Lizzy Caplan's Real Name: Lizzy Caplan

Quick answer: The actress is documented as Lizzy Caplan. Encyclopedia.com dates her birth to June 30, 1982, in Los Angeles, California, and the Television Academy independently records a June 30 birthday and a Los Angeles birthplace, without a year (Encyclopedia.com; Television Academy).

Real name and early life

She is known professionally as Lizzy Caplan. Fuller forms sometimes listed in databases are not used in Encyclopedia.com or the Television Academy biography cited here, and are not repeated in the title. Encyclopedia.com records that she was born in Los Angeles and later graduated from the Hamilton Academy of Music there.

Career highlights

The Television Academy says her first on-screen role was as Sara in Judd Apatow's Freaks and Geeks. Encyclopedia.com independently lists Sara as a recurring role on that series in 1999–2000. The academy biography treats her 2004 role as Janis Ian in Mean Girls as a breakout part; Encyclopedia.com also credits that film. Later television work in the academy biography includes Casey Klein on Party Down, a series it says earned an AFI Award in 2009, as well as Marjee Sorelli on Related, Kat Warbler on The Class, and later guest work on New Girl and True Blood. Encyclopedia.com independently records The Pitts (2003), episodes of Smallville, a recurring role as Avery Bishop on Tru Calling (2005), and Related. The academy also notes that Daily Variety named her one of 10 Actors to Watch in 2006.

Feature credits in the academy biography include Cloverfield, Hot Tub Time Machine, Save the Date, and Love is a Drug; Encyclopedia.com lists the last of those as Love Is the Drug (2006), a slight title-style difference, and also records earlier appearances in Hardcore Action News and Orange County (both 2002). The academy biography later highlights her starring role as Virginia Johnson on the Showtime series Masters of Sex and notes that she can be heard singing "You Don't Know Me" in the first season. The same page lists two Emmy nominations: outstanding lead actress in a drama series in 2014, for Masters of Sex, and outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie in 2023, for Fleishman Is in Trouble.

Name notes for searchers

Lizzy Caplan is the documented professional name in Encyclopedia.com and at the Television Academy. Searchers looking for Janis Ian in Mean Girls, Sara on Freaks and Geeks, or Virginia Johnson on Masters of Sex are usually aiming at the same person.