Maria Bello life and biography

Maria Bello is an American actress known for her appearances in the movies Coyote Ugly, The Jane Austen Book Club, Permanent Midnight, Thank You for Smoking, A History of Violence, Payback, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. For television she is best known for her role as Dr. Anna Del Amico on the NBC medical drama ER.

Bello was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Kathy, a teacher and school nurse, and Joe Bello, a contractor. Her father is Italian American and her mother Polish American. She grew up in a working-class Roman Catholic family and graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School (Radnor, Pennsylvania).

She later guest-starred on episodes of "The Commish" (1991), "Nowhere Man" (1995), "Misery Loves Company" (1995) and "Due South" (1994). She got her big break when producers Kenny Lenhart and John J. Sakmar cast her in the spy show "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (1996) as "Mrs. Smith" (they remembered her from her performance in a failed pilot that was a remake of the classic TV series "77 Sunset Strip" (1958)). The show was canceled after eight weeks on the air. Then came a spot on "ER" (1994) as "Dr. Anna Del Amico", in which she guest-starred on the final three episodes of the third season. The show's producers were so impressed with her that they asked her back as a regular on the series.

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