Maria Bello - Biography

Last Editor: scoop08				Maria Bello Biography -   Name : Maria Bello Birth Date : April 18, 1967 Birth Place : Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA Birth Name : Maria Elana Bello Height : 5' 5 Education : Villanova University, Philadelphia (majored in Political Science) Nationality : American Profession: : Actress

Maria Bello Trivia -

Practices Muay Thai (lethal) kickboxing. Comes from a Polish and Italian Family. Maria and her TV exec boyfriend, Dan McDermott, welcomed their first child, Jackson Blue McDermott. [5 March 2001] Was a bridesmaid at Andrea Bendewald's wedding, the same one in which Jennifer Aniston was the matron of honor. Became good friends with Mariska Hargitay when Hargitay had a recurring role as Cynthia Hooper on "ER" (1994) from 1997-1998. Best friends with Carrie-Anne Moss. Maria is the godmother of Carrie-Anne's first son, and Carrie-Anne is the godmother of Maria's son Jack. Was a varsity cheerleader in school at Archbishop John Carroll High School in Suburban Philadelphia. Invited to join AMPAS in 2006. Father, Joe, was a contractor and mother, Kathy, was a teacher and school nurse. Works with "Save the Children", nurturing kids in need. Her mother, who is a cancer survivor, was in New York City with Maria on Sept. 11, 2001 during the attacks on the World Trade Center. Since her mother was a nurse, she volunteered to help the victims. Has two brothers, Joseph and Christopher, and one sister, Lisa. Has 2 dogs. Flirted with a waiter at a family birthday party. The waiter became her fiance [July 26, 2008]. Had always wanted to be an action heroine, but gave up her dream two weeks before she turned 40, because she thought there would be no action roles for a lady her age. However, Rob Cohen called her up on her birthday and offered her the role in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). Her greatest memory from the set of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) was being in the desert playing football with 15 stunt men dressed as mummies.

Maria Bello Detailed Biography -

Maria Elana Bello was born April 18, 1967 in Norristown ,PA. One of 4 children, she has 2 brothers and a sister. Her father was employed in construction and her mother, a teacher who was a former school nurse. Her heritage is Polish/ Italian. She attended Villanova University in Philadelphia: majoring in Political Science. In her senior year she took an acting class as an elective and fell in love with acting. She then moved to New York City with $300.00 in her pocket & spend about six years doing the struggling-actress thing, appearing in numerous stage productions, shooting a few commercials, including her golden moment as the Amstel Light girl, and co-founding Harlem's Dream Yard Drama Project, a nonprofit arts and education program for urban kids. She made her TV debut in a guest appearance on the Fox comedy "Misery Loves Company" and demonstrated her versatility with a strong romantic turn opposite Bruce Greenwood in an episode of "Nowhere Man" (UPN). Bello made her TV-movie debut in "The Commish: In the Shadow of the Gallows" (ABC, 1995) before landing a choice role as a spy opposite Scott Bakula on the short-lived 1996 CBS action series "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". She checked into County General Hospital for three "ER" episodes as sassy pediatrician Anna Del Amico, a character which became a regular on the popular series for one season (1997-98). Bello made a strong sexy impression as a recovering junkie to whom screenwriter Jerry Stahl (Ben Stiller) recounts his past in in "Permanent Midnight" (1998). With each successive role, Bello found a new dimension to her characters, which were typically hard-as-nails on the outside but warm and vulnerable on the inside. In 1999 she starred as a hooker with ties to Mel Gibson in "Payback" and in 2000 she made a strong impression as the sultry leather-clad owner of the bar "Coyote Ugly" and den-mother to its collection of midriff-baring bartenders. She also appeared as another vulnerable sexpot in director Bruce Paltrow's "Duets" (2000) and switched gears for the nature-oriented IMAX film "China: The Panda Adenture," in which she plays a widow following in her husband's footsteps as she studies the Chinese Panda in the 1930s (2001). Bello resurfaced again in 2002 in Paul Schrader's gritty "Auto Focus," playing the TV actress wife of 1960s "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear), who led a kinky secret sex life that led to his murder. Maria co- founded the Dream Yard Project For Kids, a non-profit arts and education program for children in Harlem. She has travelled to Africa where she spoke to children and gathered material for a book examining the values of children from different cultures.