How Amanda Bynes went from comedy sensation to a troubled, retired child actress and newly engaged college grad (2024)

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Amanda Laura Bynes was born in 1986 in Thousand Oaks, California.

She is the youngest of three kids born to her mom, a dental assistant, and her dad, a dentist, according to IMDb.

Bynes showed interest in acting and performing from a young age.

Bynes was scouted at a Laugh Factory comedy camp in Los Angeles, where a Nickelodeon producer saw her perform.

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She landed a role on the ever-popular Nickelodeon sketch series "All That" when she was 10.

Bynes starred in commercials for Barbie and Nestle before landing a role on the Nickelodeon show "All That" in 1996, joining the likes of comedy stars Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, and Lori Beth Denberg.

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At 13 years old, Bynes got her own series on Nickelodeon, "The Amanda Show."

The show ran from 1999 until 2002 and starred other actors who would become Nickelodeon and comedy regulars, such as Drake Bell and Josh Peck.

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Bynes played a variety of comical characters on "The Amanda Show," from Courtney, who wore a signature oversized set of teeth and quirky outfits...

...to Amber, a high schooler who led the charge of her bathroom clique in a segment called "The Girls' Room."

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In another "The Amanda Show" segment, Bynes played Judge Trudy, who famously ended each courtroom scene by ordering security guards to "bring in the dancing lobsters."

Bynes' portrayal of the Judge Trudy character was a spinoff of the court daytime TV show "Judge Judy."

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The actress, known for her impressions and wit, was often compared to a young Lucille Ball.

Kathie Lee Gifford, a former host on The "Today" Show, described what it was like to work with young Amanda Bynes, saying: "I found her to be so unbelievably refreshing. She's so, so talented, so funny. Working with her, I felt like it was what Lucille Ball must have been like early on. She was that good."

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It was rumored that Bynes and her "The Amanda Show" co-star, Taran Killam, briefly dated.

Killam was rumored to have dated Bynes while they were on "The Amanda Show" together.

The actor also later starred alongside Bynes in "Big Fat Liar" and is most currently known for his role on "Saturday Night Live."

Bynes left "The Amanda Show" in 1999 and starred in a number of popular comedy movies in the early 2000s, including "Big Fat Liar."

In "Big Fat Liar," Bynes played Kaylee, the best friend of Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz). The two embarked on a trip to Los Angeles so Shepherd could prove to his dad that a movie producer, Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti), stole his school essay and turned it into the storyline for a fictional film.

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The actress starred in "What A Girl Wants," where she plays an American girl who goes to England to find her father, whom she's never met — played by Colin Firth.

In the 2003 film, Bynes plays Daphne Reynolds, who finds out that her father is a famous politician in the UK running for office. The coming-of-age rom-com was a prime example of a young Bynes in her acting heyday.

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She starred in "She's The Man" in 2006 alongside Channing Tatum, as well as in the 2007 movie version of the Broadway musical "Hairspray."

In a 2018 interview with Paper Magazine, Bynes said that watching "She's The Man" led her to experience depression because of how she looked in the movie.

"I went into a deep depressionfor four to six months because I didn't like how I looked when I was a boy," she revealed.

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In 2010, at age 24, the star announced her retirement from acting in a tweet, writing: "Being an actress isn't as fun as it may seem."

"If I don't love something anymore, I stop doing it. I don't love acting anymore, so I've stopped doing it. I know 24 is a young age to retire, but you heard it here first," Bynes wrote in her 2010 tweet.

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Starting in 2012, Bynes made headlines for a series of arrests, including for being accused of driving under the influence and hit-and-run traffic offenses.

In April 2012, Bynes was arrested for a DUI in West Hollywood. The same month, she was arrested for hitting a car and fleeing the scene.

Later that year, she was arrested in connection with two hit-and-run driving incidents, and in September 2012, she was reportedly pulled over for driving with a suspended license after her driving privileges were revoked following the hit-and-runs.

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In 2013, Bynes appeared in court in New York City in connection to an incident where she allegedly threw a bong out of a 36th-floor window.

Bynes was arrested in May 2013 with charges of reckless endangerment and attempted tampering with physical evidence.

Around this time, the former child star was often pictured in paparazzi photos wearing different-colored wigs. She often took to Twitter to write about her arrests and post vulgar messages about other celebrities, including Rihanna and Drake, in since-deleted tweets.

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In 2018, Bynes was interviewed for a Paper Magazine cover story — one of her first interviews since stepping out of the spotlight. She opened about her mental health and struggles with substance abuse.

In the article, Bynes told Paper Magazine editor Abby Schreiber that starting around the time that she filmed "Hairspray" in 2007, she saw a magazine article about women who used Adderall to lose weight, and she eventually started taking the pill.

Bynes said in the interview that she taking Adderall could have affected her performance when she was filming "Hall Pass" in 2010 and gave the public an idea that she was struggling with substance abuse.

She added that following her retirement from acting in 2010, she began "hanging out with a seedier crowd.

"I isolated a lot," Bynes said. "I got really into my drug usage and it became a really dark, sad world for me."

Bynes said in the 2018 interview that she was, at that time, sober for four years.

"Those days of experimenting [with substances] are long over. I'm not sad about it and I don't miss it because I really feel ashamed of how those substances made me act," Bynes said in the Paper Magazine interview.

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Bynes said in the 2018 Paper Magazine interview that she wanted to return to acting and design a clothing line. She appeared to graduate from FIDM in 2019.

At the time, Bynes was enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles. She said she wanted to finish her degree at FIDM and design a clothing line, but that she first wanted to return to acting.

Bynes appeared to graduate from FIDM in 2019, according to photos she shared on Twitter and Instagram.

Bynes has yet to return to acting, with her last role being "Easy A" in 2010, but continues to document some parts of her life on Instagram.

Bynes debuted a nose ring and face tattoo in a selfie she shared on Instagram in December 2019.

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Bynes recently announced that she got engaged in an Instagram post, writing: "Engaged to tha love of my life" and showing off an emerald-cut engagement ring.

Insider spoke to engagement ring experts, who estimated that Bynes' three-stone, emerald-cut ring could be worth up to $600,000, depending on the size and quality of the diamond.

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