About

Catherine Bell is an actress best known for her role as Lt. Col. Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie on the TV series “JAG”, which ran from 1995-2005.

Although an American citizen, she was actually was born in London, England on August 14, 1968 to an Iranian mother and English father. When her parents divorced, she was taken by her mother to Los Angeles, California. She was three years old at that time, and she eventually became at naturalized US citizen when she turned twelve.

Although a showbiz career may have been in the cards early, with various television advertisements under her belt as a child, Catherine opted to attend UCLA to become either a biomedical engineer or a physician. That goal wouldn’t last long though, because she dropped out later on to become a model.

With her beautiful half-Persian look, she had a successful modelling stint in Japan, before returning to the US and going back into acting. An American Express commercial, one line in a sitcom, and an appearance as a partially nude body double for Isabella Rossellini in 1992’s “Death Becomes Her” were her first forays back into the scene.

More TV work followed, including appearances on “Hot Line”, a British late night adult series, where she bared her body for TV audiences in her homeland. And then she signed up with “JAG”. She joined the cast in 1997, and as USMC Major Sarah MacKenzie, brought the struggling series to Nielsen’s Top 20 through her chemistry with co-star David James Elliott (as Capt. Harmon “Harm” Rabb). The tandem just clicked, and “JAG” had a ten year run on network television as a result.

Her tomboyish nature and athleticism also helped a lot in her role on this military drama. Catherine is an avid kickboxer, skier and snowboarder.

Her more recent TV and movie appearances include her supporting role as a television news anchor in the Jim Carrey starrer “Bruce Almighty” in 2003, a role which she reprised in the sequel “Evan Almighty” this 2007. She also appeared in the SciFi Channel miniseries “The Triangle” in 2005, for which she received a nomination as Best Supporting Actress for, at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films’ Saturn Awards.

Her latest high-profile role is that of US Army Major’s wife on the 2007 ensemble drama “Army Wives” where her character is experiencing physical abuse at the hands of her teenaged son with a temper problem. It airs on the Lifetime Television channel. She also starred in the Hallmark made-for-TV movie “The Good Witch” just this year.

Catherine is married to actor Adam Beason, whom she met on the set of “Death Becomes Her”. They married in 1994, and their daughter Gemma was born in 2003. She is a practicing Scientologist who has attained the state of Clear, according to her.