Kelly Overton is an American actress. She is known for portraying Vanessa Van Helsing in the 2016 Syfy fantasy drama series ''

Van Helsing Professor Abraham Van Helsing () is a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula'' written by Bram Stoker. Van Helsing is a Dutch polymath doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the P ...

''.

Early life

Overton grew up in

Wilbraham, Massachusetts Wilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb of the City of Springfield, and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,613 at the 2020 census. Part of the town comprise ...

. After graduating from Minnechaug Regional High School in 1997 she went on study at the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

in New York City, where she graduated with their highest honor, The Charles Jehlinger Award.

Career

She has performed

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

, in regional

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, and on several TV shows. She began in national television in 2000 in the role of Rainn Wilkins on ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2 ...

'' for several months. Then in 2002 she returned to theater on Broadway where she debuted in the original stage cast of ''

The Graduate ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American independent romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novella by Charles Webb. It stars Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddoc ...

'' as an understudy for several roles, eventually replacing

Alicia Silverstone Alicia Silverstone ( ; born October 4, 1976) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller ''The Crush (1993 film), The Crush'' (1993), earning the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and gained further pro ...

in the role of Elaine Robinson, opposite

Kathleen Turner Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. Known for her distinctive deep husky voice, she is the recipient of two Golden Globes, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy, and two Tony Awards. After debuting ...

and

Jason Biggs Jason Matthew Biggs (born May 12, 1978) is an American actor. The accolades he has received include a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award, alongside nominations for a Daytime Emmy Awards, Daytime Emmy Award and a Satellite Award ...

. In 2008, with husband

Judson Pearce Morgan Judson Pearce Morgan is an American actor, entrepreneur, film producer and director. Career His film '' The Collective'', written and directed with his wife Kelly Overton, has received awards and recognition at film festivals in 2008 and 2009, ...

, she wrote, directed, produced and starred in '' The Collective''. She plays

Christie Monteiro is a character in the ''Tekken'' video game series of 3D fighting games. She is a Brazilian fighter who uses the fighting style, capoeira. She is the granddaughter of a legendary capoeira master who taught Eddy Gordo the art of capoeira in pris ...

in the 2009

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

of the

fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

series ''

Tekken is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The main games in the series follow the events ...

''. She appeared in the HBO series ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy Horror fiction, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball (screenwriter), Alan Ball. It is based on ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels ...

'' as

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

Rikki Naylor and co-starred as Ann in "

In My Sleep ''In My Sleep'' is a 2010 suspense thriller film written, directed and produced by film director Allen Wolf. It stars Philip Winchester, Lacey Chabert, Tim Draxl, Abigail Spencer and Kelly Overton. It also features Kirsten Vangsness from ''C ...

." In 2016 Overton was cast as Vanessa Helsing, the lead character, in the Syfy television series ''

''.

Reception

Of her role as Andrea Barton in the ''

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

'' episode "Hollywood Homicide", reviewer Todd Mason of

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

wrote, "Kelly Overton excelled in her small role...". Of her directorial debut (with husband

) on the film ''The Collective'', reviewer Joshua Tanzer wrote, "''The Collective'' is beautifully shot, well crafted", while Farley Elliott of

LAist KPCC ( FM 89.3) – branded LAist 89.3 – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed in Pasadena, California. KPCC itself is primarily serving Greater Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley; through rebroadcating and translat ...

wrote, "The story, while not frighteningly original, is definitely captivating, and the directing is superb. Kelly Overton, who helped to pen the film, is captivating and you really want to see her succeed".

Personal life

Overton married fellow actor

in March 2004. In 2011 Overton gave birth to their daughter. It was confirmed during

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

2017 that Overton was pregnant during the production of the second season of ''Van Helsing''. Overton gave birth to her second daughter in July 2017. Overton announced the birth of a son in August 2019.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

* '' Terrified'' (2010) from Katharine McPhee, as Herself

References

External links

* *
Kelly's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overton, Kelly American film actresses Living people People from Wilbraham, Massachusetts American television actresses Actresses from Massachusetts 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni Year of birth missing (living people)