Drake Bell
Drake Bell | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Jared Drake Bell |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, singer-songwriter, musician, guitarist |
| Years active | 1995 – present |
| Website | www.drakebell.com |
Jared Drake Bell (born June 27, 1986), better known as Drake Bell, is an American actor, comedian, guitarist, and singer/songwriter. After beginning his career as a child actor in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he appeared on The Amanda Show and became well known among young audiences for his role on the series Drake & Josh. In addition to his acting, Bell has a growing career as a musician and released his debut album, Telegraph, independently in 2005. His second album, It's Only Time, was released in 2006 after signing with Universal/Motown. Bell is commonly assossiated with his friend Josh Peck, who co-starred with him in both The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh.
Biography
Early life
Drake Bell was born in Orange County, California to Joe Bell and Robin Dodson, a professional billiards player. He has a stepfather, Roy, a step sister,a younger sister Savannah Bell and two older brothers, Robert and Travis. Bell attended the Orange County High School of the Arts, also referred as "OCHSA," in Santa Ana, California for one semester in the tenth grade.
Career
Bell started acting at the age of five and began playing the guitar (given lessons by The Who's Roger Daltrey[1]) at the age of fourteen while filming High Fidelity.
Acting career
At 10 years old, Drake played a small role alongside Tom Cruise, in Jerry Maguire as Jesse Remo. He also appeared in a small role in the Seinfeld episode "The Frogger" in 1998. In 2000, he was nominated for the Young Artist Award for "Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot" in the "Supporting Young Actor" category for his role as Cage Redding in the made-for-television film The Jack Bull. During the early 2000s, Bell was a featured performer on The Amanda Show and made a guest appearance on the series The Nightmare Room, before being cast as Drake Parker on the Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh, which began airing in 2004. During this time period, he made a guest appearance as himself on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, won a "Blimp Award" at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in the "Favorite Male TV Actor" category for Drake & Josh, directed part one of the Drake & Josh TV movie Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp, and had a role in the 2005 film Yours, Mine and Ours'. Bell was also a judge for the Miss Teen USA 2006 pageant which aired on NBC on August 15, 2006. Drake was nominated for "Favorite Male TV Actor" at the 2007 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, and won the second year in a row. Bell is currently starring in the Lionsgate and Element comedy College directed by Deb Hagan. This film is being shot on-location in New Orleans. Bell has signed a producing deal with Vitrus Entertainment and will star in The Miracle of Santa Rosa. The storyline is centered on an American who returns to his ancestral home in Italy to spread his father's ashes. Bell will also be in another Vitrus Entertainment production, this one a mini-series titled Flying Tigers. The film is about a squadron of American pilots who fought the Japanese in Asia immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, prior to the United States' entry into World War II.
Music career
Bell's debut album, Telegraph, was released independently on September 27, 2005. His song, "I Found a Way", which can be found on the album, is the theme song for Drake & Josh. Drake wrote the theme songs for his show Drake & Josh,and he also co-wrote and sang the theme song to iCarly "Leave It All To Me" with Miranda Cosgrove. He recently signed with Universal Records, on which his new single "I Know" was released on October 17th 2006. Shooting for the video of "I Know" took place in October 2006. Drake's second album, entitled It's Only Time, was released on December 5th, 2006.Drake performed live on MTV's TRL the day after it was released.On October 16th 2007 iTunes released a Radio Disney Single Edit Version of his song Makes Me Happy. This makes it the third version of this song.In 2007, Bell went on a Nextfest tour in support of It's Only Time, headlining alongside Aly & AJ and Corbin Bleu. In an interview with Gibson Lifestyle, he expressed that it wasn't the tour of his dreams. Referring to his fellow tour mates, Bell said, "They’re all nice people, and they do what they do well, I guess. This isn’t my scene, though."[2]
Bell's third album is slated for a Spring 2008 release. [3]
Personal life
On December 29, 2005, Bell was involved in a car accident on Los Angeles' Pacific Coast Highway. He was in the car with his friend Thomas. As his car was a 1966 Ford Mustang, the steering wheel was made of wood and metal, the seatbelts were only around the waist, and there were no airbags. Because of this, his face smashed into the steering wheel, resulting in a fractured neck, six dislodged teeth, and a deep cut across his chin, leaving a two-and-a-half inch scar. Bell told People that he "could fit [his] tongue through it. It was like a second mouth." Although Bell's injuries were disfiguring, they were not life-threatening, and he made a full recovery. He had his jaw wired shut for three months and subsisted on a liquid diet. Because of Bell's condition, production of the fourth and final season of Drake & Josh was postponed for a few months while he recovered.
Bell's cousin is San Diego Padres pitcher Heath Bell.
In a twist to September 2007's Vanessa Hudgens picture scandal, People claims that the High School Musical actress once sent risqué photos of herself to Bell, though Bell's spokesperson stated that "Drake says he never received those photos."[4]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Drifting School | Kenny Smith | Film | |||
| The Neon Bible | David (age 10) | Film | ||||
| 1996 | Jerry Maguire | Jesse Remo | Film
| |||
| 1999 | Dill Scallion | Eugene Bob | Film | |||
| Dragonworld: The Legend Continues | Johnny | Television movie | ||||
| The Jack Bull | Cage Redding | Television movie | ||||
| The Amanda Show | Regular Performer | Television series, 1999–2002 | ||||
| 2000 | High Fidelity | Young Rob Gordon | ||||
| Perfect Game | Bobby Jr. | Direct-to-video | ||||
| 2001 | Chasing Destiny | Walter | Television movie | |||
| 2004 | Drake & Josh | Drake Parker | Television series, 2004-2007 | |||
| 2005 | Yours, Mine and Ours | Dylan North | Film | |||
| 2006 | Drake & Josh Go Hollywood | Drake Parker | Television Movie | |||
| 2007 | Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp | Drake Parker | Television Movie | |||
| 2008 | College | Kevin Brewer | Film
Discography
Footnotes
External links |