Maria Elana Bello (born April 18, 1967) is a Golden Globe-nominated
American actress.
Biography
Early life
Bello was born in
Norristown, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Kathy, a teacher and school nurse, and Joe Bello, a contractor.
[eMatrimony - Supporting, Encouraging and Challenging the WWME Community] Her father is
Italian American and her mother
Polish American.
["Maria Bello: after more than a decade of not being the one, suddenly she's well on her way" from FindArticles.com (originally published in Interview magazine)][Bello epoque - interview with actress Maria Bello from FindArticles.com (originally published in Interview magazine)][McCarthy, Ellen. Maria Bello, 'Getting Better and Better', The Washington Post, August 11, 2006. Accessed May 24, 2008.] She grew up in a working-class
Roman Catholic family and graduated from
Archbishop Carroll High School (Radnor, Pennsylvania). Later she attended
Villanova University, majoring in
political science. She intended to become a
lawyer, but took an acting class during her senior year, just for fun. She was soon cast in small
off-Broadway plays, such as
The Killer Inside Me,
Small Town Gals With Big Problems and
Urban Planning. She later guest-starred on episodes of
The Commish (1991),
Nowhere Man (1995),
Misery Loves Company (1995) and
Due South (1994).
Career
