Keri Russell Biography

Keri Lynn Russell (born January 17, 1976) is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-TV 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 Mission: Impossible III (2006), Waitress (2007), August Rush (2007), Extraordinary Measures (2010), Dark Skies (2013), and currently stars in the FX television series The Americans.

Early life

Russell was born in Fountain Valley, California, the daughter of Stephanie (née Stephens), a homemaker, and David Russell, a Nissan Motors executive. 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. Russell's dancing earned her a spot on the Mickey Mouse Club.

Career

1991"2002

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. She was on the show from 1991 to 1994 (Seasons 4-6) and co-starred with future actor Ryan Gosling and future pop stars Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Tony Lucca.

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 as the "other woman" in Bon Jovi's music video "Always" with Jack Noseworthy, Carla Gugino, and Jason Wiles. 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.

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.

2003"present

When Felicity ended, Russell moved to New York City and made her off-Broadway stage debut in 2004, appearing opposite Jeremy Piven, Andrew McCarthy, and Ashlie Atkinson in Neil LaBute's Fat Pig. 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. Directing Mission: Impossible III in 2005, J. J. Abrams asked Russell to join the cast and she accepted. She was screen tested for the role of Lois Lane in Superman Returns but lost the role to Kate Bosworth.

She played "Melody" on the NBC show Scrubs in 2007. She starred as "Jenna" in Waitress, which marks the fourth time Russell had played a pregnant woman. Russell's performance was positively received by critics, with Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun writing that Russell's performance had "aesthetic character" and "wields tenderness and fierceness with quiet heat". 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 next appeared in August Rush, released in November, 2007. She also appeared on the cover of the New York Post's Page Six magazine on November 11, 2007. Russell later appeared in Bedtime Stories. 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. She starred alongside Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford in the Tom Vaughan-helmed Extraordinary Measures 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. Russell played Emmy Kadubic in the premiere season of Running Wilde, a Fox comedy series cancelled in May 2011.

In the summer of 2006, Russell was chosen to be a celebrity spokeswoman for CoverGirl Cosmetics. 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. Russell voiced Wonder Woman in a direct-to-video animated feature released March 3, 2009.

Russell has worked with the FX network twice, the first time on the original FOX/FX series Running Wilde, from 2010 to 2011, and again in 2013 in the new series The Americans, playing a deep undercover KGB spy living as an American in the early 1980s.

Personal life

Russell and Shane Deary, a carpenter she met through mutual friends, became engaged in 2006 and were married on February 14, 2007 in New York. The couple have two children: son River Russell Deary (born June 9, 2007) and daughter Willa Lou Deary (born December 27, 2011).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Honey, I Blew Up the Kid	Mandy Park
1997	Eight Days a Week	Erica
1998	'	Emma	AKA, Dead Man's Curve
2000	Mad About Mambo	Lucy McLoughlin
2002	We Were Soldiers	Barbara Geoghegan
2005	'	Emily Wofmeyer
2005	The Magic of Ordinary Days	Livvy Dunne
2006	Mission: Impossible III	Lindsey Farris
2006	Grimm Love	Katie
2007	Waitress	Jenna Hunterson
2007	'	Celeste
2007	August Rush	Lyla Novacek
2008	Bedtime Stories	Jill
2009	Wonder Woman	Wonder Woman (voice)	Video
2009	Leaves of Grass	Janet
2010	Extraordinary Measures	Aileen Crowley
2012	Goats	Judy
2013	Austenland	Jane Hayes
2013	Dark Skies	Lacy Barrett
2014	Dawn of the Planet of the Apes		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Boy Meets World	Jessica	Episode: "Grandma Was a Rolling Stone"
1993	Emerald Cove	Andrea McKinsey	TV series
1994	Daddy's Girls	Phoebe Walker	Main role (3 episodes)
1995	Married... with Children	April Adams	Episode: "Radio Free Trumaine"
1995	Clerks.	Sandra	TV film
1996	'	Michelle Winston	TV film
1996	Malibu Shores	Chloe Walker	Main role (10 episodes)
1996	'	Felice Dunbar	TV film
1997	When Innocence Is Lost	Erica French	TV film
1997	7th Heaven	Camille	Episode: "Choices"
1997	Roar	Claire	Episodes: "Pilot", "Banshee"
1998"2002	Felicity	Felicity Porter	Main role (84 episodes)
1999	CinderElmo	Princess	TV film
2005	'	Livy	TV film
2005	Into the West	Naomi Wheeler	Episode: "Manifest Destiny"
2007	Scrubs	Melody O'Hara	Episodes: "My Turf War", "My Cold Shower"
2010"2011	Running Wilde	Emmy Kadubic	Main role (13 episodes)
2013"present	'	Elizabeth Jennings	Main role

Awards and nominations

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Production	Result
1993	Young Artist Award	Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Youth Series or Variety Show	The All New Mickey Mouse Club
1993	Young Artist Award	Best Young Actress Co-Starring in a Motion Picture	Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
1999	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series - Drama	Felicity
1999	Teen Choice Award	TV - Choice Actress	Felicity
1999	Teen Choice Award	TV - Breakout Performance	Felicity
2000	Teen Choice Award	TV - Choice Actress	Felicity
2001	Teen Choice Award	TV - Choice Actress	Felicity
2002	Teen Choice Award	TV - Choice Actress, Drama	Felicity
2005	Satellite Award	Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television	The Magic of Ordinary Days
2006	Teen Choice Award	Movies - Choice Actress: Drama/Action Adventure	Mission: Impossible III
2006	Camie		The Magic of Ordinary Days
2008	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Drama	August Rush
2013	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Drama Actress	The Americans