Maria Elana Bello was born April 18, 1967 in Norristown, Pennsylvania to a Polish/Italian family. She attended Villanova University and planned to become a lawyer until she took an acting class for fun during her senior year and discovered she was very good at acting. Soon she was cast in small, off-Broadway plays, such as "The Killer Inside Me, " "Small Town Gals With Big Problems, " and "Urban Planning."
No doubt her previous tough girl roles show in her role as Lil, Coyote Ugly's bar owner, although it is believed that she looks and acts more like Michelle from Hogs and Heifers than the real Lil. Still, a visit to a few bars would help also. "The Coyote Ugly bar of the movie is lots tamer than the real thing. There’s a real power trip going on with the girl bartenders in these types of saloons, which is, 'Now we’re behind the bar, and we have what you want.' At one of the places in New York, I did what these girls did: I jumped on the bar, danced, and grabbed a beer bottle from this big football player kind of guy and poured it down his throat. Of course it spilled all over him. I mean, here was this strapping guy letting a woman pour beer over his head, and he still thought it was cute!"
But the film wasn't all fun and games. "The hardest thing about making this movie was the amount of time spent on hair, makeup, and clothes. On ER, hair and makeup was, like, 20 minutes—pull your hair in a ponytail, there ya go, bye. This was like a two-hour process every day, which I kind of abhor. It’s hard for me to sit still. I had to take breaks every 20 minutes. Our Coyote outfits all have a similar vibe, but each girl has her own take on it. Mine is skimpy leather and jeans and little T-shirts, kind of like a tomboy."
On her resume: ER fans know Maria as headstrong Dr. Anna Del Amico which she soon quit to pursue a film career. Since then she's starred as a recovering junkie in Permanent Midnight with Ben Stiller and as a tough-as-nails ex-hooker in Payback with Mel Gibson.She was also in a short-lived spy series named Mr. and Mrs. Smith where she learned Moi Thai, a Taiwanese form of street-fighting. Maria was also in Duets (2001).
Fave drink: “I like a fine scotch. That’s where I am in my life right now — no tutti - frutti anything. Just a fine single-single malt scotch.
