Academy Award nominee Maria Bello first became a familiar face to television-watchers, when she was cast in the role of "Dr. Anna Del Amico" in NBC's ER. Blonde and beautiful, she has opted to lean in the direction of edgier, tough-talking, street-smart characters in such films as Coyote Ugly, Payback, Auto Focus and Permanent Midnight. Her performance as a world-weary cocktail waitress opposite William H. Macy in The Cooler brought her her first Golden Globe nomination.
Maria Bello was born on April 18, 1967, in Norristown, PA. She went to Villanova University, majoring in political science. When she took an acting class during her senior year, just for fun, she discovered her talent, and 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). She got her big break when producers Kenny Lenhart and John Sakmar cast her in the spy show Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1996) as "Mrs. Smith".
Career Highlights: Permanent Midnight, Duets, Payback
First Major Screen Credit: ER: Season 04 (1997)
Biography
Born in Pennsylvania c. 1967, Maria Bello attended Villanova University as a political science major, but acting ability - evident from an early drama class - altered her career plans. Following graduation, Bello honed her acting skills in a number of New York theater productions before she broke through to the public as one of the leads in the short-lived TV spy comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1996). Bello gained broader primetime exposure as Dr. Anna Del Amico on NBC's blockbuster ER during the 1997 season and segued into films with her performance as recovering junkie Ben Stiller's confidante in the film-a-clef Permanent Midnight (1998), adapted from Jerry Stahl's harrowing book.
Bello scored her first pop hit as Mel Gibson's beautiful cohort in the harsh crime drama Payback (1999). Poised to potentially become one of the select group of actors who transition smoothly from television to film, Bello co-starred as one of the bottle-tossing, bar-stomping babes in charge of the titular drinking establishment in the Bruckheimer-produced hellraiser Coyote Ugly (2000).
When Coyote Ugly failed to live up to box office hopes, Bello starred as Suzi Loomis in Bruce Paltrow's Duets, and as Ruth Harkness in the IMAX feature China: The Panda Adventure (2001), based on her real-life experiences with the eponymous creatures. Bello scored a bona fide critical, if not financial, hit with Paul Schrader's biopic about slain Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane, Auto Focus (2002). As Crane's co-star and second wife Patricia, Bello holds her own opposite Greg Kinnear's bravura performance as the nymphomaniacal Crane, evoking the complex emotions of a spouse who accepts yet ultimately cannot contend with her husband's desires.
A year after Auto Focus, Bello would score even bigger with the critics with a starring role alongside William H. Macy in the gritty Vegas romance The Cooler. As the cocktail waitress who falls for Macy's sadsack ne'er-do-well, Bello brought a sense of extreme realism to her character. The film netted her a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Screen Actors Guild and a runner-up prize from The National Society of Film Critics.
In early 2004, Bello appeared as Johnny Depp's estranged wife in the Stephen King adaptation The Secret Window, and in John Sayles' well-received political thriller Silver City. Though subsequent appearances in the fairly forgettable Assault on Precinct 13, The Dark, and The Sisters followed in 2005, Bello's Golden Globe-nommed performance as an unassuming housewife who married into mystery in A History of Violence, coupled with her prominent performance as a determined alcohol lobbyist in the critically-acclaimed Thank You for Smoking, helped to get her back in the good graces of critics and end the year on a decidedly high note.
When 2006 arrived, Bello joined Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, and Maggie Gyllenhall in World Trade Center, Oliver Stone's docudrama/survival picture that recounted the experiences of two Port Authority firefighters trapped beneath the rubble of the destroyed buildings. Bello joins the cast of the same year's Flicka, adapted from the seminal children's novel by Mary O'Hara (and incarnated decades prior as the movie and TV series My Friend Flicka) , alongside Alison Lohman and country singer Tim McGraw.
Active in social causes as well, Maria Bello co-founded the Harlem not-for-profit arts and education program, Dream Yard Drama Project for Kids. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Bello's breakthrough came when the producers Kerry Lenhart and John J. Sakmar cast her as Mrs. Smith in the spy show Mr. & Mrs. Smith. 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. Bello remained on the show for one season as a regular cast member, 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). She also starred in The Jane Austen Book Club as Jocelyn.
In 2008 Bello starred in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor as Evy O'Connell, taking over from Rachel Weisz. The move caused uproar from critics and fans of the series, and continues to do so. Bello has stated that she has signed up for three more Mummy films, meaning any possible return of Rachel Weisz is now unlikely.
In December 2008 Bello began developing a drama for HBO. Besides starring in the new series, Bello will also serve as an executive producer.[5]
Personal life
Bello has a son named Jackson Blue, born in 2001, with former long-time boyfriend Dan McDermott. Bello is also a Muay Thai practitioner. In July 2008 she became engaged to musician Bryn Mooser; a date for the wedding has not been announced.[6] Bello and Carrie-Anne Moss of The Matrix are best friends, and they are godmother to each others first born children.[7]
^Actress Maria Bello Engaged, Us Magazine, July 28, 2008. Accessed September 10, 2008. During interview while promoting The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Bello voiced her support for Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election.[5]
