An attractive blond native of Norristown, Pennsylvania, Maria Bello moved to NYC where she spent about six years doing the struggling-actress thing, appearing in numerous stage productions, shooting a few commercials, including her golden moment as the Amstel Light girl, and co-founding Harlem’s Dream Yard Drama Project, a nonprofit arts and education program for urban kids. She made her TV debut in a guest appearance on the Fox comedy “Misery Loves Company” and demonstrated her versatility with a strong romantic turn opposite Bruce Greenwood in an episode of “Nowhere Man” (UPN). Bello made her TV-movie debut in “The Commish: In the Shadow of the Gallows” (ABC, 1995) before landing a choice role as a spy opposite Scott Bakula on the short-lived 1996 CBS action series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”. She checked into County General Hospital for three “ER” episodes as sassy pediatrician Anna Del Amico, a character which became a regular on the popular series for one season (1997-98). Bello made a strong sexy impression as a recovering junkie to whom screenwriter Jerry Stahl (Ben Stiller) recounts his past in in “Permanent Midnight” (1998).
