Betsy Russell
Birth : 1963-09-06, San Diego, California, USA
History
Elizabeth "Betsy" Russell (born September 6, 1963) is an American actress who is best known for her roles in Private School (1983), Tomboy (1985), and as Jill Tuck, one of the primary characters of the Saw film series from 2006 to 2010.
Russell was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Constance (née Lerner) and Richard Lion Russell, a stock analyst, and the granddaughter of journalist and educator Max Lerner. Her father and maternal grandfather were Jewish. Russell wanted to be an actress since the age of eight and started acting in school plays. She appeared in a Pepsi commercial that was taped locally while in high school. After graduating from Mission Bay High School in 1981, she moved to Los Angeles and began taking acting classes before landing her first role. She did a masters program in Spiritual Psychology at the University of Santa Monica and is a certified hypnotist and life coach, also from the University of Santa Monica.
Russell's first role was in the 1982 film Let's Do It! That same year, she landed roles on T. J. Hooker, Family Ties, and The Powers of Matthew Star. In 1983, Russell's breakout role came as Jordan Leigh-Jensen in the sex comedy Private School. While shooting the action film Avenging Angel, she was offered to audition for the 1985 film Silverado but turned it down. She said in an interview, "Everything happens for a reason. I always believe my career would have been different had I done that part. I can't say if it would have been better or worse. I’ve had a great run." She went on to star in a series of B movies in the 1980s, including the comedy Tomboy and the slasher film Cheerleader Camp. Russell also appeared on TV series such as The A-Team, Murder, She Wrote, 1st & Ten, and an episode of Superboy, which was a reunion with her Tomboy co-star Gerard Christopher.
Russell resides in Malibu, California.
In August 1988, Russell was engaged to actor Vincent Van Patten, son of Dick Van Patten. They were married nine months later on May 27, 1989, in North Hollywood. Their wedding reception was at Van Patten's father's Sherman Oaks home which was attended by numerous A-list celebrities. They divorced in 2001 and have two sons: Richard Van Patten (March 1993) and Vincent Van Patten, Jr. (September 3, 1995) Russell was previously engaged to film producer Mark Burg.
After a brief retirement from acting, Russell appeared in a small role in Saw III playing John Kramer's ex-wife, Jill Tuck. She went on to star in the sequels, Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, and Saw 3D. She played a role in the 2010 film Chain Letter, the SyFy film Mandrake, and My Trip Back to the Dark Side.
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Beth White
A coming-of-age drama that tackles some of today's most prevalent issues including religious prejudices, sexual orientation and bullying.
Self
The definitive documentary on the history of nudity in feature films from the early silent days to the present, studying the changes in morality that led to the use of nudity in films while emphasizing the political, sociological and artistic changes that shaped that history. Skin will also study the gender inequality in presenting nude images in motion pictures and will follow the revolution that has created nude gender equality in feature films today.
Louanne the Maid / Laurie Grant
Three rival actresses and their crew, desperate and hating each other, reunite for a horror movie sequel when someone starts killing them off just like in their movie, in this bitchy, raunchy comedy mystery.
Destiny
Shawn Stone is having a bad day. The funding for his film project is not there, his personal life is in shambles, he's out of time and money. He sees only one way to solve his problems - he must turn to the dark side and ask the King of Porn for some cash
Gayle
Mysterious emotional thriller about a woman who, after being left at the altar, has a brief liaison with a handsome stranger on a plane which ultimately puts her – and everyone else on the flight – in terrible danger.
Herself (archive footage)
The question of "who hunts virgins" and more will be stripped down and explored in the sexiest trailers hosted by Playboy's Nikki Leigh.
Self (archive footage)
The naked floodgates burst open in the Saucy 70s and the 80s continued the trend. Welcome to the 80s, Jerry Falwell, Reagan conservatism, VCRs, pay tv, big hair and AIDS. Drive-ins and grindhouses were replaced by multiplex theaters, but the VCR and Pay TV came to the rescue with a flood of direct to video sexy features. Remember trying to watch scrambled Pay TV looking for some skin?
Jill Tuck
As a deadly battle rages over Jigsaw's brutal legacy, a group of Jigsaw survivors gathers to seek the support of self-help guru and fellow survivor Bobby Dagen, a man whose own dark secrets unleash a new wave of terror.
Sergeant Hamill
Six friends receive a mysterious chain letter via text messaging and in their email accounts from a maniac who's hunting down teenagers who fail to forward his online chain letter. Who knew they should take the threats in the chain letter seriously? Or that chain letters using the teens' favorite technologies to track them can kill? This maniacal game pits friend against friend as they race to beat rules that seem impossible to escape. Break the chain, lose a life. Do you pass it on? Does friendship mean anything?
Felicia
An expedition led by adventurer Darren McCall and funded by the wealthy Harry Vargas braves the impenetrable jungle to retrieve a fabled bejeweled dagger from an ancient burial ground. But pulling the dagger from its rightful resting place awakens the long-dormant plant creature - part plant, part animal, and all bloodthirsty -- and sends it on a feeding frenzy from which there seems scant hope of survival or escape...
Jill Tuck
Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood.
Jill Tuck
Detective Hoffman is seemingly the last person alive to carry on the Jigsaw legacy. But when his secret is threatened, he must go on the hunt to eliminate all the loose ends.
Jill Tuck
Jigsaw and his apprentice Amanda are dead. Now, upon the news of Detective Kerry's murder, two seasoned FBI profilers, Agent Strahm and Agent Perez, arrive in the terrified community to assist the veteran Detective Hoffman in sifting through Jigsaw's latest grisly remains and piecing together the puzzle. However, when SWAT Commander Rigg is abducted and thrust into a game, the last officer untouched by Jigsaw has but ninety minutes to overcome a series of demented traps and save an old friend...or face the deadly consequences.
Jill Tuck
Jigsaw has disappeared. Along with his new apprentice Amanda, the puppet-master behind the cruel, intricate games that have terrified a community and baffled police has once again eluded capture and vanished. While city detective scrambles to locate him, Doctor Lynn Denlon and Jeff Reinhart are unaware that they are about to become the latest pawns on his vicious chessboard.
Candy
A depressed and destitute Nick Irons, a tennis pro banned from the tour for slugging a player during a TV match, agrees to coach a bookie's "head case" son, Joel, who wants to turn pro. The bookie wants his son to get out of tennis and contracts Nick to discourage him. Nick begins to do that but after an episode with his old flame, Jennifer, and after seeing the kid's determination he decides to teach him all the tricks, both physical and psychological, of the trade. The two battle the kids of a famous coach, unfair refs., injuries, travel all over the southern US, while Nick tries to woo his love back, finally to reach the big championship tennis match where all is resolved in dramatic fashion.
Cheryl Schwartz
Saul Schwartz, a married successful businessman, is bored with his life and decides he has had enough. So he gets a divorce, quits his job, and goes off to pursue his dream, in Hollywood to be a movie star. Only becoming a movie star isn't as easy as he thought. Nobody wants an overweight, 50 year old, New Yorker who looks like a lawyer. He's going to have to make a few adjustments.
Vicky Forbes
An L.A. cop investigates the death of his partner in the swamps of Louisiana. Enlisting the help of an ex-cop who lost his hand to an alligator many years before.
Jamie
Some sorority sisters opt for camping in the woods with a handsome professor instead of going to Palm Springs for spring break. However, the orgy is interrupted when some druids appear and decide they need to sacrifice the sisters to prevent the apocalypse at the start of the new millennium.
Lacey Luddigger
A Vietnam veteran and a young man set out to rescue a woman kidnapped by a backwoods family.
Liza Pulitzer
When young Roxanne Ulrich (Chynna Phillips) meets wealthy charmer Herbert Pulitzer (Perry King) and enters the scandal-ridden world of the rich and famous, her life changes forever. After a whirlwind courtship, the two wed, but their marriage is quickly torn apart by drug abuse and affairs. Courteney Cox co-stars in this drama based on Roxanne Pulitzer's 1987 autobiography, written after her headline-making divorce from the publishing heir.
Alison Wentworth
A cheerleader named Alison is plagued by nightmares about the upcoming all-state finals and attends a summer training camp with her teammates. When a number of deaths start occurring at the camp, Alison's nightmares turn twisted and brutal, and she begins to believe that she may be responsible for the mayhem.
Tomboy
A budding female race-car driver finally meets her racing idol and unbelievably they fall in love...a love that's quickly put to the test when, having received the chance to show her racing talents, the two find themselves in a race for a multi-million dollar sponsorship contract.
Chrissie Baret
Upon graduation from high school eight teens take a seaplane trip, intending to celebrate on Keith's parents' private island. Stormy weather causes the plane to crash and they end up on a deserted isle. They find evidence of other visitors, and soon must fend for their lives against drug smugglers.
Molly Stewart/Angel
Molly, former baby prostitute "Angel" from Sunset Boulevard, has managed to leave her street life with help of Lt. Andrews. She studies law at an university and aims to become attorney. When she learns that Andrews was shot during a failed observation by brutal gangsters, she returns downtown to take revenge
Jordan Leigh-Jenson
Private-school student Christine loves Jim. But her classmate, Jordan, is also vying for Jim's attention and trying to end his relationship with Christine. Meanwhile, Jim's friend Bubba embarks on a series of sexual escapades, including dressing up as a woman to access the girls' locker room. Despite Jim and Christine's efforts to spend some time alone, various shenanigans and schemes interfere.
Kittie
A sex "comedy" is about a virgin named Freddie who has a major complex about his mother and won't let himself become involved with any other woman.
