Elizabeth Gillies

Elizabeth Gillies

Born Elizabeth Egan Gillies
(1993-07-26) July 26, 1993
Haworth, New Jersey, U.S.
Other names Liz Gillies
Occupation
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active 2005–present

Elizabeth Egan "Liz" Gillies[1] (born July 26, 1993)[2] is an American actress and singer. She appeared in several television series and commercials, before acquiring her first significant role prior to her 17th birthday, playing Jade West on the television series Victorious. She made her Broadway debut at age 15 in the musical 13, playing the character of Lucy.[3] She had a main role in FX's rock 'n' roll comedy series Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll.

Life and career

1993-2007: Early life and career beginnings

Liz was born in Haworth, New Jersey to Dave and Lorrie Gillies. She has one younger brother, George, born 1996.[4] She is of Irish and Italian descent.[5]

Gillies' acting career began at age twelve, when she started going to local open casting calls. She quickly began appearing in commercials for companies such as Virgin Mobile.[6] Her first television role was as a recurring character in The Black Donnellys. She has stated that she was not allowed to watch the finished show in its entirety because her parents felt it was not appropriate for her at the time. She appeared in three episodes. In 2007, she played small roles in The Clique, Harold, and Locker 514.[7]

In the summer of 2008, Gillies was cast as Lucy in a Godspeed production of Jason Robert Brown's new musical 13, alongside her future Victorious co-star, Ariana Grande. Later that year, 13 moved to Broadway, which made it the first Broadway production to have a cast and band entirely made up of teenagers.[8] Gillies remained with the production until its closure on January 4, 2009.[9]

2010-2013: Involvement with Nickelodeon

In 2010, Gillies was cast as bad girl and occasional antagonist Jade West in the Nickelodeon television show Victorious, a sitcom revolving around teenagers at a performing arts-based high school in Hollywood. This marked her second time working alongside 13 co-star Ariana Grande. Regarding her Victorious character, Gillies said "It’s wonderful. I love playing Jade. I always say she’s not so much the “mean” girl, but the “bad” girl in so many ways. She has a lot of human qualities to her — she’s not just completely sociopathic. She’s sweet with her boyfriend. It’s nice to play a character with some depth."[10] The show premiered on March 27, 2010, and ended on February 2, 2013 after four seasons. Gillies reprised her role as Jade in a special episode of the iCarly and Victorious spinoff series Sam and Cat. The episode aired in 2014.

During her time on Victorious, Gillies lent her talents to other Nickelodeon shows, voicing the character of Daphne on the animated series Winx Club and recording Winx Club's official song, "We Are Believix." She also appeared in an episode of Big Time Rush and as a contestant on game shows BrainSurge and Figure It Out.

2012-2015: Other appearances and movie roles

Beginning in 2012, Gillies began playing small guest roles outside of Nickelodeon. Notable appearances include White Collar and The Exes.

Following the cancellation of Victorious, Gillies took some time off from acting. In 2013, she was cast as Courtney in the musical adaptation of Jawbreaker and participated in a reading of the show in Manhattan.[11] The musical did not end up being taken to Broadway.

In 2014, Gillies appeared in the horror film Animal as Mandy and the Lifetime movie Killing Daddy, playing Callie Ross. Animal was filmed in the summer of 2013 in Manchester, Connecticut and was produced by Drew Barrymore. The film also features Gillies' former Winx Club co-star Keke Palmer and was released on iTunes June 17, 2014.[12]

Killing Daddy, a Lifetime original movie,[13] stars Gillies as Calista "Callie" Ross, a troubled young woman who returns to her estranged family with a plan for her recently disabled father and her inheritance. The movie aired on Lifetime on July 5, 2014.

2015-present: Vacation and Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll

In 2015, Gillies was cast as Heather in the remake of Vacation. The film received a wide release on July 29, 2015.

Also in 2015, Gillies was cast in the comedy series Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll as Gigi Rock, an aspiring singer and daughter of a former rock star named Johnny Rock (portrayed by the show's creator Denis Leary).[14] The show premiered July 16, 2015 to mixed reviews, but Gillies' performance as Gigi was well-received. The show ran for two seasons, with the second season finale airing on September 1, 2016. On September 9, 2016, FX declined to renew the show for a third season, effectively canceling the series.[15]

Music

Gillies was featured in several songs on the soundtracks Victorious (soundtrack) and Victorious 2.0, including "Give It Up" (duet with Ariana Grande), and "Take a Hint" (duet with Victoria Justice). She also wrote and recorded the song "You Don't Know Me" for an episode of Victorious,[16] and it was later featured in Victorious 3.0.[17][18]

Gillies has a YouTube account called LizGilliesOfficial, where she uploads covers of popular songs including: "Wild Horses" by The Rolling Stones, "You and I" by Lady Gaga, "For No One" by The Beatles, "Jealous Guy" by John Lennon, "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens and "One and Only" by Adele.[19] She has also covered songs with Max Schneider ("Somewhere Only We Know") and Ariana Grande ("The Christmas Song").

In July 2012, it was reported that Gillies was working on an alternative rock album.[20][21]

On December 10, 2013, Gillies recorded a duet with Ariana Grande called "Santa Baby" for Grande's Christmas EP Christmas Kisses.[22]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2008 Harold Evelyn Taylor
2008 Clique, TheThe Clique Shelby Wexler Direct-to-video
2011 Death and Return of Superman, TheThe Death and Return of Superman Eradicator folks Short film
2012 Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom Daphne (voice) English dub
2014 Animal Mandy
2015 Vacation Heather

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2007 Black Donnellys, TheThe Black Donnellys Young Jenny 3 episodes
2009 Battery's Down, TheThe Battery's Down Bat Mitzvah guest Episode: "Bad Bad News"
2010–13 Victorious Jade West Main role; 57 episodes
2011 iCarly Jade West Episode: "iParty with Victorious"
2011 Big Time Rush Heather Fox Episode: "Big Time Secret"
2011–15 Winx Club Daphne Voice role; 24 episodes
2012 White Collar Chloe Woods Episode: "Upper West Side Story"
2013 Exes, TheThe Exes Tracy Cooper Episode: "Prelude to a Kiss"
2014 Sam & Cat Jade West Episode: "#TheKillerTunaJump: #Freddie #Jade #Robbie"
2014 Killing Daddy Callie Ross Television film
2015 American Dad! Lena Horne (uncredited) Voice role; episode: "A Star is Born"
2015–16 Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll Gigi Rock Main role; 20 episodes
2015 Penguins of Madagascar, TheThe Penguins of Madagascar Singer Voice role; episode: "The Penguin Who Loved Me"

Music videos

Year Title Artist
2010 "Freak the Freak Out" Victoria Justice
2011 "Beggin' on Your Knees" Victoria Justice
2011 "All I Want Is Everything" Victoria Justice
2011 "Take a Hint" Victoria Justice and herself
2011 "Time in the Day" Mickey Deleasa
2012 "Time of Our Life" Big Time Rush
2012 "Make It in America" Victoria Justice
2012 "We Are Believix" Herself
2012 "You Don't Know Me" Herself
2013 "Right There" Ariana Grande
2015 "One Last Time" Ariana Grande
2015 "Die Trying" Herself
2016 "Bang Bang" Herself

Theatre

Year Title Role Notes
2008–09 13 Lucy Original Broadway cast
2013 Jawbreaker: The Musical Courtney Workshop reading

Discography

References

  1. Brantley, Ben (October 6, 2008). "Stranger in Strange Land: The Acne Years". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  2. Gillies, Elizabeth (July 25, 2011). "Twitter: Elizabeth Gillies (verified account)". Retrieved August 29, 2011. Enjoying the last few hours of my childhood! Tomorrow I am a legal adult!
  3. "13 Cast".
  4. Gillies, Elizabeth (23 April 2016). Twitter. https://twitter.com/LizGillies/status/724075584071077889. Retrieved 21 September 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Crushable "Interview: Broadway Star and ‘Victorious’ Mean Girl Elizabeth Gillies Couldn’t Handle Bieber Fans.". Retrieved August 20, 2015. "But my Italian grandmother and great-grandmother weren’t having any of it; they have their traditional Italian meal, and I had to watch this gorgeous food be consumed by my family. Lasagna, meatballs, and I’m just sitting there..."
  6. Rohan, Virginia (July 20, 2011). "TV Mean Girl: Haworth's Elizabeth Gillies talks iParty with Victorious". bergen.com. Retrieved June 26, 2015. Elizabeth Gillies is not a diva. She just plays one on TV. The Haworth teen is nothing but charming as she chats on the phone about Jade, the gifted character with attitude she plays on Nickelodeon's Victorious.
  7. "Locker 514". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  8. "13, A New Musical Announces Its Teenage Cast and Band". Broadway World. August 14, 2008. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
  9. Gans, A.; Jones, K. (21 November 2008). "New Musical 13 to Close on Broadway in January 2009". Playbill. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  10. Orenstein, H. (27 July 2012). "Elizabeth Gillies, 'Victorious' Star, On Playing The Bad Girl And Being The Nice Girl". Huffington Post. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  11. Gans, A. (26 September 2013). "MadBromance Productions hosts a 29-hour reading of Jawbreaker: The Musical, based on the 1999 film "Jawbreaker," Sept. 26-27 at 3 PM in Manhattan.". Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  12. Ng, Philiana (July 25, 2013). "Drew Barrymore's 'Animal' Sets Ensemble Cast (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  13. Gillies, Elizabeth. "Liz Gillies Tweet". Twitter (Verified Account). Retrieved December 6, 2013.
  14. http://deadline.com/2014/06/fx-denis-leary-series-pickup-sexdrugsrockroll-797339/
  15. Ausiello, M. (9 September 2016). "Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll Cancelled at FX". TVLine. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  16. Mulvaney, Nicole. "J-14 Exclusive: Liz Gillies Talks the End of 'Victorious' and New Music". J-14.com. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
  17. "Victorious 3.0 Track List".
  18. Gillies, Liz. "Liz Gillies Tweet". Twitter (Verified Account). Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  19. "LizGillies Official YouTube".
  20. "Twitter / LizGillies: @LizGOnline". Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  21. Orenstein, Hannah (July 27, 2012). "Liz Gillies Interview". Huffington Post.
  22. Boardman, Madeline (December 10, 2013). "Ariana Grande Does 'Santa Baby' With Liz Gillies". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
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