MARIA BELLO

'Maria Elaine Bello ' (born April 18, 1967) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actress.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Selected filmography

Footnotes

External links

Biography

Early life

Bello was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania to an Italian American father and a Polish American mother.^[1][2][3] She grew up in a working-class Roman Catholic family and graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School (Radnor, PA). Later she attended Villanova University, majoring in political science. She had every intention of becoming a lawyer, but took an acting class during her senior year, just for fun. She was soon cast in small off-Broadway plays, such as ''The Killer Inside Me'', ''Small Town Gals With Big Problems'' and ''Urban Planning''. She later guest-starred on episodes of ''The Commish'' (1991), ''Nowhere Man'' (1995), ''Misery Loves Company'' (1995) and ''Due South'' (1994).

Career

Bello's breakthrough came when producers Kerry Lenhart and John J. Sakmar cast her as Mrs. Smith in the spy show ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (1996) ; they remembered her from her performance in a failed pilot that was a remake of the classic TV series ''77 Sunset Strip'' (1958). The show was cancelled after just eight weeks on the air. Then came a guest stint on ''ER'' as the feisty pediatrician Dr. Anna Del Amico, in which she guest-starred in the final three episodes of the third season. The show's producers were so impressed with her that they asked her back as a regular on the series. Bello remained on the show for one season, departing after the medical drama's 4th season. The actress went on into movies landing a role in ''Coyote Ugly''. She has been nominated for the Golden Globe award twice: for Best Supporting Actress in ''The Cooler'' (2003) and for Best Actress in ''A History of Violence'' (2005).

Personal life

Bello practices yoga, muay thai and ballet. Bello and her boyfriend, TV executive Dan McDermott, welcomed their first child, Jackson Blue McDermott, on March 5, 2001.
She is good friends with actresses Mariska Hargitay and Carrie-Anne Moss. Bello is the godmother of Moss's first son. Moss is the godmother of Bello's son Jack.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	''	Evelyn Carnahan-O'Connell	[1]
2007	''Butterfly on a Wheel''	Abby Warner
	''The Jane Austen Book Club''	Jocelyn
2006	''World Trade Center''	Donna McLoughlin
	''Flicka''	Nell McLaughlin
	''The Sisters''	Marcia Prior Glass
	''Thank You For Smoking''	Polly Bailey
2005	''The Dark''	Adele
	''A History of Violence''	Edie Stall
	''Assault on Precinct 13''	Alex Sabian
2004	''Secret Window''	Amy Rainey
	''Silver City''	Nora Allardyce
2003	''The Cooler''	Natalie Belisario
2002	''Auto Focus''	Patricia Olson/Patrica Crane/Sigrid Valdis
2000	''Duets''	Suzi Loomis
	''Coyote Ugly''	Lil
1999	''Payback''	Rosie
1998	''Permanent Midnight''	Kitty

Footnotes

1. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_3_34/ai_114785811
2. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_3_29/ai_54133683
3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/10/AR2006081000437.html

External links

★

★

★ Bello interview, 2004, LookSmart

★ Bello interview, 2004, Brentwood Magazine

★ Bello interview, 1999, LookSmart