Troian Bellisario

Troian Bellisario
Troian Bellisario in 2013
Born	Troian Avery Bellisario (1985-10-28) October 28, 1985 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1988-present
Spouse(s)	Patrick J. Adams (m. 2016)
Children	1
Parent(s)	Donald P. Bellisario Deborah Pratt
Relatives	Michael Bellisario (half-brother) Sean Murray (step-brother)

Troian Avery Bellisario (/ˈtrɔɪən ˌbɛlɪˈsɑːrioʊ/; born October 28, 1985) is an American actress. She is known for playing the role of Spencer Hastings in Freeform's Pretty Little Liars (2010-2017).

Born in Los Angeles, California, she is the daughter of producers Donald P. Bellisario and Deborah Pratt. Bellisario made her acting debut in her father's 1988 film Last Rites at the age of three. She continued to have roles produced by her father, mainly in television shows such as Quantum Leap, First Monday, and NCIS, and in 1998, she acted in the direct-to-video comedy film Billboard Dad. In 2010, she received praise for her leading performance in the film Consent for which she won the Vision Fest Award for Best Acting by a Female Lead and the FirstGlance Philadelphia Award for Best Actress.

In 2009, Bellisario landed the lead role of Spencer Hastings in the Freeform series Pretty Little Liars (2010–2017). For her performance, she has won two Teen Choice Awards out of six nominations and a Young Hollywood Award. In addition to her work on Pretty Little Liars, Bellisario also starred in the WIGS episode series Lauren, for which she received critical acclaim and won the New York Film Festival Award for Best Performance by an Actress and was nominated for the Streamy Award for Best Female Performance - Drama. She has appeared in, produced, and co-written multiple short films and indie projects; in 2016, she made her directorial debut with the fifteenth episode of the seventh season of Pretty Little Liars, "In the Eye Abides the Heart".

Early life

Troian Avery Bellisario was born and raised in Los Angeles. Her parents are producers Donald P. Bellisario and Deborah Pratt.^[1] Donald P. Bellisario created Magnum, P.I., Quantum Leap, and NCIS, among other TV series. She has a younger brother,^[2] three half-sisters, two half-brothers, and is a step-sister of actor Sean Murray and producer Chad W. Murray. Her father is of Italian and Serbian descent. Her mother is of African American, French, and English descent.^[3][4]

Bellisario attended Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood, California from kindergarten through twelfth grade,^[5] where she was the valedictorian of her class.^[6] After high school, Bellisario attended Vassar College for a couple months before taking a break for the sake of her mental health as she felt the institution only enhanced her need for perfection.^[7] She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California in 2009.^[8]

Career

Bellisario made her acting debut in the 1988 film Last Rites at the age of three.^[9] From 1990 to 2007, she guest starred on such television series as Quantum Leap, Tequila and Bonetti, JAG, First Monday and NCIS, television series that were produced by her father Donald P. Bellisario. In NCIS, she played Sarah McGee, sister of Special Agent Timothy McGee, played by her real-life stepbrother Sean Murray.

In 1998, she co-starred with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in the film Billboard Dad. Beginning in 2006, Bellisario began appearing in a number of independent short films namely, Unspoken, Archer House and Intersect. In November 2009, Bellisario was cast as Spencer Hastings in the TV series Pretty Little Liars based on the book series of the same name by Sara Shepard.^[10] In October 2011, Bellisario announced she was in the process of writing and creating her own film, which was successfully funded through Kickstarter on November 16, 2011. Filming ended in December 2011 and the film was officially completed by August 2012.^[11]

In August 2012, Bellisario appeared alongside Jennifer Beals in the WIGS web episode series, Lauren.^[12] Lauren returned on May 3, 2013 for a twelve-episode run.^[13][14] In 2014 she starred in the music video for The Head and the Heart's song "Another Story".^[15] In 2015, she was cast in a leading role in the American remake of the French-Canadian film Martyrs.^[16][17] In 2015, Bellisario and fiancée Patrick J. Adams filmed short film We Are Here in Haida Gwaii, which Bellisario wrote and starred in. Bellisario starred in her feature film, Feed, which she also wrote and produced. The film was written based on Bellisario's own experiences with an eating disorder.^[18]

On April 7, 2016, it was announced that Bellisario would be directing Season 7, Episode 15 of Pretty Little Liars.^[19] This made her one of the first in the cast, alongside Chad Lowe, to direct an episode on the series.

Personal life

Bellisario started dating Suits star Patrick J. Adams after they met on the set of the play Equivocation in 2009.^[20] The couple briefly split, but after Adams' guest appearance as Hardy in Pretty Little Liars, 2010, the two got back together.^[21][22] Since working on Equivocation and Pretty Little Liars, the couple also worked together on the 2012 short film The Come Up, on the USA series Suits in which Adams stars, and the short film We Are Here. Bellisario and Adams married on December 10, 2016 in Santa Barbara, California.^[23][24] In August 2018, E! News confirmed Bellisario was pregnant with her first child. On October 8, 2018, Bellisario announced via Instagram that she had given birth to their first child, a girl.^[25]

Bellisario revealed in early January 2014 that she went through personal problems through high school, resulting in an eating disorder and self-harming problems. "I was the youngest daughter, the perfect little girl," she said. "My school was a very intense college prep school. So it was about wanting to please my father and mother and wanting to be perfect to everybody."^[26]

Bellisario delivered the USC School of Dramatic Arts (her alma mater) commencement speech in 2014. "Once you start creating without anybody's permission, you own it. And because you learned it here, you know the power of a story. You'll never feel embarrassed when people ask you, 'What do you do?' You will look them in the eye and say, 'I tell stories.' And people will line up to work with you," Bellisario told the graduating class.^[27]

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Troian Bellisario.

• Troian Bellisario on IMDb
• Troian Bellisario on Twitter