I've enjoyed watching lead actress Catherine Bell on the TV show JAG. Can you tell me something about her off-screen life?
—David C., Florida
Contrary to her conservative character on JAG, Bell, 35, is a real risk-taker who loves to skydive, bungee jump, snowboard and water ski. "I'd meet people and they'd go, 'I thought you were much older and much more conservative,'" she says, "And I'd say, 'Hang on, there's this whole other side of me!'" Surprisingly, she got interested in acting as a way to overcome her shyness. Born in London, her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 3. A science and math whiz, she entered college with plans to become a doctor, but fate led her to a modeling career in Japan. After a few years, feeling that the job was damaging her self-esteem, she returned to Los Angeles and started her path toward acting. Bell and her husband had their first child, a daughter, in April.
