Scrappy Little Nobody

Anyone who follows actress Anna Kendrick on Twitter or has seen her on talk shows knows she doesn't need scripted lines to be entertaining. Now fans can get more of Kendrick in her own words with Scrappy Little Nobody, an amusing collection of personal essays.

The title refers to the version of her former self Kendrick sometimes misses--a "single-minded and pugnacious" kid who used to take the bus into New York City from Portland, Maine, to audition for Broadway shows, the girl who was nominated for a Tony Award at the age of 12. By the time Kendrick was twice that age, she'd moved to Los Angeles by herself and been nominated for an Oscar. After paying her dues in independent films, including some cult favorites, Kendrick sang her way to mainstream stardom as the sarcastic leader of a ragtag bunch of a cappella singers in Pitch Perfect.

But with fame and privileged Hollywood life comes a fear of getting too comfortable: "Lazy is something I've always been, but complacent and entitled I want to avoid." So Kendrick fights to remain grounded even in glamorous situations. On red carpets, she wants to be asked: "McDonald's All-Day Breakfast--blessing or curse?" She avoids cocaine because it "makes you feel like the most important... person in the room. Why on EARTH would anyone do this drug...? Self-doubt keeps me in check!" The self-deprecation, sharp wit and conversational tone give the impression Kendrick is still scrappy, just no longer a nobody. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, blogger at Pop Culture Nerd

Powered by: Xtenit