Elizabeth Lail

Elizabeth Lail has been married to pediatric dentist Nieku Manshadi since April 2021. The couple married at Hasbrouck House in Stone Ridge, New York.

Lail has no children. Her parents are Dean Franklin Lail and Kay Lurene Surratt, and her older sister is Kathryn Dean Lail.

Lail became interested in acting at age 14 after playing a small role in a community theater production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. She graduated from Asheboro High School in 2010 and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in May 2014.

While studying, she appeared in student short films including Model Airplane and Without. After moving to New York to pursue stage work, she auditioned for ABC's Once Upon a Time and was cast as Anna in the series' fourth season in 2014.

Lail starred as camp counselor Amy Hughes in Freeform's horror series Dead of Summer in 2016. The role of Amy was written specifically for her after the creators of Once Upon a Time, Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, saw her performance as Anna.

In 2017, Lail was cast as Guinevere Beck in the psychological thriller series You, opposite Penn Badgley and Shay Mitchell. The series premiered in 2018, and her performance earned a nomination for Best Actress in a Streaming Television Series at the 45th Saturn Awards. She later reprised Beck in guest appearances during the show's second, fourth, and fifth seasons.

Lail played Quinn Harris, the lead character in the horror film Countdown, and appeared in the independent film Unintended. She starred as Mackenzie "Mack" Martin in the comedy Mack & Rita, playing a younger version of Diane Keaton's character, and portrayed Devaney Peltier in Gonzo Girl.

Her later television roles included Lola Morgan in the Gossip Girl spin-off, Jenny Banks in NBC's Ordinary Joe, and Quinn Powers in Elsbeth. She also voiced Anna and Kitten Camper #1 in Robot Chicken and provided narration for Mercy for Animals projects in 2020 and 2024.

In 2023, Lail played Vanessa Afton in the film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy's, based on the video game series. The film premiered in October 2023 and achieved commercial success.

She reprised the role in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 in 2025. She was also cast as Zoe in the fourth and final season of the Netflix series The Night Agent.

Lail made her professional theater debut in the 2017 Off-Broadway production Nibbler at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, playing Hayley. She later appeared as Tiffany in Pretty Perfect Lives at The Flea Theater in 2024.

In 2025, she played Eva in Not About Nightingales at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, performing alongside William Jackson Harper, Joe Goldammer, Dan Katz, Malik James, Chris Messina, and Annie McNamara.