Lizzy Caplan

Biography

Elizabeth Anne Caplan, known as Lizzy Caplan, is an American actress born in Los Angeles in 1982. Her career spans film and television, beginning with teen comedies and guest roles in the early 2000s. Her portrayal of Virginia E. Johnson in the Showtime series Masters of Sex brought her wider recognition and Primetime Emmy nominations.

Raised in a Reform Jewish family in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles, Caplan took an early interest in performing. At Alexander Hamilton High School she moved from piano to drama and graduated in 2000 without going to college, choosing to focus on acting. Her first regular role came in the cult series Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000), and she then took guest parts on many shows, including Jason Mraz's music video "You and I Both".

Her breakthrough arrived in 2004 as Janis Ian in Mean Girls. She followed it with television work such as Related and the CBS sitcom The Class, which lasted one season. In 2008 she appeared in the monster thriller Cloverfield and in the vampire series True Blood, and in 2010 she had a role in Danny Boyle's survival drama 127 Hours. Masters of Sex, in which she played the pioneering sex researcher, remains her most acclaimed work, and afterwards she balanced studio films such as The Interview with series including Party Down and Das Boot.

More recently she has appeared in big-budget titles such as Allied and Now You See Me: Now You Don't (2025). Her career shows a flexible performer moving between comedy, drama and thriller, and her name is closely tied to the quality television of the last decade.

Outside acting, she is married to British actor Tom Riley, whom she wed in 2017, and they have a son born in 2021. She was previously in a relationship with Matthew Perry.

Key films

• Mean Girls (2004): Janis Ian, the outcast who becomes the group's sharp-tongued observer.
• Cloverfield (2008): Marlena Diamond, one of the young people caught up in the chaos of the New York attack.
• 127 Hours (2010): a supporting role in Danny Boyle's survival drama.
• The Interview (2014): Agent Lacey in the espionage comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco.
• Allied (2016): a part in Robert Zemeckis's wartime romantic thriller.
• Now You See Me: Now You Don't (2025): joins the cast of the illusionist heist franchise.