The Stunning Transformation Of Keri Russell

Her name is Keri Russell, but for many people, the curly-haired actor will always be known as Felicity, thanks to her starring role on the beloved teen coming-of-age show. After all, that look was named one of television's most memorable hairstyles by Glamour. In reality, Russell — not to mention her hair – has undergone a stunning transformation since then, morphing from teen ingenue to femme fatale on "The Americans," and branching out from television to star in blockbusters like the "Mission: Impossible" and "Planet of the Apes" franchises.

The actor remains more private than many of her peers, but she's had her fill of personal drama made public. Fans have even been able to get an inside look at Keri Russell's relationship with Matthew Rhys, her co-star who became her romantic partner.

Despite a remarkable 30-year career under her belt, she remains incredibly modest. "I haven't had some great plan. ... I've been incredibly lucky and had some really good opportunities and experiences. There's no rhyme or reason," she told Variety.

What you never knew about Keri Russell is that the woman behind one of television's most iconic characters never wanted to be an actor. While growing up in Arizona and later Colorado — the family moved around a lot because of her father's job as a Nissan executive — young Russell had dreams of performing, but her heart was set on being a dancer. At age 13, she earned a scholarship to a dance school, and her career was put into motion. "I didn't grow up desperate to be an actress. ... I was a dancer. That's kind of, like, the only thing I'm trained in," she said during an "Off Camera with Sam Jones" interview. 

Dancing would end up being Russell's ticket to stardom — just not in the way she expected. All those lessons and hard work would pay off in the form of an audition for "The Mickey Mouse Club" television show. 

When Keri Russell auditioned for "The Mickey Mouse Club," the casting agent asked her to dance and sing, she told W Magazine. The first part was fine, but not being much of a singer, she didn't want to belt out a tune, and said as much. In the end, it wasn't a problem. She joined the cast of the popular kids' program that would go on to launch the careers of several future superstars. Russell was a Mouseketeer from 1991 to 1994, alongside Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, and Justin Timberlake. Videos on YouTube from back in the day show Russell and the other junior celebs performing choreographed routines to their own versions of hit songs. 

Russell was a fair bit older than most of the kids. "I like to remind everyone that they were 12 when I was 17, so ... I could drive," she reminisced on "Late Night With Seth Meyers" in 2015. And, yes, she still chats to her former co-stars when she runs into them.

On "Felicity," Keri Russell played the titular character, a young woman who goes to college in New York City so she can be close to her crush, Ben — who hasn't shown any interest in her. The show was a major hit for The WB network, and teenage girls found themselves heavily invested in the life of Felicity, who must ultimately choose between Ben or Noel, a resident assistant she meets as she starts her new life.

The show, which ran from 1998 to 2002, was popular right out of the gate, and even earned two Golden Globe nominations for its first season: Best Drama Series and Best Actress. A shocked Russell — just 22 at the time — won, beating big names Gillian Anderson for "The X-Files" and Julianna Margulies for "ER." "This is so ... encouraging is the word that comes to mind, more than thanks," the actor said in her humble acceptance speech. She was proud of the work, she added, and thanked creator J.J. Abrams for casting her. 

To understand just how big "Felicity" was — and how important Keri Russell was to its success — one need look no further than the Great Haircut Drama of 1999. Heading into the second season of the show, Russell and J.J. Abrams decided the actor should cut her hair, W Magazine reported, in keeping with the character's heartbreak storyline. No big deal, right? Wrong. 

When Russell's long, bouncing locks were chopped to nothing but a pixie style, people flipped out. And not just teen fans but grown adults. Negative complaints flowed in, The Baltimore Sun reported. Ratings for the show plummeted. Susanne Daniels, then-head of programming at The WB, announced a ban on the network's actresses cutting their hair.

Russell took the blame, and had to endure people approaching her on the street to complain or tell her she was pretty before she chopped her locks, she told W Magazine. But she never had any regrets, always maintaining that it was the right move for the character and herself. "That long hair is how I was identified. So, it was nice to be out of that," she shared. 

After "Felicity" wrapped, Keri Russell took a page out of her character's playbook and headed to New York. But it wasn't because of a man. She was, to put it simply, burned out. She took a couple of years off to get away from the pressures of fame and the expectations of Hollywood, not to mention the hectic workload. "I wasn't surviving," is how she starkly put it to New York Magazine. She also wasn't even sure whether she wanted to act, especially since she had never planned for that career path.

The downside of playing such a famous character at such a young age was that Russell hadn't yet had a real chance to define who she herself was, she told "Off Camera with Sam Jones." During filming, she was upset she had missed out on regular teenage girl stuff. Taking personal time meant she could "kind of be a kid and, you know, read books and wander the city," she said. Unburdened by worrying about her career — she didn't want to get any more famous — she made the important decision to put her mental health first.

When Keri Russell did feel ready to resume working, she didn't jump back into television. Instead, she decided to try her luck at stage acting, and she went all in. In 2004, she appeared in an off-Broadway performance of the drama "Fat Pig" by the famous American playwright Neil LaBute, alongside lead actor Jeremy Piven. The reviews of her performance as Jeannie, a supporting character, were mainly positive. New York Magazine praised her acting as "perfection," but amid generally kind words Variety said her "lack of stage experience" showed in her movements.

Russell's character was cruel — the complete opposite of the innocent, good-girl persona she had been stuck with since "Felicity." In its review of the show, Gothamist expressed surprise at how well she played the "acid-tongued" role. The actor was happy to shake off the type-casting. "Who knew it was so fun to be mean?" she mused to New York Magazine. "I'd been missing out all this time!"

In 2006, Keri Russell became a spokeswoman for CoverGirl cosmetics, her first big modeling gig. "When I first started, I did do a commercial for a deodorant or something," she told CBS. "I don't even think it aired. This is the first thing I've done like this." She joined a famous list of faces that includes Tyra Banks, Taylor Swift, and Rihanna.

Russell was hired to promote a new Outlast Double LipShine, and the creative team definitely came up with a unique way for her to do so. Perhaps trying to play off her role in 2006's "Mission: Impossible III," the actor went up against a group of attackers in the campaign's TV commercial, which she called more of an action short. Needless to say, her lipstick remains flawless throughout the fight sequence, as seen on YouTube.

But Russell's new job went beyond the usual TV and magazine ads. As part of her promotional work she filmed "The Keri Kronicles," a reality show for MySpace that claimed to offer a look into her life. Sadly, it appears to have been wiped from the Internet. 

After her performances in "Fat Pig" and "Mission: Impossible III," it seemed Keri Russell had finally proven her acting range. But still she ended up being typecast — not as an innocent teen, but as a mom-to-be. She played a pregnant woman in four films in a row. "I think there's something about my face that screams, 'Nice pregnant girl,'" she told The Hollywood Reporter.

In "The Magic of Ordinary Days" and "August Rush," Russell played an unwed mother-to-be whose circumstances lead to much drama. In "The Girl in the Park," she also played an unmarried pregnant woman, although that time her character was engaged. In "Waitress," her expecting character was married, but was planning to leave her controlling, deadbeat husband. 

Of all those movies, "Waitress" was the biggest success. The ultimately joyful story touched viewers and was made into a hit Broadway musical. But despite her stage background, Russell did not resume the role. She doesn't sing, remember?

As fate would have it, as she was promoting her role as the pregnant Jenna in "Waitress," Keri Russell herself was pregnant, and gave birth to her son, River, in June 2007. Earlier that year on Valentine's Day, she had wed his father, Shane Deary. The couple would later welcomed a daughter, Willa, in the summer of 2012. Unfortunately, the marriage wouldn't last.

Russell met Shane, a carpenter, through friends in Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard. Their small wedding took place during a snowstorm in New York, People reported, when Russell was in her second trimester. 

Upon news of their separation, the actor's rep issued a statement to E! News saying the breakup was "amicable." Since then, Keri Russell has remained pretty quiet about this time in her life.

If Keri Russell had any final remnants of Felicity's persona attached to her, she obliterated them once and for all with her role as Elizabeth Jennings on "The Americans." The FX drama series, which made its debut in 2013, followed the lives of a seemingly all-American couple with two children who are actually Russian KGB spies living deep undercover in the United States during the Cold War. The idea was based on a real-life case, but the story was completely fictional.

The show, which ran for six seasons, was dark, sad, sexy, violent, and — most importantly — excellent. At the center of all the action was Russell's character, Elizabeth, who was the lead instigator, emotionally detached from the killing and other underhanded dealings their jobs as spies required.

The role garnered Russell three Emmy nominations, but she always went home empty-handed. Still, for the actor it was the role of a lifetime. "I rebelled in her, kind of, panther-like sub-fearlessness," she told Vanity Fair. "She's not afraid to look everyone in the eye and live in the uncomfortable, weird silences," she said.

What you don't know about Matthew Rhys is that he and Keri Russell started dating after they began starring in "The Americans" together, but the cutest part of their love story is that they actually met years earlier. As the couple explained on an episode of "Watch Happens Live with Andy Cohen" in 2017, Rhys approached Russell after a kickball party for her number and later left her a drunken message. She never called back — well, not for 10 years or so. After months of rumors, they confirmed their relationship in 2014.

Watch any video clips of the two together and their chemistry is palpable — they're constantly making each other smile and laugh. Remember Rhys' Emmy 2018 acceptance speech when he said that if he proposed to Russell, she would punch him? Her hilarious reaction went viral.

It seems the spark between the two was apparent on set. "The Americans" had no shortage of racy scenes, but when Russell and Rhys went to film one particularly steamy one, the director was concerned about how it would go. But "we kind of did it and just did it right away," Russell told Sam Jones. At that moment, their colleague knew the two had been intimate off-camera as well. The actor continued, "He's like, 'They're way too comfortable together.'"

Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys welcomed their first child together — a son Sam — in May 2020, making the actor a mother of three. When it comes to balancing raising her kids and maintaining her career, the star is clear on which gets priority, telling Town & Country that she carefully selects jobs that allow her to be present with her family. "I see a lot of other people who have great ambition, but I feel as if my life is so full, with little kids," she shared. "I'm not hungry for a certain kind of success."

She is frank about the difficulties of parenting, and the way it as affected her. Having kids has made her more emotional and "vulnerable," she told People. And her children have made her "less selfish" and more grounded, she said to Parade. 

It's also, understandably, changed her relationship with Rhys. As she explained on "Late Night With Seth Meyers" in 2018, the two used to spend breaks on press tours making out in bathrooms. Now they ask their driver to pull over so they can nap before the next interview. Stars, they're just like us.

Like many Hollywood actresses who have reached middle age, Keri Russell wonders whether there's a limit on her time in Hollywood. She told Town & Country she has concerns over her career "lifespan," and has legitimate reason to worry. As The Washington Post reports, research shows that past the age of 40, 80% of available roles go to men, leaving a paltry 20% for women. 

One of the ways actors have sought to level the playing field is by creating their own production companies and spearheading female-driven projects. Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine media company is one example, but Russell is not interested in taking on such a workload. "I can't imagine running a big company as well as what I'm doing, or producing 8,000 things," she told Town & Country.

Keri Russell told Shape, "When I see those people who look so great for their age, I'm like, 'Oh, I do want that. I do want to look like that at 60.' I'm just not ready to stick to a strict regimen." Still, her years on "The Americans" — plus all her other action roles — dictate that she stays, literally, in fighting form, and she's shared that she's "definitely a physical person." 

Her favorite workouts include cycling, strength training with a resistance band, and, no surprise, dancing. In terms of skincare, Russell said she keeps things more simple, using a good moisturizer, indulging in the occasional facial, and using the NuFace facial toning device. As she's gotten older, she's developed a deeper interest in fashion, she told Yahoo! Life, explaining she prefers tailored "masculine" looks that show off her shoulders.

With "The Americans" behind her, Keri Russell ventured to a galaxy far, far away by joining one of Hollywood's biggest film franchises when she was cast in "Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker." In the 2019 sequel, Russell portrayed Zorii Bliss, leader of a gang of smugglers on the planet Kijimi — and an old associate of hero Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac).

"She has a little bit of a checkered past and maybe some questionable morals, but she's really an old friend of Poe's," Russell said (via Entertainment Weekly). "I think the entrance of Zorii is there to describe more of who he was, y'know, in a very intimate way and a familiar way, and the friends are sort of like, 'What do you mean, you know him?'"

The character is mysterious and intriguing, with some fans believing that Zorii deserves her own spinoff "Star Wars" project. That said, playing a minor character — particularly one whose face is hidden by a helmet — was actually a big part of the appeal for Russell, who was perfectly content for the bulk of the responsibility to rest on the shoulders of the film's English star, Daisy Ridley. "So it was very attractive, the idea of not being the lead," Russell told Town & Country. "The mask — I felt safe in it. And tough. No makeup. You don't have to be embarrassed by anything."

After her experience in the world of sci-fi, Keri Russell felt the time was right to jump into the horror genre by taking on a starring role in the 2021 film "Antlers." In the fright flick, Russell played a schoolteacher who becomes concerned about one of her students, a young boy who's hiding a terrifying secret.  

That secret, in fact, is a deadly and powerful monster, with whom Russell must physically battles in the film's climax. As she revealed during an interview with Screen Rant, her background as a dancer proved invaluable when shooting the most physically demanding action sequences in the film. "There's a lot of physicality in this horror movie," she said. "It's a little less verbal and a little more physical. And I find that the dance training comes in handy with all of that because it's the same language that I learned."

"Antlers" presented Russell with not just the opportunity to expand into horror, but to work with acclaimed director Scott Cooper (whose films include the Oscar-winning "Crazy Heart"), and Guillermo del Toro, who served as one of the film's producers. "A legend!" Russell told Zavvi of del Toro. "As a person he's so alive, interesting and curious, and I find those people are always successful — they are just more alive than the rest of us!"

Right after "Antlers," Keri Russell jumped into another movie in which she faced off with a terrifying creature — this time a giant black bear with a drug problem. In "Cocaine Bear," actor-turned-director Elizabeth Banks enhanced the true story of a drug-smuggling plane that dumped its cargo of cocaine in a Georgia forest, where it was gobbled up by a black bear. In reality, the bear died; in Banks' movie, however, the animal embarks on a drug-fueled killing spree, with Russell's character one of the coked-out bear's intended victims.

As Russell told The AU Review, the movie's title was pretty much all she needed to see before agreeing to sign on. "But, who's going to say no to 'Cocaine Bear'? I mean, it comes across your desk, you're like, 'Yes please!'" she said. And given the subject matter, Russell realized she had no choice but to fully commit to the sheer lunacy of the premise. "You just gotta show up and go for it," Russell said, adding, "you can't do it halfway. It has to be so full on, and I think that's the fun of it."

While the film itself features much horrified screaming, Russell found shooting the picture to be a downright hilarious experience. That was particularly true, she told Vulture, when Banks would be telling the actors about what the bear (added later via CGI) would be doing in those scenes, "yelling into a microphone, giving us the blow-by-blow of the attacks. 'Okay, they're climbing up a tree and he's ripping his face off and there's blood squirting everywhere, and now his leg is just being thrown from the tree.' It was insanity, and just us laughing so hard."

Having spent four seasons on "Felicity," and six seasons on "The Americans," for Keri Russell to commit to another TV series, it had to be a special one. That was certainly the case with "The Diplomat," a Netflix drama that made its debut in 2023. Russell's character, Kate Wyler, is a career diplomat with the U.S. government who is assigned to London as the new ambassador to the U.K. after a fraught international incident.

The role in "The Diplomat" fit Russell like a glove, evidenced by the Emmy nominations she received. "This is one of my favorite jobs I've ever done," Russell told Women's Wear Daily. "It is such a sweet spot for me because it's a way to make a show about issues I care about, but it's a way to wrap them up in this candy bar of a snack that is palatable through humor and a little bit of relationship stuff and some location porn. But the issues that we're talking about are things that I care about."

One big perk of "The Diplomat" for Russell was that, despite being set in London, the series actually filmed in Brooklyn, not far from her home. "I can ride my bike to work," she told Rolling Stone. "I am enormously grateful, because I still have kids at home ... it's just immensely important to be close to home and not leave your kids to be raised by wolves."

Having received two Emmy nominations for "The Diplomat" in 2025 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and as an executive producer, Keri Russell attended the award ceremony looking like a winner. While she didn't take home an award, Russell did make a statement with her attire on the red carpet. She wore a black gown by Armani Privé, working with her stylist, Frank Fleming, to tweak the garment for the occasion. The gown was an homage to designer Giorgio Armani, who died days earlier.

While Russell has sported more than her fair share of designer looks on various red carpets, it's fair to say that if she's become a fashionista, it's been somewhat reluctantly. "You're expected to really dress," she told Women's Wear Daily of working with Fleming. "You're expected to really show up to everything. And it's hard sometimes because I'm not a model, I don't work in fashion. When I do get styling help, I work with someone who I think is so talented and I love his taste so much."

It's easy to criticize female actors of a certain age who've chosen to go under the knife to appear more youthful, because cosmetic surgery holds the potential to extend the limited shelf life of a Hollywood leading lady. For Keri Russell, this is a topic that concerns her both personally and professionally. "I'm totally empathetic," the 49-year-old told People in 2025, pointing out the double standard in Hollywood when it comes to male and female stars. "It's such a weird thing being a woman. Everyone has an opinion about the way you look, the way you dress, the way your hair is," she added. "It's something my girlfriends and I talk about all the time. Plastic surgery is having such a moment right now — men, women, 20-year-olds. I mean, it is around. We're inundated with these movie stars. Even though they might be 50 or 60 years old, they look amazing."

That said, Russell doesn't see herself ever taking the surgical route when it comes to her own face. Weighing in on the often disheveled appearance of her character in "The Diplomat," Russell admitted that she ignored criticism directed at her onscreen countenance. "I like the way I look on the show," she added, "and it's amazing that I feel like that's strange, like that's a unique thing to look like that, but it is."