Elizabeth Lail is an up-and-coming actress who garnered a lot of attention after starring in the iconic Netflix series You as well as the film adaptation of the Five Nights at Freddy’s video games. Her career began in the early 2010s, where she starred in several short films before finding her first major role as Anna of Arendelle in the ABC network series Once Upon A Time.
Read on to learn more about her illustrious acting history, as we list her most notable performances, as ranked by IMDB ratings.
5. Gossip Girl (2021)
- Streaming On: HBO Max
- Creator: Cecily von Ziegesar, Joshua Safran
- IMDb Rating: 5.4
Plot: Elizabeth Lail featured prominently in the 2021 revival of the Gossip Girl series, where she played the recurring role of Lola Morgan in season 1 for five episodes. Lola was a singer-songwriter and the ex-fiancée of music industry mogul Davis Calloway (played by Luke Kirby).
Davis’s daughter, Julien Calloway (played by Jordan Alexander), was one of the lead characters of the series. The 2021 reboot couldn’t become the television mainstay that the original 2007 series was, getting cancelled after two seasons and 22 episodes.
4. Five Nights At Freddy’s (2023)
- Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
- Director: Emma Tammi
- IMDb Rating: 5.4
Plot: Five Nights at Freddy’s is the 2023 film adaptation of the video game franchise created by Scott Cawthon, which originally began in 2014. The film adapts the basic premise of the games and takes place in the abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, which houses murderous animatronic teddy bears.
Elizabeth Lail plays the role of Vanessa Shelly, a local police officer who seeks out Mike Schmidt (played by Josh Hutcherson), a security guard assigned to watch over the pizzeria. She informs him of the true, sinister nature of the place, revealing that the spirits of dead children possess the killer animatronics in the pizzeria, and they eventually plot to seize the soul of Mike’s younger sister, Abby. Five Nights at Freddy’s has been greenlit for a sequel, which will release on December 5, 2025, with Elizabeth Lail reprising her role.
3. Ordinary Joe (2021)
- Streaming On: Apple TV, Amazon Video
- Creator: Matt Reeves
- IMDb Rating: 6.7
Plot: Ordinary Joe was a short-lived TV series created by Matt Reeves, best known for directing 2022’s Batman. The series takes a what-if approach to the life of Joe Kimbreau (played by James Wolk), who starts as a graduate from Syracuse University, following which his life diverges into three different timelines. In one timeline, Joe becomes a police officer like his dad before him. In another timeline, he’s a musician pursuing fame and fortune. And in the third timeline, he’s a mild-mannered nurse.
Elizabeth Lail plays the role of Jenny Banks, Joe’s high-school girlfriend, who had a child with him out of wedlock. If Joe becomes a police officer, Jenny is an additional district attorney who’s been keeping the existence of their child a secret. If Joe becomes a musician, Jenny is a hotshot lawyer who put their child up for adoption. And if Joe becomes a nurse, he’s actually married to Jenny and is raising their child with her while working through marriage difficulties. Ordinary Joe was cancelled after a single season of 13 episodes.
2. You (2018)
- Streaming On: Netflix
- Creator: Caroline Kepnes, Greg Berlanti, Sera Gamble
- IMDb Rating: 7.6
Plot: You is a TV adaptation of Caroline Kepnes’ novel of the same name, which originally premiered in 2018. Elizabeth Lail headlined the first season in the leading role of Guinevere Beck, who was the love interest of the psychopathic and obsessive Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgley).
The first season’s storyline follows Beck as she reciprocates Goldberg’s advances and enters into a relationship with him, neither of them aware of each other’s secrets. Eventually, however, their relationship falls apart, culminating in Joe’s worst traits coming to the surface as he murders Beck and gets away with it. However, Beck remains a presence in the later seasons of the show, with Elizabeth Lail continuing to have a recurring role in the series.
1. Once Upon A Time (2014)
- Streaming On: Hulu, Apple TV
- Creator: Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz
- IMDb Rating: 7.7
Plot: Elizabeth Lail’s breakout role was as Anna of Arendelle in the fourth season of the ABC network series Once Upon A Time. The series blurred the lines between fairy tales and the real world by following the story of Emma Swan (played by Jennifer Morrison), who discovers that she’s the long-lost daughter of Snow White (played by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (played by Josh Dallas) after an unexpected encounter with her biological son, Henry (played by Jared S. Gilmore).
Elizabeth’s character, Anna, originates from the 2013 Disney animated film Frozen, where she was voiced by Kristen Bell. In her original film, Anna was the free-spirited sister of the troubled Elsa, who fell in love with Prince Hans from a neighboring kingdom. In Once Upon A Time, Anna finds herself stranded in Storybrooke after discovering that Prince Hans was an evil manipulator all along.
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