Moira Kelly isn't a name you'll see much in the tabloids or on the celeb gossip sites. Because of that, it may surprise you to know she's been around for more than 20 years. It's difficult to forget who Jennifer Aniston is, although she hasn't done a really good movie since 2002's The Good Girl because she's in our faces every day. Whether on the cover of a tabloid still trying to embroil us in some crazy feud between her and Angeline Jolie, or on the cover of a magazine where Jen has posed nude and Photoshopped yet again, she's constantly there, trying way too hard to remain relevant.
Not so with Moira Kelly. Although she has never quite achieved the amount of success or notoriety of contemporaries like Winona Ryder, she's also never been arrested for shoplifting, or had any other scandal to contend with. Throughout her career, she's quietly built a respectable resume, and has become one of the most respected actresses in Hollywood.
Figure Skating
Your first acting memory of Kelly is probably the same as everyone else's-The Cutting Edge. Not a spectacular movie, but not a bad one, either, that came on the tail end of the John Hughes era of angsty teenage movies such as The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.
Despite the weak plot, Kelly was fantastic in her role as a spoiled figure skating star forced to team with a has-been hockey player, going so far as to spend several months learning to ice skate rather than using a body double. She went on to star in the Academy Award-nominated Chaplin with Robery Downey, Jr., and became a recognizable voice to millions of kids as Nala in The Lion King and all its sequels and incarnations.
She continued to work, but pretty much under the radar, making guest appearances on several TV shows, and starring in foreign-produced and independent films. She reemerged full force into the American consciousness when she was cast as a regular on The West Wing.
As any fan of The West Wing will tell you, it's a brilliant show, and if if were possible for Jed Bartlet to actually run for President of the United States, he'd probably win a good portion of the vote. But just like any show when it's new, it started off a little weak and didn't quite hit its stride until the second season.
Unfortunately for Kelly, her character, Mandy Hampton, just didn't have much to contribute, and Kelly was grossly underused, appearing mostly as a foil for the other characters who remained on the show for the rest of its run, which just made her an annoying in most of her scenes. Although Mandy's departure was never explained on the show, and it's not completely clear why Kelly left, she didn't return after the first season.
As before, she remained active with yet another version of The Lion King, a few television guest spots, and a handful of not-so-great movies, including one where she reunited with her co-star from The Cutting Edge, D.B. Sweeney. Then, in 2003, she was offered another spot as a regular on a new TV show-One Tree Hill.
This time, the casting stuck, and she successfully played Karen Roe from the pilot through her final episode in 2009. Much of One Tree Hill's audience may not have been familiar with Kelly from any of her previous work, but by accepting a role on the prime time drama, Kelly managed to become known by an entirely new generation of television fans. If you've been a fan of hers all along, you may want to watch One Tree Hill online. That should tide you over until Moira Kelly emerges again, as great as ever.
The Lasting Power of Moira Kelly
Heather Laslow is a freelance writer, but first and foremost, a movie buff. She loves classic, black & white films, musicals, and obscure, less popular movies that tell great stories.
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