Kellie Martin

Kellie Martin
Martin at the AHA 2014 Hero Dog Awards
Born	Kellie Noelle Martin (1975-10-16) October 16, 1975 Riverside, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1982–present
Spouse(s)	Keith Christian (m. 1999)
Children	1

Kellie Noelle Martin (born October 16, 1975) is an American television actress who is known for her roles as Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher in Life Goes On (1989–93), Christy Huddleston in Christy (1994–95), Lucy Knight on ER (1998–2000), and Samantha Kinsey in Mystery Woman (2003–07).

Early life

Martin was born in Riverside, California, the daughter of Debbie, a kindergarten teacher, and Doug Martin, a department store buyer and retail executive.^[1] Martin loved to perform for her close-knit family. She began her acting career at age seven, when her aunt, who was a nanny for actor Michael Landon's children, helped her land a guest spot on the Landon produced series Father Murphy. At the age of eleven, she was a contestant during Young People's Week on Card Sharks.^[2]

Career

Beginning

Martin had a recurring role on season three of Valerie's Family: The Hogans (1987–88). She also contributed the voice of Daphne Blake on the animated series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1988–91. In 1989, Martin began the role of Rebecca "Becca" Thacher on the family drama Life Goes On, which ran on ABC for four seasons. She also played the role of Emily in 1989's Troop Beverly Hills, starring Shelley Long.

1990s

From 1991 to 1995, Martin supplied the voice of Molly Tasmanian Devil on Taz-Mania. In 1993, she played Sherry in Matinee, starring John Goodman, and made a guest appearance as Cleo Walker on an episode of seaQuest DSV titled "Brothers and Sisters". In 1994, she starred on her own series, acting alongside Tyne Daly in the CBS period drama Christy. The series was based on a popular spiritually-themed novel by the author Catherine Marshall and told the story of a young missionary teacher in an isolated community in the Appalachian Mountains. The show was well received and had an avid fan base, but its ratings suffered from being moved around the television schedule in unpredictable time slots. She also reunited with her Troop Beverly Hills co-star Emily Schulman on this series.

In 1994, she starred on the Lifetime movie A Friend to Die For (also known as Death of a Cheerleader) in a lead role. In 1995, she starred on The Face on the Milk Carton, a TV film based on the book by Caroline Cooney about a teenager who finds out she was kidnapped from her real family 13 years prior and had been raised by the parents of her kidnapper. She also was on A Goofy Movie as the voice of Roxanne, Max's love interest. In 1996, Martin starred as deaf abuse victim Laura Keyes on Lifetime's TV movie "After the Silence (aka Breaking Through)" and in 1997, she starred on the short-lived NBC drama Crisis Center, which lasted only six episodes.

From 1998 to 2000, Martin appeared on the medical drama ER as medical student Lucy Knight. Martin was still going to Yale at the time and postponed her education so that she could join the cast.^[3]

2000s

In 2003, Martin starred on Mystery Woman, a Hallmark Channel movie about the owner of a mystery bookshop who solves actual crimes. It proved a popular vehicle for Martin; since 2005 she has gone on to make ten more Mystery Woman movies for Hallmark, two of which she directed. Also in 2003, Martin had a supporting role on the comedic film Malibu's Most Wanted.

In 2006, Martin starred in the Lifetime movie Live Once, Die Twice, followed by No Brother of Mine in 2007. Also in 2007, Martin provided the voice for the adult-version of Barbara Gordon on "Artifacts", an episode of The Batman.

In 2009 Martin was a guest on Grey's Anatomy, episode "No Good at Saying Sorry." She also guest starred in the Ghost Whisperer episode "Stage Fright" as Cally O'Keefe. More recently, she has guest starred on the Private Practice episode "The Way We Were".

In 2012, Martin played Army Captain Nicole Galassini on the Lifetime Network television series Army Wives.

Personal life

Martin graduated from Yale University in 2001 with a degree in art history. She was a member of Saybrook College. She married Keith Christian on May 15, 1999 in his hometown of Polson, Montana. The pair had their first child, a daughter named Margaret "Maggie" Christian, in 2006,^[4] named after Martin's sister Heather, who died due to lupus erythematosus at age 19.^[5]

Martin owns and operates her own toy store ROMPstore.com and has authored a novel, MADAM: A Novel of New Orleans from Plume.^[6]

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kellie Martin.

• Kellie Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• interview on Martin's exit from ER
• Kellie Martin on Twitter