Keri Russell came through as a star while she was on her four-season run as the title character on the much loved TV series Felicity. It ran from 1998 to 2002. Audiences fell in love with her role in the series so thoroughly that they revolted when she modified her hairstyle. Since then, she has taken in supporting roles in blockbuster movies such as Mission: Impossible III and lead roles in acclaimed indies like Waitress. She can at present be seen wearing dozens of wigs in her darkest role yet, as the troubled KGB spy Elizabeth Jennings on the FX series The Americans.
Russell also plays a key role in the recent movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the eighth in an intermittent series of movies that spans more than four decades. Before she makes her mark on this franchise, listed below are five Keri Russell performances you fans have not seen yet:
1. Honey I Blew Up the Kid (1992)
Background: This is a sequel to the Disney movie Honey I Shrunk the Kids in the year 1992. This movie is about a nutty professor who lets his kids run loose in the house with dangerous equipment. He accidently enlarges his toddler son to 14 feet tall.
Russell’s Role: Mandy, the love icon of Wayne the professor’s oldest son, Nick. She falls upon the inexplicable goings-on at the Szalinski household when she makes the error of dropping by the house without warning. The family at first ties her up and gags her when she finds out their secret, but Mandy later goes on to assist disengage the situation and fall for Nick.
2. Boy Meets World (1993)
Background: This classic Disney sitcom from the 90s needs minimal introduction, since the companion series Girl Meets World just premiered on the Disney Channel, much to the pleasure of ’90s children across America. With the length of seven seasons, adolescent Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) went from being an juvenile slacker to a college-bound character.
Russell’s Role: Jessica, Mr. Feeny’s niece and the interest of Eric’s amorous affections in “Grandma was a Rolling Stone,” the seventh episode of the first season. Eric (Will Friedle) and Jessica splurge an afternoon jointly and kiss at the closing stages of the episode. Russell’s performance is also noteworthy for her insanely extensive hair and high-waisted jeans.
3. Married with Children (1995)
Background: One of the most popular sitcoms of the 1990s which is about the impudent Bundy family through eleven seasons of dysfunction. Ed O’Neill and Katey Sagal led the roles of the show’s central couple. The show sporadically pushed the boundaries of content standards for primetime network television.
Russell’s Role: In the episode “Radio-Free Trumaine,” Keri Russell played the role of April Adams, a capricious teenager who is dating Bud Bundy and fending off the affections of another Trumaine University student, Nikolai. This episode was constructed as a pilot for possible spinoff series set at the Trumaine radio station W.H.I.P., but the show was not picked up.
4. When Innocence is Lost (1997)
Background: This is about a young woman battling for custody of her daughter Molly, who she gave birth to during high school. The director of the movie, Bethany Rooney still continues to be a television workhorse, with current directing credits including episodes of Parenthood, Drop Dead Diva, Nashville, The Fosters and Scandal.
Russell’s Role: Erica French plays the role of the tormented mother.
5. Mad About Mambo (2000)
Background:. This is about a soccer professional Danny Mitchell (William Ash) who takes up samba in order to improve his game on football skills. In the course of this, his eye catches on his samba classmate Lucy, whose boyfriend is a player of Danny’s rival team.
Russell’s Role: Russell plays the role of Lucy Loughlin who is a extremely competitive dancer who uses her time in trying to prove herself to her skeptical father. Her boyfriend is a star athlete, is later discovered to have a possessive side, which is around the time Danny and her meets.
