Catherine Bell

Catherine Bell
Image:Catherine Bell by Kozaryn.jpg Catherine Bell at a military concert Nov. 30 2000
Birth name	Catherine Lisa Bell
Born	August 14 1968 (age 40) London, England
Official site	http://www.catherinebellonline.com/

Catherine Lisa Bell (born August 14, 1968 in London, England) is a British-born Iranian-American actress best known as being David James Elliott's co-star as fiancee and best friend Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie of the hit television show JAG from 1997 to 2005.

Biography

Bell is the daughter of a Scottish father and Iranian mother.^[1] Her parents divorced, and then she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, California when she was three years old. She became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 12. She acted in various television advertisements as a child. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with an interest in becoming either a biomedical engineer or a physician but dropped out to become a full-time model. One of her first modeling jobs was an extended assignment in Japan.

Her first appearance in a film was as a body double for Isabella Rossellini in Death Becomes Her (1992). In 2003, Bell played a supporting role in the comedy Bruce Almighty, which starred Jim Carrey. From 1997 to 2005, she played U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Sarah MacKenzie on the television series JAG, as a practicing attorney in the U.S. Navy's Judge Advocate General's Corps of legal experts.

Bell is fluent in Persian (Farsi) and English.

Bell married Adam Beason on 8 May, 1994.^[2] They have a daughter, Gemma, who was born on 16 April, 2003.

Bell is a survivor of thyroid cancer. She had to have her thyroid gland removed from her neck in her 20s. She has a small surgical scar on her neck. At one time, she used to have a message board on her website but this has been removed citing the inability to constantly monitor it. While the message board was running, Ms. Bell noted that she has had thyroid surgery and LASIK done in the past.

On September 14, 2006, Reuters/Hollywood Reporter announced that Catherine Bell had joined the cast of Lifetime's ensemble drama pilot "Army Wives". In the projected series, Sally Pressman stars as a sassy woman from the wrong side of the tracks who marries a soldier, moves her kids to a military base and becomes friends with a diverse group of Army wives, three of them played by Catherine Bell, Kim Delaney, and Brigid Brannagh. Bell will play the wife of a US Army major, a devoted homemaker who is enduring physical abuse at the hands of her teenage son. In December, Lifetime announced it would produce 13 episodes of the series for 2007.

Bell has also acted in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries, The Triangle, presented in December 2005, where she played the role of an ocean engineer.

In 2006, she was nominated in Saturn Award of Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Supporting Actress on Television (The Triangle)

Scientology

Bell has been affiliated with Scientology/Dianetics since 1990 and has achieved what they call "the state of Clear".^[3] She has supported Scientology's Hollywood Education and Literacy Project^[4] In December 2005, Bell helped promote the gala opening of Scientology's controversial "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" Museum, which puts forth a conspiracy theory connecting Adolf Hitler to the psychiatric profession.^[5]

In February 2006, Bell appeared in a Scientology music video called "United". Fox News reporter Roger Friedman said of the video, Bell and other celebrities such as Jenna Elfman and Isaac Hayes were "all sort of nodding in a trance and clapping".^[6]

Filmography

Actress

Self

Archive Footage

Quotes

• "This huge life-changing moment of going from zero to ninety in two seconds!" (Catherine on her reaction to getting a lead role on JAG)^[2]

• It was strange, because I was showing my butt all day and all these guys (on the set) were hitting on me. It was like, "you're showing your butt on camera, why don't you show me?", and they were so sleazy and gross... On being a "body double" for Isabella Rossellini (in Death Becomes her)

• "Almost every Marine I've met says I portray a Marine dead-on, which is really, really flattering."^[7]

• "Women in the military thank me for portraying a character who's feminine and attractive and sexual and yet still strong and intelligent and in the military. I think people have this perception that to be strong and a military woman you have to look a certain way or not be feminine."^[7]

• "People were showing you how to throw up. You’re taking diet pills. Everyone’s partying, so you start drinking a lot, and drugs. A couple of years messed me up for a while”. (On her modeling career - before embarking on acting.)

• "I don't mind nudity when it's done tasteful and not just gratuitous T and A. They showed my butt! It was fine, though. I think the female body is beautiful." [1]

• My husband and I were sitting at our dining room table looking at a stack of bills trying to work out a way we could pay them. We'd already borrowed money and I was thinking we'd have to borrow more. I'd been working two jobs and my husband had taken on another while I did acting classes. I got the call and my agent said, "You're not supposed to know this yet, but you've got the part..." I started crying and we went out and brought the cheapest bottle of champagne we could find. [2]

• "I love beer. There's nothing like having an ice-cold beer. Wine is good, too. My wild partying days of college are behind me, I think. Now if I get wild I seem to remember everything in the morning. It can be scary. For sure." [3]

Trivia

• Height: 5'10", 178 (cm)
• Measurements: 34C-24-35 (inches), 86-61-88 (cm).^{[citation needed]}
• FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World -- 2003 (#81), 2004 (#47), & 2005 (#100).
• FHM U.S.'s 100 Sexiest Women -- 2001 (#84), 2002 (#38), 2003(#22) & 2004 (#20).
• Named #75 on the Maxim magazine "Hot 100 of 2005" list.
• Was featured in a layout in the July 2000 Australian edition of FHM.
• Was featured in a layout in the July 2002 USA edition of FHM magazine.
• Was featured in a 2004 edition of Stuff magazine in the USA.
• Was featured in a 2002 edition of Brentwood magazine in Los Angeles, California, USA.
• Has a tattoo of a heart on her right ankle with the word "love" in the middle of it.
• Her hobbies include cross-stitching and making model cars since about the age of 8.^[8]
• Studied acting at The Beverly Hills Playhouse with Milton Katselas.
• In a survey of 70 celebrities who had nothing to do with football conducted by "The Sporting News," she correctly predicted that the New England Patriots would eventually beat the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl by the score of 20 to 17.^[9] As the urban legend reference website says, she made this prediction after the Patriots and Rams had qualified to play in the Super Bowl, not before the season had started. ^[10] Catherine Bell appears to have accepted the urban legend that she made the prediction before the beginning of the season, as she did not correct a leading question in an interview. ^[11]
• A self-described "geek", Bell thrived in math and biology classes in school, and in junior high school once programmed a computer video game.^[12]
• Is fond of skiing, snowboarding, and kick-boxing, which she has been practicing for over 10 years.
• Bell is an experienced marksman who has spent considerable time at shooting ranges.
• Bell was the hostess for the 1999 Genesis Awards, which are presented to people recognized for making the world a better place for animals.

References

Wikipedia information about Catherine Bell This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Catherine Bell". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.