Russell’s dance training earned her a spot on The All New Mickey Mouse Club in 1991.
1991–1994: Keri Russell is a principal cast member in The All New Mickey Mouse Club. 1994: She appears in Bon Jovi’s music video for “Always” as the other woman. 1998–2002: The actor lands the lead role in the WB network series Felicity, created by J.J. Abrams. She wins a Golden Globe for her role in 1999.
Russell with costar Scott Speedman in the hit series Felicity.
2004: Russell moves to New York City and makes her off-Broadway debut in Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig, appearing opposite Jeremy Piven and Andrew McCarthy. 2005: She returns to film in the romantic comedy-drama The Upside of Anger; her co-stars include Kevin Costner and Evan Rachel Wood. 2006: Director J.J. Abrams asks Russell to join the cast of the blockbuster action film Mission: Impossible III. It is her first foray into the espionage genre.
Russell plays a KGB agent in the 1980s in The Americans.
2007–2010: In just a few but major years, Russell lands lead roles in Waitress (2007), August Rush (2007) with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Robin Williams, Bedtime Stories (2008) with Adam Sandler, Leaves of Grass (2010) with Edward Norton, Susan Sarandon, and Richard Dreyfuss, and Extraordinary Measures (2010), opposite Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser. 2013: Russell stars as the lead in FX’s spy thriller The Americans. 2014: Russell stars as the female lead in the summer sci-fi thriller Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.