicentennial Man Bicentennial Man (film) Bicentennial Man is a 1999 American drama and science fiction film starring Robin Williams and Sam Neill. Based on the novel The Positronic Man, co-written by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg which is itself based on Asimov's original novella titled The Bicentennial Man, the plot explores issues...	Young Little Miss Amanda Martin
2000	Get Real Get Real (TV series) Get Real is a short-lived comedy-drama on the FOX Network centering on the fictional Green family of San Francisco. It ran from September 1999 to April 2000...	Alexa	Television series (Episode "Waiting")
	Beautiful	Vanessa
	The Miracle Worker The Miracle Worker (2000 film) The Miracle Worker is a 2000 television remake of the 1962 film with the same name. It is based on the life of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan's struggles to teach her.-Plot:...	Helen Keller	Television movie
2002	Stage on Screen: The Women	Little Mary	Television movie
2003	Presidio Med Presidio Med Presidio Med is an American Television series which aired 2002–2003, centering around a San Francisco hospital. It was created by John Wells and Lydia Woodward, who also created ER.-Series premise:...	Grace Rothman	Television series (Episode "With Grace")
2004	The Goodbye Girl	Lucy McFadden	Television movie
2006	Jesus, Mary and Joey	Melissa
	How to Eat Fried Worms How to Eat Fried Worms (film) How to Eat Fried Worms is a 2006 American film based on the 1973 children's book of the same name by Thomas Rockwell. It was produced by New Line Cinema with Walden Media. Development began in 1998 and theatrical release for the U.S. and Canada was August 25, 2006. The DVD for the film was released...	Erika
2008	P.J.	Pauline
	Wild Child	Ruthie
2010	Holy Rollers Holy Rollers Holy Rollers is a 2010 independent film written by Antonio Macia, directed by Kevin Asch, and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Ari Graynor, Danny Abeckaser, Q-Tip and Jason Fuchs...	Ruth Gold

External links

• Hallie Kate Eisenberg's biography on filmbug