Keri Russell

Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe Award. Russell has since appeared in several films, including Mad About Mambo (2000), We Were Soldiers (2002), The Upside of Anger (2005), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Waitress (2007), August Rush (2007), Bedtime Stories (2008) and Extraordinary Measures (2010).

Early life

Russell was born in Fountain Valley, California, the daughter of Stephanie (née Stephens), a homemaker, and David Russell, a Nissan Motors executive. She has an older brother, Todd, and a younger sister, Julie. Russell grew up in Coppell, Texas, Mesa, Arizona, and Highlands Ranch, Colorado, moving frequently because of her father's employment. Though she is best known for her acting, she started out at Starstruck dance studio in a suburb of Denver and it was her dancing, not her acting, that earned her a spot on the Mickey Mouse Club.[citation needed]

Career

[edit]1991–2002
Russell first appeared on television as a cast member of the All-New Mickey Mouse Club variety show on the Disney Channel.[2] She was on the show from 1991 to 1993 and co-starred with future pop stars Chasen Hampton, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, and Ryan Gosling.[3]
In 1992, she appeared in Honey, I Blew Up the Kid alongside Rick Moranis and in 1993, had a role on the sitcom Boy Meets World as Mr. Feeny's niece. Keri had an appearance on Married with Children in a 1995 episode ("Radio Free Trumaine", production 9.24). Russell subsequently starred in several film and television roles, including the 1996 made-for-television film The Babysitter's Seduction.[citation needed] She also had a role on the short-lived soap opera series Malibu Shores the same year. In 1994, she appeared in Bon Jovi's music video "Always" with Jack Noseworthy.[citation needed] In 1997, she appeared in two episodes of Roar alongside Heath Ledger.[citation needed]
From 1998 to 2002, Russell starred as the title character on the successful WB Network series Felicity; she won a Golden Globe for the role in 1999. Russell's long and curly hair was one of her character's defining characteristics, and a drastic hairstyle change at the beginning of the show's second season was considered to be the cause of a significant drop in the show's television ratings.[4] During the show's run, Russell appeared in the films Eight Days a Week, The Curve, and Mad About Mambo, all of which received only limited releases in North America. Her next role was in the film We Were Soldiers, playing the wife of an American serviceman. The film was released in March 2002, two months before the end of Felicity's run.
[edit]2003–present

Russell at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
When Felicity ended, Russell took a break from acting. She moved to New York City and took two years off to avoid the business of Hollywood, spending time with friends.[citation needed] Russell subsequently made her off-Broadway stage debut in 2004, appearing opposite Jeremy Piven, Andrew McCarthy, and Ashlie Atkinson in Neil LaBute's Fat Pig.[5] In 2005, she returned to television and film, beginning with an appearance in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie The Magic of Ordinary Days, theatrical film The Upside of Anger (alongside Kevin Costner, Joan Allen and Evan Rachel Wood), and the television miniseries Into the West.
Although a number of her Felicity co-stars went on to appear in producer J. J. Abrams' series, Alias, Russell declined invitations to be part of the show.[citation needed] In a seminar at the Museum of Television and Radio, Abrams said, "I've asked Keri if she would ever do it, and I usually get this, sort of like, giggle — and then she hangs up". In 2005, Abrams asked Russell to join the cast of Mission: Impossible III, a film he directed, and she accepted. The film was released on May 5, 2006. In the summer of 2006, Russell was chosen to be a celebrity spokeswoman for CoverGirl Cosmetics.[citation needed] Before she was in Mission Impossible: III, she was screen tested for the role of Lois Lane in Superman Returns but lost the role to Kate Bosworth.[citation needed]
She taped two episodes as a guest character on the NBC show Scrubs in 2007. She played Melody, a sorority sister and good friend of Elliot Reid played by Sarah Chalke. The first episode aired on April 26, and the second on May 3.[citation needed] She starred in Waitress, a well-reviewed independent film in which she played Jenna, a pregnant waitress in the American South; it was the fourth film in a row in which Russell had played a pregnant woman.[6] The film opened on May 4, 2007 and Russell's performance was positively received by critics,[7] with Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun writing that Russell's performance had "aesthetic character" and "welds tenderness and fierceness with quiet heat".[8] In the summer of 2007, Russell appeared in The Keri Kronicles, a reality show/sitcom sponsored by CoverGirl and airing on MySpace; the show was filmed at Russell's home in Manhattan and spotlighted her life.[7]
Russell next appeared in August Rush, a drama released in November, 2007. She also appeared on the cover of the New York Post's Page Six magazine on November 11, 2007.[citation needed] She has completed roles in Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story (titled Rohtenburg for its German release), in which she plays Katie Armstrong, a graduate student who writes a thesis paper on an infamous cannibal murder case, and the thriller The Girl in the Park, opposite Sigourney Weaver, Kate Bosworth and Alessandro Nivola.
Russell later appeared in Bedtime Stories, with Adam Sandler playing the lead.[9] In an appearance on The View on December 15, 2008, Russell said she got the part because Sandler's wife Jackie had seen Russell in Waitress and suggested her for the movie.
Russell portrayed Wonder Woman in a direct-to-video animated feature released March 3, 2009.[10] She starred alongside Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford in the Tom Vaughan-helmed Extraordinary Measures[11][12] for CBS Films. The drama, which started filming on April 6, 2009 and was released on January 22, 2010, was the first film to go into production for the new company.[citation needed] Russell played Aileen Crowley, a mother who tries to build a normal home life for her sick children while her husband, John (Fraser), and an unconventional scientist (Ford) race against time to find a cure.[13]
Russell played Emmy Kadubic in the premiere season of Running Wilde, a Fox comedy series cancelled in May 2011.[14]
[edit]Personal life

Russell and Shane Deary, a carpenter she met through mutual friends,[6] became engaged in 2006 and were married on February 14, 2007 in New York.[15] Russell gave birth to a boy, River Russell Deary, on June 9, 2007 in New York.[16] Russell had a midwife-assisted hospital birth;[17] she has described her pregnancy experience as "real great and easy".[18] On July 7, 2011, Russell announced her second pregnancy.[19]
As of 2007, Russell resides in Brooklyn, New York.[20][21]
[edit]Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1991–1993 The Mickey Mouse Club Various Television series
1992 Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Mandy Park
1993 Boy Meets World Jessica Feeny TV, 1 episode: "Grandma Was a Rolling Stone"
1993 Emerald Cove Andrea McKinsey Television series
1994 Daddy's Girls Phoebe TV, 3 episodes: "Pilot", "American in Paris... Cool" and "Keep Your Business Out of My Business"
1995 Married with Children April Adams TV, 1 episode: "Radio Free Trumaine"
1995 Clerks. Sandra Television film
1996 The Babysitters Seduction Michelle Winston Television film
1996 The Lottery Felice Dunbar Television film
1996 Malibu Shores Chloe Walker TV, 10 episodes
1997 Eight Days a Week Erica
1997 When Innocence Is Lost Erica French Television film
1997 7th Heaven Camille TV, 1 episode: "Choices"
1997 Roar Claire TV, 2 episodes: "Pilot" and "Banshee"
1998 The Curve Emma
1998–2002 Felicity Felicity Porter TV, 84 episodes
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama
Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Performance
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress (1999, 2000, 2001)
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress – Drama
1999 Cinderelmo Princess Television film
2000 Mad About Mambo Lucy McLoughlin
2002 We Were Soldiers Barbara Geoghegan
2005 The Upside of Anger Emily Wolfmeyer
2005 The Magic of Ordinary Days Olivia 'Livy' Dunn Television film
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2005 Into the West Naomi Wheeler TV, 1 episode: "Manifest Destiny"
2006 Mission: Impossible III Lindsey Farris Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama/Action Adventure
2007 Grimm Love Katie Armstrong
2007 Waitress Jenna Hunterson
2007 Scrubs Melody O'Hara TV, 2 episodes: "My Turf War" and "My Cold Shower"
2007 The Girl in the Park Celeste
2007 August Rush Lyla Novacek Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama
2008 Bedtime Stories Jill
2009 Wonder Woman Wonder Woman/Diana Prince Voice
2009 Leaves of Grass Janet
2010 Extraordinary Measures Aileen Crowley
2010 Running Wilde Emmy Kadubic TV, 12 episodes
2011 Goats Judy Filming
References from Wikipedia.com