Catherine Bell was born Catherine Lisa Bell on August 14, 1968 in London, England. She moved to California with her Iranian mother when she was only two years old and acted in television commercials as a young child. Bell attended UCLA with plans to take up biology but dropped out instead to model in Japan. She resumed acting when she appeared in a Mexican commercial and afterwards, as Isabella Rossellini’s nude body double in the 1992 film, Death Becomes Her. She came to prominence when she landed her signature role as Lt. Col. Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie on the naval legal drama, JAG.

Denise Sherwood, played by Catherine Bell on Army Wives, is an army brat who has known the army all her life. Her father comes from a long line of military men and she herself, married Major Frank Sherwood, an army man who has given her security and happiness. Smart, well-bred but inherently shy, Denise is confronted with loneliness and the task of raising a troubled teenaged son when her husband is sent to Iraq. With the support of her fellow military wives, she finds her inner strength and rises to the challenge.


(Photo courtesy of Lifetime)