Kelly Overton is an American actress. She is known for portraying Vanessa Van Helsing in the 2016

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

fantasy drama series ''

Van Helsing A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

''.

Early life

Overton grew up in

Wilbraham, Massachusetts Wilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb of the City of Springfield, and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,613 at the 2020 census. Part of the town comprises ...

, and studied at the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a private performing arts conservatory with two locations, one in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related art ...

in New York City, where she graduated with their highest honor, The Charles Jehlinger Award.

Career

She has performed

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

, in regional

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, and on several TV shows. She began in national television in 2000 in the role of Rainn Wilkins on ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...

'' for several months. Then in 2002 she returned to theater on Broadway where she debuted in the original stage cast of ''

The Graduate ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Wil ...

'' as an understudy for several roles, eventually replacing

Alicia Silverstone Alicia Silverstone ( ; born October 4, 1976) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller ''The Crush (1993 film), The Crush'' (1993), earning the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and gained further prom ...

in the role of Elaine Robinson, opposite

Kathleen Turner Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and two Tony Awards. Turner became widely k ...

and

Jason Biggs Jason Matthew Biggs (born May 12, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Jim Levenstein in the '' American Pie'' comedy film series and Larry Bloom in the Netflix original series '' Orange Is the New Black''. He al ...

. After five years in New York she moved to Los Angeles, where she has worked in film and TV. In 2008, with husband

Judson Pearce Morgan Judson Pearce Morgan is an American actor, entrepreneur,film producer and Film director, director. Career His film ''The Collective (2008 film), The Collective'', written and directed with his wife Kelly Overton, has received awards and recognit ...

, she wrote, directed, produced and starred in '' The Collective''. She plays

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in the 2009

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of the

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

series ''

Tekken is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The ...

''. She appeared in the HBO series ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. A reboot is currently in development. The serie ...

'' as

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

Rikki Naylor and co-starred as Ann in "

In My Sleep ''In My Sleep'' is a 2010 suspense thriller film written, directed and produced by film director Allen Wolf. It stars Philip Winchester, Lacey Chabert, Tim Draxl, Abigail Spencer and Kelly Overton. It also features Kirsten Vangsness from Crimin ...

." In 2016 Overton was cast as Vanessa Helsing, the lead character, in the

television series ''

''.

Reception

Of her role as Andrea Barton in the ''

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

'' episode "Hollywood Homicide", reviewer Todd Mason of

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

wrote, "Kelly Overton excelled in her small role...". Of her directorial debut (with husband

) on the film ''The Collective'', reviewer Joshua Tanzer wrote, "''The Collective'' is beautifully shot, well crafted", while Farley Elliott of

LAist Gothamist LLC is the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage. It was founded in 2003 by Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung. In March 2017, Joe Ricketts, ...

wrote, "The story, while not frighteningly original, is definitely captivating, and the directing is superb. Kelly Overton, who helped to pen the film, is captivating and you really want to see her succeed".

Personal life

Overton married fellow actor

in March 2004. In 2011 Overton gave birth to their daughter. It was confirmed during

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

2017 that Overton was pregnant during the production of the second season of ''Van Helsing''. Overton gave birth to her second daughter in July 2017. Overton announced the birth of a son in August 2019.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

* '' Terrified'' (2010) from Katharine McPhee, as Herself

References

External links

* *
Kelly's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overton, Kelly 1978 births American film actresses Living people People from Wilbraham, Massachusetts American television actresses Screenwriters from Massachusetts Film producers from Massachusetts American women screenwriters American women film directors Actresses from Massachusetts 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni Film directors from Massachusetts American women film producers