Maria Bello has captivated audiences with her many diverse roles in such films as “The Cooler” with William H. Macy (Golden Globe and SAG Nomination), David Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence” opposite Viggo Mortenson and Ed Harris (NY Film Critics win and Golden Globe nomination), Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center,” “Thank You for Smoking,” and “The Jane Austen Book Club.” In addition, she co-starred with Brendan Fraser in “The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” in Alan Ball’s controversial film “Towelhead,” and opposite William Hurt in “Yellow Handkerchief.” In recent years, Bello has played opposite Michael Sheen in “Beautiful Boy,” Adam Sandler in the hit comedy “Grown Ups,” and Taylor Lautner in “Abduction;” she also took a lead role in the John Wells drama “The Company Men.” Her upcoming films include roles in Paul Haggis’s “Third Person,” “Prisoners” opposite Hugh Jackman and the untitled James Wan thriller.

Bello’s other film credits include “Auto Focus,” “Permanent Midnight,” “Payback,” “Flicka,” “Duets,” “Coyote Ugly,” “Secret Window,” “Silver City,” and “Assault on Precinct 13.” On television, Bello most recently starred as Detective Jane Timoney in the NBC series “Prime Suspect” and appeared for one season in the role of the passionate and headstrong pediatrician Dr. Anna Del Amico in NBC’s critically acclaimed series “ER.”

Bello is also an internationally renowned activist and one of the world’s most powerful voices for social justice and women’s rights around the world, with a special focus on Haiti. She is the co-founder of We Advance, a women’s movement and NGO based in Cite Soleil, which advocates for women throughout the country to have full political, economic and social participation.

Since 2008, Bello has worked in Haiti with Artists for Peace and Justice and Femmes en Democratie, where she raised funds and produced a women’s media campaign for the elections in 2010, and spearheaded the opening of a women’s clinic in the Petionville Camp immediately following the earthquake. Bello is also a member of the Clinton Global Initiative and works on gender policy within the Haiti Network. She has been named a Vital Voices Global Ambassador for women and participated in the first ever Vital Voices/Bank of American International Women’s Conference in Haiti.

Bello speaks around the world on social impact investing, Haiti, and women’s rights. In 2012, she was a keynote speaker at the State Department’s Forum on Impact Investing and was also awarded with the Starkey Foundation’s “So the World May Hear” Award. She was named the Goodwill Ambassador for Women in Haiti and leads President Martelly’s Council for Investments in Haiti on a committee for women’s empowerment, social business and poverty alleviation with Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Bello is currently speaking at Tedx and other venues in the world about the “new women’s revolution” and impact investing for women. Bello is also the founder of the new website We Advance University, which aims to connect and empower women in Haiti and throughout the world, and she is a partner in the company Socme Academy, which powers the site. Along with her Haitian colleagues, she is building the first women’s co-op bakery in Marigaux, Haiti.

She began her career as an activist at Villanova University, where she majored in Peace and Justice Education and worked at the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia. She started her first NGO, The Dreamyard Drama Project in Harlem in 1997. In 2009, Bello was voted on of Variety’s most powerful women in Hollywood for her activism with women in Darfur.