Maria Bello, a Norristown native, is ready for new challenges after wrapping up her three seasons with the popular CBS show NCIS, writes Bernadette Roe for Nicki Swift.

Bello opted for a career in acting after she took an acting class in her final year at Villanova University. She started her career in off-Broadways plays like The Killer Inside Me and Small Town Gals with Big Problems.

She soon began getting roles in television series, including Mr. and Mrs. Smith and ER among many others.

In addition to her acting career, Bello is also an activist.

She wrote an article for HuffPost in 2011 in response to the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti where she called out several big-name non-profit organizations that know how to talk a good talk but are not really helping.

She then went on to found WE ADVANCE, an organization that aims to reduce bureaucracy and bring money and empowerment to countries struck by natural disasters. WE ADVANCE is a rights and community-based participatory program that helps empower women’s minds, bodies, and spirits and helps them discover what they need in their lives, their own needs and priorities, benefiting their entire community. 

Bello is also an author. She published a memoir in 2015 about her relationship with Clare Munn, a French chef, called Whatever…Love Is Love: Questioning the Labels We Give Ourselves.

Read more about Maria Bello in Nicki Swift.