Though she seemingly came from nowhere to emerge as the star of the WB’s teen-angst drama “Felicity” (1998-2002), actress Keri Russell had for years been cutting her teeth in independent film and on made-for-television movies. But audiences got to know and love Russell as the intelligent, but naïve Felicity Porter, an only child from a sheltered home who moves to New York to attend college against the wishes of her parents and gets exposed to the coarser side of life thanks to her new big city friends. Russell spent four years on the relatively popular show before moving on to bigger and better projects, which included a small, but pivotal role in J.J. Abrams’ deft “Mission: Impossible III” (2006), allowing the actress to make the difficult and often failed transition from small screen to big budget action movies.
Born on March 23, 1976 and raised in Fountain Valley, CA Russell’s father David was an automotive executive, which led to several family relocations, including a move to Mesa, AZ when she was young. While in Mesa, Russell began studying dance, learning the steps to ballet, jazz and other forms, eventually touring the country with a dance and drill team. The family moved after Russell earned a scholarship to a studio in Denver, CO where she was required to attend 40 hours of dance per week in addition to her studies at Highlands Ranch High School. A chance discovery by a talent scout who had seen photos of her dancing led to various television appearances, culminating with a three year gig as a regular performer on The Disney Channel’s “Mickey Mouse Club” from 1991 through 1994. Russell’s co-stars during her tenure include fellow future stars Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez of ’N SYNC, Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
While on “Mickey Mouse,” Russell landed her first feature role in “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid” (1992), then appeared on the serialized soap, “Emerald Cove” (1993), which ran on The Disney Channel and featured most of her fellow “Mickey Mouse” cast. Russell left the Disney show to try her hand at various television series and movies, including the short-lived Dudley Moore sitcom “Daddy’s Girls” (1993-94). Russell moved on to play an innocent babysitter trapped in a web of deceit when she is framed for her employer’s murder in “The Babysitter’s Seduction” (1996), then starred in “The Lottery” (1996), a small town thriller loosely based on the Shirley Jackson short story. Russell landed a regular role on Aaron Spelling’s high school soap “Malibu Shores” (NBC, 1996), but the series only lasted for nine episodes. Despite her initial momentum, Russell found rough going at the early stages of her career.
Russell made a return to features, starring in the light-hearted teen sex comedy, “Eight Days a Week” (1997), playing a prototypical sexy girl next door who struggles to ignore the socially inept young man (Josh Schaefer) trying to win her love by camping out beneath her bedroom window. Back on television, she was a high school senior and single mom determined to build a better life for her and her child by going to college in “When Innocence Was Lost” (Lifetime, 1997). After a guest spot on “7th Heaven” (WB, 1996-2007), Russell made another attempt at landing steady series work with the offbeat “Roar” (Fox, 1997), a medieval action-drama for teens that featured an up-and-coming Heath Ledger. Russell starred in one more little-seen feature, the teen thriller “Dead Man’s Curve” (1998), before the now-defunct WB Network and executive producer J.J. Abrams tapped Russell for a career-making role on “Felicity.”
Initially a well-received drama, thanks to Russell’s Golden Globe-winning performance as and an unbeatable love triangle between Felicity, the high school crush (Scott Speedman) and her resident advisor (Scott Foley), the show ran into ratings trouble in its sophomore season (1999-2000). Network executives made the curious move of attributing the show’s problems to an “unauthorized” haircut Russell had between seasons, which trimmed away her famously long, curly locks. The overwrought hoopla concerning the haircut caused an WB executive to be quoted saying that no series talent would cut their hair again without permission. A more likely reason for the ratings decline was the move to Sunday nights—but the hair controversy made for better press.
During “Felicity’s” summer hiatus in 2000, Russell traveled to Ireland to make the light-hearted comedy-romance “Mad About Mambo,” which allowed her to show off both her dancing skills and test out her Irish accent. Meanwhile, “Felicity” lasted just one more season, with Russell following its cancellation by taking a role in Mel Gibson’s Vietnam War drama, “We Were Soldiers” (2002). Russell followed up by taking a much-needed break, citing a desire to decompress and re-evaluate the direction of her career. The downtime didn’t last long—in 2003, “Felicity” creator J.J. Abrams asked her to audition for the role of Lois Lane in a big-screen version of “Superman” that he was then writing a draft for and considering to direct. Though she eventually lost the part to Kate Bosworth, her interest in performing was reinvigorated.
Russell rode the wave of her newfound enthusiasm and signed on to several appealing projects, including a supporting role as one of four headstrong daughters dealing with their alcoholic mother (Joan Allen) in the underappreciated character study “The Upside of Anger” (2005). Following the made-for-television movie “The Magic of Ordinary Days” (2005) and Steven Spielberg’s award-winning mini-series “Into the West” (TNT, 2005), she was tapped for “Mission: Impossible III”—her highest-profile gig since “Felicity”—playing the protégé of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) who gets captured, prompting Hunt to leave his comfortable suburban Virginia life to rescue her. Despite the large exposure from a hugely successful action flick, Russell found herself more at home doing low-budget independents. She starred in the late Adrienne Shelly’s hopeful dark comedy, “Waitress” (2007), playing a pregnant pie maker who struggles to deal with a jealous lout of a husband (Jeremy Sisto) while searching for the perfect recipe for love.