Lili Reinhart Bio
Lili Pauline Reinhart is an American actress who first captured widespread attention as Betty Cooper on The CW’s hit teen drama Riverdale, a role she played from the show’s debut in 2017 through its final season in 2023. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in nearby Bay Village, Reinhart developed a love for performing at an early age, training in singing, acting, and dancing before she was a teenager. Her film work includes the crime drama Hustlers (2019), the romantic drama Chemical Hearts (2020), and the parallel-reality film Look Both Ways, with each project expanding her range as a leading actress.
Beyond acting, Reinhart has built a creative footprint as a producer through her company Small Victory Productions, which signed a development deal with Amazon Studios in 2021. She is also a published author, releasing the poetry collection Swimming Lessons: Poems in 2020, and later launched a skincare line called Personal Day. Reinhart is widely recognized for her candor about mental health and her advocacy within the LGBTQ+ community, having publicly come out as bisexual in 2020.
Early Life and Background
Lili Pauline Reinhart was born on September 13, 1996, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Amy and Daniel Reinhart. She is of German and French descent and has noted that her surname is of German origin. Reinhart grew up in Bay Village, a small lakeside town just outside Cleveland, where she was raised alongside her two sisters as the middle child in the family.
Reinhart discovered her love for the performing arts at the age of 10, when she began training in singing, acting, and dancing. She asked her mother to drive her to New York City for auditions, an early sign of her determination to pursue a career in entertainment. While still a teenager, the family relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Reinhart later moved to Los Angeles at 18 to chase roles in Hollywood.
After roughly five months in Los Angeles, she returned to Charlotte and worked with a therapist while continuing to audition. That period of reflection helped her refocus, and she eventually returned to the West Coast, where her career began to gain traction through small television appearances and independent films.
Path to Acting
Reinhart’s first on-screen credit came in 2010 with the television pilot Scientastic!, followed by a guest spot on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2011. She went on to appear in a string of independent features, including Lilith (2011), Not Waving But Drowning (2012), The Kings of Summer (2013), Gibsonburg (2013), Forever’s End (2013), Miss Stevens (2016), and The Good Neighbor (2016). These early roles helped her build a foundation in both dramatic and character-driven work.
She also appeared in the Fox sitcom Surviving Jack before her career-defining audition. On February 9, 2016, Reinhart was cast as Betty Cooper on Riverdale, the CW’s adaptation of the Archie Comics universe. She auditioned twice, first submitting a tape from her North Carolina home and then appearing in person a month later, eventually winning one of the most sought-after roles on network television at the time.
Lili Reinhart Career
Early Career (2010–2016)
Between 2010 and 2016, Reinhart built a résumé of small-screen guest appearances and independent film roles, working steadily in projects that ranged from procedural television to coming-of-age dramas. Her early film work, including The Kings of Summer and Miss Stevens, placed her alongside emerging and established talent and helped her earn notice among casting directors.
This period allowed her to develop a natural, grounded screen presence, which would later become a hallmark of her performance as Betty Cooper. Her pre-Riverdale work demonstrated a willingness to take on varied genres and emotionally complex characters, laying the groundwork for her eventual breakout.
Breakthrough (2017–2023)
Riverdale premiered on January 26, 2017, and quickly became one of The CW’s most popular dramas, with Reinhart’s portrayal of Betty Cooper earning her a loyal fan base and consistent critical attention. In February 2021, the series was renewed for a sixth season, extending her run on the show until its conclusion in 2023.
In 2017, Reinhart was cast in Galveston, a crime drama directed by Mélanie Laurent and based on Nic Pizzolatto’s 2010 novel. The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 10, 2018, and received a limited theatrical release through RLJE Films on October 19, 2018. It received mixed critical reviews and grossed $190,320 at the box office.
Reinhart joined the cast of Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers in March 2019, playing Annabelle, a former stripper who becomes part of a crew that drugs and robs Wall Street clients. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2019, and was theatrically released the following week, grossing $157.6 million worldwide and receiving positive critical reviews. She also made a cameo in the mid-credits scene of Charlie’s Angels (2019).
In June 2019, Reinhart was announced as the female lead of Amazon Studios’ Chemical Hearts, written and directed by Richard Tanne and based on Krystal Sutherland’s 2016 novel Our Chemical Hearts. The film was released on August 21, 2020, on Amazon Prime Video and received mixed reviews, but it marked Reinhart’s first executive producer credit, signaling her growing interest in shaping stories behind the camera.
Notable Works and Milestones
Riverdale remains Reinhart’s signature role, while Hustlers stands as her highest-grossing film to date, reaching $157.6 million worldwide. Chemical Hearts marked her first producing credit, and Look Both Ways, in which she starred as Natalie navigating parallel life paths, became her second executive producer credit. Her production company, Small Victory Productions, signed a deal with Amazon Studios in June 2021, signaling a new chapter focused on developing original and adapted content for film and television aimed at young adult audiences.
Lili Reinhart Personal Life
Reinhart was diagnosed with depression at the age of 14 and has since spoken openly about her experiences with anxiety and body dysmorphia. In January 2024, she was diagnosed with alopecia, and in 2025 she revealed that she was on antidepressants while also managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, severe premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and endometriosis. In June 2020, she publicly came out as bisexual on Instagram and has remained an active voice for LGBTQ+ visibility.
A practicing Christian, Reinhart also practices Transcendental Meditation and is training to become a reiki healer. Outside of film and television, she released a book of poetry titled Swimming Lessons: Poems in September 2020, which debuted at No. 2 on The New York Times Best Seller list for paperback trade fiction for the week of October 18, 2020. She also served as an ambassador for American Express’s Amex Green Card relaunch in 2019 and became a CoverGirl spokesperson that October.
In 2024, Reinhart launched her own skincare line called Personal Day, expanding her creative work into the beauty space. That same year, she also signed a multi-project deal with Amazon Studios that includes a first-look film pact, reinforcing her growing influence as both performer and producer.