A talented member of the late 90s crop of budding WB network television stars, Keri Russell is best known for her lead role in the J.J. Abrams-created series “Felicity”, which earned Russell a Golden Globe award and ran for three seasons.
The stunning young actress was born in Fountain Valley, CA on March 23, 1976, and grew up in Denver and Mesa, Arizona. Her first foray into the entertainment world was a two-year stint from 1991-93 on the “New Mickey Mouse Club”, and in her last year she starred in the popular variety show with future superstars Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. Appearances in TV shows like “Boy Meets World” and “Clerks.” followed, in addition to the corny 1996 TV movie “The Babysitter’s Seduction” and a role on the ill-fated primetime soap opera “Malibu Shores”.
Russell headlined “Felicity” starting in 1998, and the show quickly achieved excellent ratings and critical acclaim for the young star. The angsty drama briefly made Russell a teen icon until its ratings dropped significantly in its second and third seasons. Many have suggested that Russell’s drastic hairstyle change in the show’s second season was a major reason for its decline, an oft-propagated theory that surely frustrated the talented actress. After a small role in Mel Gibson’s patriotic Vietnam War film “We Were Soldiers” in 2002, Russell seriously considered finding a new profession and took a long break from acting while living in New York City. Thankfully changing her mind, Russell returned in 2005 with a memorable supporting role as one of Joan Allen’s daughters in the amusing film “The Upside of Anger”, which also starred Kevin Costner in a relatively successful attempt at reinvigorating his career.
Currently poised to become a major star, Russell starred in the mini-series “Into the West” in 2005 and is now on screen opposite Tom Cruise, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and a slew of others in the Abrams-directed “Mission: Impossible 3”. She is also starring in “August Rush” and “Waitress”, with both slated for release in 2006.