Meet Elizabeth Banks’ husband she met on the first day of college and their rarely-seen kids

For basically as long as she has been famous, Elizabeth Banks has always had her husband by her side.

The Better Sister actress, 51, who made her screen debut in 1998, has been married to her husband Max Handelman since 2003, who she met on her very first day of college at the University of Pennsylvania in 1992.

Since then, the couple have welcomed two kids together, who they keep out of the spotlight. Learn all about Elizabeth’s family below.

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Meet her husband Max

Max, 52, is originally from Portland, Oregon, and Elizabeth has spoken candidly about both how they met and how their romance started. During a 2012 interview on Conan, she recalled: “He was wearing a vest with no shirt … to show off his sexy physique back in the day,” and then confessed: “I dated the same guy all throughout high school, and I basically — and he knows this so … this is no surprise to him — cheated on him with my now-husband.”

He studied political communications at UPenn, and has since developed quite the varied resume. He has worked as an investment banker, and for digital ventures group at NewsCorp, but he has since moved into entertainment.

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In 2002, Elizabeth and Max founded Brownstone productions, which has been behind hits such as Pitch Perfect, Bottoms, and Cocaine Bear. 

Max has also worked as a sports writer, and in 2006, he co-wrote a book about fantasy football with Erik Barmack, titled Why Fantasy Football Matters: (And Our Lives Do Not). He later helped develop the fantasy football sector at Fox Sports.

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Meet her first son Felix, 14

Eight years after tying the knot, in March 2011, Elizabeth and Max welcomed their first son, Felix, via surrogacy. At the time, Elizabeth shared the news in a blog post titled “Introducing Felix,” in which she opened up about her difficult fertility journey. Though she said she had up until that point “been very fortunate in life both professionally and personally,” she noted: “The one true hurdle I’ve faced in life is that I have a broken belly.” 

“After years of trying to get pregnant, exploring the range of fertility treatments, all unsuccessful, our journey led us to gestational surrogacy: we make a ‘baby cake’ and bake it in another woman’s ‘oven,'” she further shared.

Elizabeth added: “From that came two miracles. The first was meeting our carrier and her husband who were truly humbling in their decency and generosity. And the second miracle was the birth of our baby boy, Felix Handelman. Felix means ‘happy’ and ‘lucky’ in Latin. And true to his name, Felix is a very happy baby and a blessing on our life.”

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Meet her youngest son Magnus, 12

In November 2012, Elizabeth and Max welcomed another son via surrogacy. Once again taking to her blog, she wrote: “Like Felix, Magnus was born via gestational surrogate. This experience has exceeded all expectations, taught us a great deal about generosity and gratitude, and established a relationship that will last a lifetime.”

Elizabeth has since been adamant about keeping her sons out of the spotlight and details about their lives private, and does not show their faces on social media, save for occasional photos in which they are obscured. Such was the case in a Mother’s Day post in 2023, in which she endearingly wrote: “My other two hearts. Most profound, inspiring, rewarding, relentless job and I am the luckiest person to be their mom. Happy Mother’s Day to everyone helping to raise the future.”