It is great to see Keri Russell back on TV. Does she have plans to do more?
—Tony Anzaldo, Long Island, N.Y.
Russell’s FX series “The Americans” has been picked up for a second season, so she will be back when it returns next year. The former “Felicity” star, 37, took a short break from acting for motherhood, but these days she says that her career is more appealing to her than it was in the beginning.
“In the early days, [acting] was something that kind of just came to me, and I thought it was a good idea. Now, I feel a little bit more interested in it,” she says. “But I think that just comes with anything and getting to know it more, but it’s still by chance what comes your way.”
It also helps “chance” that “The Americans” shoots in New York City, where Russell lives with husband Shane Deary and her son River, 5½, and daughter Willa, 16 months.
“It is essential because I have two little kids that I have to be home,” the Fountain Valley, Calif.-born actress says. “I like being home. In fact, our stages are four blocks from my house and I ride my bike to work.”
Russell’s return to acting includes more than “The Americans.” Earlier this year, she starred in the supernatural thriller “Dark Skies,” and coming up is the Sundance favorite “Austenland,” in which she plays a woman, who is obsessed with “Pride and Prejudice’s” Mr. Darcy, who inherits a vacation to a resort dedicated to Jane Austen.
If her roles seem varied, it may be because Russell only takes the projects that come along at the right time. She says, “I’m not, ‘Hmmm . . . I’ll play this and then I’ll play this.’ You wonder, ‘Do I have the energy for this?’”
