An actor and comic whose charm and good looks often offset his sometimes outrageous material, Bill Bellamy is a performer who has been happily juggling careers in television, movies, and comedy clubs since rising to fame in the mid-`90s. Born on April 7, 1965, in Newark, NJ, Bill Bellamy`s career as a performer began while he was a student at Rutgers University. Bellamy was persuaded to take part in a men`s beauty pageant, and needing to do something for the talent competition, he worked up a standup comedy routine. Bellamy quickly discovered he enjoyed making people laugh, and began honing his skills at small comedy clubs around the country. Bellamy`s skills as a comic came to the attention of the producer of the TV series Showtime at the Apollo, where he was given a guest spot. Bellamy`s appearance was a major success, leading to an appearance on HBO`s Def Comedy Jam and his own special on Showtime. Bellamy next enjoyed a five-year run as host of the series MTV Jams, and in 1996, starred in his own short-lived TV series, The Bill Bellamy Show. Bellamy made his feature-film debut in 1993 with a bit part in the hip-hop comedy Who`s the Man?, but his big-screen career began in earnest in 1997, with a role in the acclaimed independent romantic comedy Love Jones. That same year, Bellamy scored his first lead in a movie when he starred in Def Jam`s How to Be a Player. Since then, Bellamy has won showy roles in well-reviewed feature films such as Any Given Sunday and The Brothers, and has been a regular on the television comedy series Men, Women and Dogs (he`s also done voice work on the animated series Cousin Skeeter). When not busy with his screen career, Bellamy continues to perform at comedy clubs; in his personal life, Bellamy married his longtime girlfriend, actress Kristen Baker, in 2001. All Movie Guide

Post a Comment | View All Comments (1)