Catherine Bell is an actress best known for her role of Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie of JAG (1995-2005), and on Army Wives as Denise Sherwood (2007-present).
Bell was born in London to Mina, a personal assistant and nurse, and Peter Bell, an architect. Her mother was Iranian and her father English. She acted in various TV ads as a child. She attended UCLA with an interest in becoming either a biomedical engineer or a physician, but dropped out to become a model and actress.
From 1995-2005, Catherine Bell starred as U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Sarah MacKenzie on the hit series JAG as a practicing attorney in the U.S. Navy's Judge Advocate General's Corps.
Her earlier TV work included an appearance in a late night adult series called "Hot line" which aired in the U.K. from 1994-1996.
Catherine Bell was featured in the episode entitled "The Brunch Club.
In 2003, the actress had a supporting role as a TV news anchor in the comedy Bruce Almighty, which starred Jim Carrey. She reprised the role with a cameo in the 2007 sequel, Evan Almighty.
Catherine Bell appeared in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries The Triangle in December 2005, playing an ocean engineer.
In 2006, she was nominated in Saturn Award of Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Supporting Actress on Television.
In 2007, Catherine Bell joined the talented cast of Army Wives as Denise Sherwood, the wife of a U.S. Army major who is enduring physical abuse at the hands of her teenage son.
A practicing Scientologist, Catherine Bell is fluent in Farsi and English.
She is fond of skiing, snowboarding and kick-boxing. She has been married to Adam Beason since 1994. They have a daughter, Gemma (born 2003).