| Keri Russell | |
|---|---|
Russell at the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 premiere, November 2010 |
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| Born | Keri Lynn Russell March 23, 1976 Fountain Valley, California, United States |
| Occupation | Actress/Dancer |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Spouse | Shane Deary (m. 2007–present) |
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).
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Russell was born in Fountain Valley, California, the daughter of Stephanie (née Stephens), a homemaker, and David Russell, a Nissan Motors executive.[1] She has an older brother, Todd, and a younger sister, Julie. The family lived in Coppell, Texas; Mesa, Arizona; and Highlands Ranch, Colorado, moving frequently because of the father's employment. Although Russell is best known for her acting, she studied at Starstruck dance studio in a suburb of Denver. She earned a spot on the Mickey Mouse Club show by her dancing.
Russell first appeared on television at age 15 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 actor Ryan Gosling and future pop stars Chasen Hampton, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake.[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. Russell appeared on Married with Children in a 1995 episode ("Radio Free Trumaine", production 9.24). She subsequently starred in several film and television roles, including the 1996 made-for-television film The Babysitter's Seduction. That year she also had a role on the short-lived soap opera series Malibu Shores. In 1994, she appeared in Bon Jovi's music video "Always" with Jack Noseworthy. In 1997, she appeared in two episodes of Roar alongside Heath Ledger.
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. A drastic hairstyle change at the beginning of the show's second season was thought to cause 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 (2002), playing the wife of a United States serviceman during the Vietnam War. The film was released two months before the end of Felicity's run.
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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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]
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] On July 7, 2011, Russell announced her second pregnancy.[17]The baby is due in December 2011.
| 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 (1999) Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Performance (1999) Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress (1999, 2000, 2001) Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress – Drama (2002) |
| 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 Hastings | |
| 2009 | Wonder Woman | Wonder Woman/Diana Prince | Voice |
| 2009 | Leaves of Grass | Janet | |
| 2010 | Extraordinary Measures | Aileen Crowley | |
| 2010 | Running Wilde | Emmy Kadubic | TV, 13 episodes |
| 2011 | Goats | Judy | Post-production |
| 2012 | Austenland | Jane Hayes | Filming |
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