American actress Maria Bello was BOTD in 1967. Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania to a working-class family of Italian and Polish origin, she studied political science at Villanova University. After graduating, she moved to New York to pursue acting. After minor appearances in television, she came to wider attention in 1997 when she joined medical TV series ER. She transitioned successfully to film, earning Golden Globe nominations for the crime dramas The Cooler and David Cronenberg‘s The History of Violence, both featuring much-discussed sex scenes with her co-stars William H. Macy and Viggo Mortensen. Her subsequent film roles include The Jane Austen Book Club, Assault on Precinct 13, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Yellow Handkerchief, Prisoners and an American remake of the British crime series Prime Suspect. In 2022, she was a co-producer of the historical epic The Woman King, starring Viola Davis. Bello has a son with her former boyfriend Dan McDermott, and was in a long-term relationship with businesswoman Claire Munn. She married her long-term partner Dominique Crenn in 2024.