Detailed Biography

Kellie Noelle Martin is an American television actress who is known for her roles as Rebecca Thatcher on Life Goes On, Christy Huddleston in Christy, and as Lucy Knight on ER.

Early life

Martin was born in Riverside, California, the daughter of Debbie, a kindergarten teacher, and Doug Martin, a department store buyer and retail executive. Martin loved to perform for her close-knit family. She began her acting career at age seven, when her aunt Rhonda Jett , a nanny for actor Michael Landon's children, helped Martin land a guest spot on the Landon produced series Father Murphy.

Career

Among many roles in motion pictures, made-for-TV movies and television series, she is perhaps most famous for her role as Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher on the drama Life Goes On, which ran on ABC , and for her role as med student Lucy Knight on the NBC drama ER . Martin also contributed the voice of Daphne Blake on the animated series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and that of Molly Tasmanian Devil on Taz-Mania, and made several appearances as Tracy Nash on Valerie's Family. She also played the role of Emily in 1989's Troop Beverly Hills and Sherry in 1993's Matinee.

1990s

In 1993, she made a guest appearance as "Cleo Walker" in an episode of seaQuest DSV entitled "Brothers and Sisters." In 1994, she starred in her own series, acting alongside Tyne Daly in the CBS period drama Christy. The series was based on a popular spiritually-themed novel by the author Catherine Marshall and told the story of a young missionary teacher in an isolated community in the Appalachian Mountains. The show was well received and had an avid fan base, but its ratings suffered from being moved around the television schedule in unpredictable time slots. She also reunited with her Troop Beverly Hills co-star Emily Schulman in this series.

In 1994, she starred in "Death of a Cheerleader". In 1995, she starred in The Face on the Milk Carton, a TV film based on the book by Caroline Cooney about a teenager who finds out she was kidnapped from her real family 13 years prior and had been raised by the parents of her kidnapper. She also was in A Goofy Movie as the voice of Roxanne. In 1997, she starred in the short-lived NBC drama Crisis Center, which lasted only six episodes.

From 1998-2000, Martin appeared on the medical drama ER as medical student Lucy Knight. Martin was still going to Yale at the time and postponed her education so that she could join the cast.

2000s

In 2002, Lifetime started a television series, Fiona, based on Warren Adler's The Fiona FitzGerald Mysteries as a starring vehicle for Martin, but it was never aired.

In 2003, Martin starred in Mystery Woman, a Hallmark Channel movie about the owner of a mystery bookshop who solves actual crimes. It proved a popular vehicle for Martin; since 2005 she has gone on to make ten more Mystery Woman movies for Hallmark, two of which she directed. Also in 2003, Martin had a supporting role in the comedic film Malibu's Most Wanted.

In 2006, Martin starred in the Lifetime movie Live Once, Die Twice. Martin also starred in another Lifetime movie as the lead role in A Friend to Die For and No Brother of Mine. In 2007 Martin provided the voice for Oracle in "Artifacts," an episode of The Batman.

In 2009 Martin was a guest on "Grey's Anatomy", episode "No Good at Saying Sorry." She also guest starred in the Ghost Whisperer episode "Stage Fright" as Cally O'Keefe. More recently, she has guest starred in "Private Practice" episode "The Way We Were".

Personal life

Martin graduated from Yale University in 2001 with a degree in art history. She was a member of Saybrook College.

She married Keith Christian in May 15, 1999 in his hometown of Polson, Montana. The pair welcomed their first child, a daughter named Margaret Heather 'Maggie' Christian, on November 4, 2006. She is named after Martin's sister Heather, who died due to lupus erythematosus at age 19.

Martin has at times been compared to and even confused by fans for actress Sarah Michelle Gellar. From 1988-1991, Martin voiced the character of Daphne Blake in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. Gellar played Daphne in the 2002 live-action film Scooby Doo.

Martin enjoys running, which she started doing in her sophomore year at Yale and went on a training regimen to run the L.A Marathon in March 2000. She says that she runs to maintain her health.