Maria Bello was born on 18 April, 1967 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. She went to Villanova University, majoring in political science.She had every intention of becoming a lawyer, but she took an acting class during her senior year, just for fun. She discovered she was very good at it, and 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, Nowhere Man, Misery Loves Company and Due South. She got her big break when producers Kenny Lenhart and John J. Sakmar cast her in the spy show Mr. & Mrs. Smith 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. The show was canceled after eight weeks on the air. Then came a spot on ER 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.

She was also a part of the cult hit film Coyote Ugly and last year’s hit film, A History of Violence for which she received a Golden Globe nomination and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for her performance.

She was in Philadelphia recently to promote her new film, World Trade Center, which was directed by controversial filmmaker Oliver Stone, and Delaware County Magazine interviewed her at The Four Seasons Hotel. Bello plays “Donna McLoughlin”, the wife of NYC Port Authority Police officer John McLoughlin who was trapped with his partner under the fallen rubble of the World Trade Center on 9/11 and survived until they were rescued the next day after being buried for 22 hours. This powerful story focuses on the day that made heroes of the men and women who gave their all as the world changed forever.



Delaware County Magazine: You were in New York City on 9/11, weren’t you? Is this film kind of like deja vu for you?

Maria Bello: I was there on 9/11. I was there for a movie premiere and I was with my 6-month old baby and his dad and my two parents who live in Norristown, Pa. I went down to the newsstand on the Upper West Side that morning to get a pack of cigarettes and this woman turned to me and said “I haven’t smoked in 11 years. Can I have a cigarette?” and I asked why and she said a plane just flew through the World Trade Center building. So I ran back upstairs just in time to see the second plane hit the other tower on TV and they came on and asked that all first responders, doctors and nurses, come downtown if you can and my Mom’s a nurse in Philly and she’s so brave and so positive and she said, “I’ve got to get down there!” So we hacked a ride down to St. Vincent’s and she stayed at the hospital all day working and waiting for thousands of people to come in. I ended up walking back up 6th Avenue and I witnessed the most beautiful sights of man’s humanity to man. People were helping each other, walking with each other, grieving with each other, and it crossed all economic and racial boundaries that day because everyone was in a state of shock. I kept it together because the women in my family are really strong, but I broke down at the end of the day.

DCM: When you were approaced to be in this film were you apprehensive about doing it?

Bello: I think we had a choice to make this film out of fear or out of love and Oliver decided to make it out of love. A very personal story. I think our film is much less about the tradgedy of that day than the humanity that came out of it. And I think that’s a political statement in itself.

DCM: I think one of the best scences in the film is the scene where you go into the John’s work room and start touching the tools that are laying around and trying to reconnect with someone who isn’t there now.

Bello: A lot of people have said that! That was all Oliver and we took a full day shooting that whole scene. Oliver walked around with me on the set for an hour touching the tools and explaining to me what he thought my character should be feeling and how he wanted me to hold the saw and such. It’s all about those tiny moments that accumulate and that add up to a life.

DCM: How was it like playing a character in a movie that is based on a real person? Were you intimidated by playing Donna McLoughlin?

Bello: I was. I like to say I got to know Donna by doing the dishes with her. We went to their house in Long Island and they opened up their hearts and their home to us. We walked in and John had a full spread of the famous steak he makes on the barbeque grill, and Donna and I wound up doing dishes and she was like “You can’t do dishes. You’re a movie star!” But it reminded me of my house in Norristown and we put out the desserts and do the dishes and talk while the men are over in their little corner. So we got to share our stories of our lives and our hopes and dreams and what happened on that day of 9/11 and it really bonded us in such a way that I feel that we’ll be friends forever. She wasn’t on the set at all, but she’s in the last scene of the movie at the picnic with John. It was probably the most challenging role I’ve ever done because I was so moved by her and what she had gone through that I tried to do her justice. It was really inspiring to play someone who’s real and not a fictional one that I can create from scratch. I also think it’s the perfect time for this movie to come out now with all that’s happening on the world’s stage.