Anna Camp will next month make a triumphant return to movie theatres in the new film Bride Hard, co-starring Aussie Rebel Wilson.
But the actress, who is best known for her roles in vampire series True Blood and as Aubrey, the co-leader of the female a-Capella group The Barden Bellas in the Pitch Perfect movie franchise, is in danger of her love life taking the limelight after debuting her new girlfriend on the red carpet this week.
Camp, who has been married and divorced twice, including to her Pitch Perfect co-star Skylar Astin, recently confirmed her romance with Jade Whipkey. Only weeks after going public with the news, she has been forced to defend their 18-year age gap
With Camp back in the headlines, let’s take a look back at her rise to fame.
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A star is born
Camp was born on September 27, 1982, in the US state of South Carolina. She told Glamour in 2014 growing up there was beautiful, even though she at times felt out of place.
“The South is all football and cheerleading, and here I was such a drama nerd that I felt a little out of place when I was there,” she said.
“We had high school sororities that were a little bit like Dazed and Confused.
“I’m actually thankful I didn’t get asked to be in them because it was a lot of hazing. It was terrible. I think that’s how I learned how to kind of be the mean girl in Pitch Perfect from watching that, but I was never like that growing up.”
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Her first acting job was playing a drug dealer in a second grade school play that was part of the school’s drug education program.
She admitted in an interview with Garden & Gun the same year that she was a perfectionist, like her most famous character Aubrey.
“But I’ve learned over the years to not hold on too tightly and to ease up on myself if I’m not perfect,” she said.
“When I was younger, in college and in New York City, I definitely studied really hard and overprepared for auditions. Now I realise that you do better work when you can let go more.”
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A life on stage
After earning a fine arts degree from the University of North Carolina School, she moved to New York City, where she appeared in various off-Broadway stage productions before landing a role opposite Harry Potter himself Daniel Radcliffe in the much-anticipated 2008 Broadway revival of Equus.
She told Collider in 2020 she never entertained a TV or movie career.
“I thought my whole career would be theatre in New York,” she said.
“I mean, I really was like, ‘I’m gonna be broke, but I’m gonna be happy… [because] I’m gonna do theatre for my whole life because I love it so, so much.’
“So I was just as shocked to audition for my first pilot season right out of college and luckily book a pilot, which was great.”
The pilot was for a TV show, Reinventing the Wheelers.
‘It all goes back to True Blood’
The next year she also appeared in one episode of another TV show, Cashmere Mafia, before she won an audition for the lead role in a new vampire drama True Blood, where she met the show’s creator, writer and executive producer, Alan Ball.
She told Collider, “I met Alan Ball in an audition for True Blood.
“I remember they were like, ‘You’re testing for Sookie!… You’re testing against this one other girl.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, who’s this gonna be?’
“And I was straight out of college with like no credits. And then in the hallway Anna Paquin and I pass each other and I was like, ‘Oh! Well, she’s gonna get it! She has an Oscar!’ You know what I mean? Come on!
“But it was so nice to have that audition go well and then have Alan Ball offer me the part of Sarah Newlin for the second season, so that was pretty cool that that worked out.”
During her interview with Glamour, Camp credited True Blood for igniting her career. She moved to LA and filmed 24 episodes between 2009 and 2014.
“It all goes back to True Blood because that really put me on the map. Glee brought me in because of that. Same with The Office,” she said.
“That character on season two of True Blood was someone people responded to.”
But it was her role in the 2012 film Pitch Perfect movie that put her on the map. She went on to appear in its two sequels, as well as the acclaimed film, The Help, and had recurring roles in TV series’ The Mindy Project and The Good Wife.
Most recently, she played twins in the fifth and final series of the Netflix show You, and her new film Bride Hard, is about to hit Australian cinemas.
Love life
Camp was just 21 and on a night out in New York when she met fellow actor Michael Mosley, who is best known for his roles in Scrubs, Castle, Ozark and Criminal Minds.
The two became engaged in 2008, just as her career was taking off, and married two years later, but he filed for divorce in 2013.
She reflected on their marriage during an episode of the Podcrushed podcast last month.
“We met very young,” she said, per People.
“It was like a one-night stand that lasted seven years.
“I changed so much when we both moved from New York to LA together. But he’s great and we still talk. It’s not like I don’t ever see him.”
The pair even worked together on 2024’s Neo-Dome.
The same year Mosley filed for divorce, Camp began dating her Pitch Perfect co-star Skylar Astin, who played Jesse.
She told Glamour in 2014, “We were friends first and just hit it off.
“We didn’t really have a scene together, but he’s just such a fun guy. He’s great.”
The two went on to date, despite him being five years younger than Camp, something that initially bothered her.
“But I was like, ‘You know what? OK! Let’s do it, let’s see.’ He’s literally my best friend.”’
The couple married in 2016 but less than three years later announced they were separating in a statement provided to People. Their divorce was finalised just months later.
In March 2020, Camp went Instagram official with drummer and singer Michael Johnson, who was formerly with the band Natural.
“In the middle of nowhere with no one I’d rather be with,” she captioned a photo of them together in Joshua Tree National Park.
The couple appeared to be together until at least August 2024, when he last appeared on her Instagram.
New partner
Then last month, eagle-eyes fans noticed someone new on Camp’s Instagram.
Jade Whipkey is a writer and on-set stylist, who at 24, is 18 years Camp’s junior.
Interest in their relationship intensified after Camp, 42, took Whipkey to the premiere of her new film Bride Hard.
“What a beautiful night celebrating @bridehardmovie in theatres tomorrow!” she wrote on Instagram on June 20.
“Thank you @rebelwilson for being my bride or die and to my girlfriend @jadewhipkey for being my date and for making me glow.”
That same day, Camp took to the Instagram page of LBGTQ+ media company PinkNews to clear up comments she had seen on Instagram about their age difference.
“Thought I’d jump on here since I follow @pinknews and just say I’ve dated men exactly my age and Jade is FAR more mature than any of them,” she wrote.
“We have more in common than anyone else I’ve ever dated and can literally talk about anything and everything. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I’m wishing everyone well. Especially this Pride month.”
Camp, who is said to have an estimated net worth of about AU$6 million, moved from LA to Palm Springs, California, after she and Astin listed their former marital home for sale in 2019.
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