Keri Russell Biography (2)

A familiar face to television audiences, Keri Russell plays the title role in Felicity as she also embarks on a budding feature film career. Just four months after the show's acclaimed premiere on The WB, Russell was honored with a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Drama Series.

Born in Fountain Valley, Calif., Russell spent her early years in Mesa, Ariz., and later attended high school outside Denver, Colo. It was in the Rocky Mountain State that Russell discovered her first love, dance, and began intense study in ballet, jazz, lyrical and street dancing. She won several scholarships that allowed her to study in prestigious programs, often as much as seven hours a day.

As a teen, Russell was discovered by scouts during a national talent search. She auditioned for and won a role in the feature film Honey, I Blew up the Kid and appeared as a series regular on The Disney Channel's All New Mickey Mouse Club for three seasons.

Numerous projects followed, namely leads in the television movies The Babysitter's Seduction with Stephen Collins, When Innocence Is Lost opposite Jill Clayburgh, and The Lottery. Keri was also a series regular on Daddy's Girls and Aaron Spelling's primetime serial drama Malibu Shores.

Moving into feature films, Russell stars in the upcoming Mad About Mambo, produced by Phoenix Pictures and Gabriel Byrne's Plurabelle Films, in which she plays an Irish dancer who encounters a young soccer player wanting to hone his skills through dance. Also, Russell starred opposite Matthew Lillard in The Curve, and the coming-of-age love story Eight Days A Week.

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