Elizabeth Banks on Sisterhood, Skin Care, and Activism

Elizabeth Banks is busy. She’s in the middle of a press run for her latest show, The Better Sister, a murder mystery that centers around two estranged sisters (played by Banks and Jessica Biel) reuniting. She’s living in Toronto and filming a new series, The Miniature Wife, on Peacock. She even just gave a commencement speech at her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. Amid all of it, she’s trying to get her beauty sleep.

“Our skin does its best repair work at night,” she says. “I tell my kids that’s when your body fixes itself, and when you grow. That’s true of our skin too.” Banks is the first U.S. ambassador for skin care brand No7, and she’s been using their new Future Renew line every night.

Banks joined me on a Zoom call from Toronto. We caught up about her nighttime routine, her love of puzzles and podcasts (of which she has many recommendations, and even pulled up her podcast library to make sure she gave me all of them), and how important it is for her to stay active in today’s political climate. Below, our full conversation.

It’s weird right now, because I’m living alone. I don’t have my kids with me. I have a totally different vibe than I normally do when I am home. Last night was a typical night for me [alone]. I’ve been doing puzzles. I like to puzzle and listen to books on tape. I’m actually listening to A Court of Thorns and Roses right now, which is making me laugh. Last night’s [puzzle was] a bunch of popsicles. I also did a Great Gatsby puzzle. This is my third puzzle in about four months that I’ve done. I leave it on the table and wind down by listening to something and keeping my mind busy. This is the one thing that I feel like is just for me.

I do not bother with anything less than 1,000.

Um... I think it’s pretty good. I don’t want to speak ill. It’s a fun world to be in. The news is a bit overwhelming right now. I’m finding [that] I just want to be in a fairy tale world right now in my wind-down [time]. I get my news during the day. But at night, I’m also really trying to stay off Instagram. It’s really important for my sleep that I am doing something actually relaxing that does not take my emotional life anywhere.

The greatest thing about No7 is that you can line all the products up on the countertop, and go through them one by one. I use the Future Renew Peptide Cleanser. Then I do the Future Renew Night Serum, that’s really silky, lovely, and yummy. It feels and works great. I got into serums after a conversation with my dermatologist, who was like, You could do more than just moisturizer. Serums are when you get the good stuff, you know? Then I have the Future Renew Night Cream. All of these are formulated for overnight use. They really make the most of your beauty sleep. The other thing I’m most interested in is sleep. I really am trying my best to hydrate at night and get as much sleep as possible. Your skin always looks improved when it’s hydrated [and] after you’ve had a good night’s sleep.

I love long walks. I’m really trying to get those steps in. Even after a long day, I’ll try and do a walk. I also have a walking pad in my trailer at work. On my breaks, I just walk. That’s when I’m usually listening to my podcast. And planning the revolution, obviously.

I listen to a lot of NPR, which I still support. I listen to Up First most days. I listen to The Daily. I like Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. I like Mel Robbins. I like storytelling, so I do like a lot of the murder podcasts. I listened to one a while ago that I really still think about called Bear Brook. I [also] listen to The Opportunist. I have a friend, Quinn Emmett, who does The Most Important Question. It’s all about environmentalism and the ways that different things cross into climate. You wouldn’t think this, but [there’s an episode about] women’s rights crossing into climate—protecting women, elevating them. Then all the Serials and Nice White Parents.

I got into facials more. I do crazy things now. I put my face in ice most mornings to take down inflammation. No7 is great for elasticity, fine lines, hydration, and wrinkles. But physically, I carry a lot of water weight. I like to gua sha and move things around [like lymphatic drainage]. As you get older, things start to fall apart faster, and you really do have to pay closer attention. It’s made me more mindful.

I loved the themes of it. It felt almost Shakespearean in nature. There’s two sisters with a shared husband, and the son [is] living in the shadow of the father [in] this rarefied world. These two daughters who took different paths and now [have] come back together. There’s vengeance and revenge.

To be honest, I’m a big sister, and I felt a real kinship with this character. A sisterhood at the center of a story is something I’m always drawn to. If you watch Pitch Perfect, it’s about sisterhood. It’s about a sorority of women who band together and solve something. I made Charlie’s Angels, which is about a sorority of women who band together to solve something. It’s a theme in a lot of my work. It’s a relationship that we don’t always see elevated. I love that this was a classic whodunit that also had sisterhood at the center of it.

Sisterhood is a shortcut to saying all the women in my life who are getting shit done, who are inspiring me to get shit done, who teach me, and on whose shoulders I stand. It’s one of the most important things in my life. Other than my marriage, it’s all about sisterhood. I’m the oldest of four. I have two sisters and a brother. I have two sisters-in-law, who I love dearly, too. My mom has five sisters. My dad has four sisters. There’s a lot of sisters in my life, but I also have all my friends and my girlfriends. [I have] mom friends. Then I have the sisters that I’m activists with. I have the sisterhood of my fellow actresses in Hollywood, who amaze me and inspire me all the time.

Can’t do without them. I’ve really been coming to back to the idea more and more that we are living in a world that was not handed to us. It was fought for—my right to vote, to a 40-hour work week, child care, ability to have a credit card and own property. None of this was God-given to me. It had to be fought for by women who came before me. It’s always good to remind women that they live in a world that was fought for by other women.

In the women around me and in my kids. I want more freedom for them. I want their lives to be open and enriched. I want people to be educated. We are living in an incredibly interesting time in human history. We’re on this exponential curve, with everything going straight up. We’ve got AI, and all of these incredible technological advancements, especially when it comes to living longer. We’re really the first generation of humans to live this long. What are we going to do with all that time? How are we going to spend it, and how are we going to be more inclusive of more people? We have a lot of hard things going on when it comes to climate change and income inequality. We need to be inviting more people to the solutions party, and not less.

I do feel hopeful. When it comes to the protests that are going on in Los Angeles, for instance, it’s about a sense of safety for everyone in our lives—our neighbors, our friends, our family, our co-workers. I feel like the current administration is making things very unsafe, and people don’t like to feel unsafe. The banding together gives me hope that everyone is actually going to fight for one another’s safety, and that we actually do live in community. We don’t live in a divided place. I live in a community, and I’m going to help keep the people [there] safe. I’m going to continue to try and do that. If I am, I know other people are too.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.