Bethany Joy Galeotti Biography
Bethany Joy Galeotti (born Bethany Joy Lenz; April 2, 1981) is an American actress, musician, director, writer, and producer.
Galeotti is best known for her on screen portrayals of Michelle Bauer Santos on Guiding Light (from 1998 to 2000) and Haley James Scott on One Tree Hill (since 2003). Furthermore, Galeotti is recognized for her music as a solo artist and as member of the band Everly.
Early Life
Bethany Joy Lenz Galeotti was born on April 2, 1981 in Hollywood, Florida. Galeotti is an only child to Robert Lenz, a history teacher and therapist, and Cathie, a personnel manager and entrepreneur. Her grandfather George Lenz, was a regular on the Broadway stage in the 1950s and 1960s in musicals
Wish You Were Here and
South Pacific among many others.
Following after her grandfather, Galeotti began her singing career with a performance at the age of three in the The Carpenter's Church in Lakeland, Florida. At the age of four, Galeotti and her family moved to Arlington, Texas and as she attended Pope Elementary she attended Creative Arts Theater and School, where she took dance, tap, jazz, acting and theater classes. Moreover, she performed a twenty minute soliloquy entitled
High HopeS and Heavy Sweatshirts in an intimate setting in a Dallas museum. At the age of seven she landed her first stage role playing a Munchkin in a local production of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Three years later Galeotti played Scout in the production of
To Kill a Mockingbird at the Irving Community Theater in Texas.
Career
Acting
Galeotti has been working steadily as an actress since the age of twelve. She landed her first professional job in a commercial for an American syndicated teen drama series entitled
Swans Crossing during a trip to Los Angeles with her drama school. Galeotti continued to garner experience at a young age by landing lead roles in various staged productions like
Annie,
Cinderella and
Gypsy: A Musical Fable. Consequently at the age of thirteen Galeotti moved with her family to New Jersey where she attended the Hawthorne Christian Academy for a year and began auditioning aggressively for television roles. She became a commercial veteran appearing in commercials for Eggo Waffles, Dr Pepper among many others. By her sophomore year in high school Galeotti appeared in her first film. Her performance in Stephen King's
Thinner was well-noted in reviews, particularly in the Associated Press where a critic states that, "one of the highlights of the film was a joy — Joy Lenz."
In March 1998 at the age of seventeen, Galeotti earned a nine episode gig as the teenage clone of Reva Shayne Lewis on CBS's soap opera Guiding Light. Galeotti made a positive impression on viewers, critics and Guiding Light executives alike and was later recast as Michelle Bauer Santos upon Rebecca Budig's exit. This was an unusual move and "unheard of" in the industry according to CBS producer Mickey Dwyer-Dobbin.
While working on the demanding daytime serial
Guiding Light, she graduated from Hawthorne Christian High School in New Jersey in 1999 and landed the role of Rose Cronin in
Mary and Rhoda; a 2000 made-for-television movie that reunited Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper as Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern. This role proved to be one of her biggest success for she not only worked alongside the Tyler Moore but the movie attracted 17.8 million viewers, beating out its main competition
Everybody Loves Raymond. At this time Galeotti also appeared in the off-Broadway revue
Foxy Ladies Love/Boogie 70's Explosion. At the time she was juggling a heavy storyline, a television movie, portraying Mary Tyler Moore's daughter and a one-year run of a New York cabaret, Galeotti also became the lead in an independent film. After filming for her independent film wrapped up, Galeotti was later cast as the lead in a much-anticipated WB pilot which unfortunately never went into production. She also filmed two other pilots: one playing the daughter of Paul Sorvino, and one as the lead in the WB's 1972. In October 2000 at the end of her two year contract with
The Guiding Light Galeotti made her biggest career move to date and decided to leave her popular role as Michelle Bauer Santos. Afterward she moved from New York City to Los Angeles where she performed in a theatre production of The Outsiders and began to guest star on television shows such as Off-Centre, Charmed,
Felicity,
Maybe It's Me and
The Guardian. In 2002 Galeotti joined the cast of Bring It On Again where she turned in an unforgettable performance as Marni Potts. During this time, Galeotti was also featured in Interview Magazine's "Stars On The Rise" in January.
in
Beauty and the Beast when it was still in production on Broadway, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with the show. Furthermore, Galeotti appeared in an episode of
Life Unexpected alongside Kate Voegele as part of a crossover-event between
One Tree Hill and
Life Unexpected.
Well into sixth season of
One Tree Hill, Galeotti made her directorial debut in the episode entitled
Screenwriter's Blues. Galeotti stepped behind the camera to call all the shots as Lucas finally got the opportunity to cast his movie. Galeotti initially approached producer Greg Prange in 2007 with the idea of directing but was not given the opportunity to direct until two years after her request. Over the course of season six Galeotti shadowed several directors, watched them prep and went on [location] scouts. Her directorial debut was met with accolades from crew and critics alike and has motivated Galeotti to continue directing.
Music
Since Galeotti's exit from Guilding Light she has completed a demo of original music. Trained by the director of The Brooklyn College of Opera, Galeotti plays the guitar and piano, and writes her own music. Her first album, entitled Preincarnate was released in October 2002 and was met with a tepid response.
In 2006 alongside ex-
American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, Galeotti composed and recorded the well-known song "Halo" which was released in the second volume of the
One Tree Hill Soundtrack. During this time Galeotti worked alongside her producer Ron Aniello (Lifehouse, Guster, Barenaked Ladies) to record original material for an album with Epic Records. Consequently, changes within Epic Records forced Galeotti to split from the label; however, the same year she traveled to Los Angeles to write and record several songs for the soundtrack for
Ten Inch Hero. Galeotti's split with Epic allowed her to open new doors in her music career and since then she has decided to sign under the independent record label Hillasterion. In 2007 she collaborated with Enation for a newly recorded version of the song "Feel This" which premiered in the fifth season finale of
One Tree Hill. The airing led to an excited response helping make
Feel This the number one Top Seller on CD Baby; one of the largest independent music outlets in the world. In another episode entitled
Messin' With The Kid Galeotti's character Haley James Scott encounters a street performer portrayed by Grace Potter. Ambitious to reestablish her music career her character decides to sing with Potter's character in the riverfront. In the ending montage of scenes, Galeotti and Potter's characters premiere the hit single
I Want Something That I Want.
In 2008 Galeotti took her music to new grounds and formed the band Everly with her life-long friend Amber Sweeney. Immediately afer Galeotti and musical acts Angels & Airwaves and occasional
One Tree Hill guest star Kate Voegele teamed up with the USO for a live concert event for military personnel. The event also included Galeotti's husband's band Enation and allowed her music partner Amber Sweeney to accompany her on stage to perform as Everly. The USO concert was filmed and formed the basis for a
One Tree Hill episode, titled
Even Fairy Tale Characters Would Be Jealous. After its airing Everly's single, "Home Is Me - You Are Mine" instantly rose to #14 on the iTunes Folk charts and allowed them to maintain the #1 Top Seller spot on CD Baby for several weeks. Since then, Everly continues to release various singles for One Tree Hill, and in 2009 released a holiday album on iTunes entitled
Fireside. Everly is expected to release their full-length album in 2011.
Galeotti's Restaurant
In the summer of 2009, Galeotti teamed with her husband, Enation band member Michael Galeotti and in-laws to open
Galeotti’s. The Galeotti family has lived in Battle Ground, Washington for over ten years and was highly enthusiastic to bring their vision of an excellent restaurant with a cozy family feel. Bethany Joy Galeotti is the head owner of the new restaurant which occupies the space in downtown Battle Ground that formerly housed Irby's Fine Dining at 801 E. Main st. The restaurant focuses on healthful, organic, locally sourced foods, and uses eco-friendly materials and supplies whenever possible.
The Notebook Musical
When Galeotti brought her libretto of
The Notebook Musical to her producer Ron Aniello shortly thereafter they formed
Galeotti & Aniello Productions. In an excerpt from the musical's playbill Galeotti describes how the idea of
The Notebook becoming a musical came to fruition:
I fell in love with this story first when I saw the film, and all over again when I read the novel. For months after reading it I found myself walking around the house writing theatrical songs inspired by these characters. I couldn’t stop myself. After about six months of writing songs I decided to put them to good use and began writing a libretto for The Notebook. I wasn’t sure how it would pan out, but I knew I had something inside of me that needed to be released. For the next two years I wrote the libretto and much of the music mostly recording a cappella versions of my songs on my computer (God bless Garage Band!) After I finished the script, I brought the project to my brilliant, genius friend, Ron Aniello, and he made all this music come to life.
Galeotti and Aniello presented their first-ever Live Theatrical Workshop
The Notebook in October 2009. This preliminary step toward an eventual opening in New York consisted of basic sets, costumes and choreography. All actors were expected to be off-book for performance. The workshop was intended to assist the creative team in visualizing, editing and critiquing the play as well as to garner Producer interest and investors. Galeotti has until now kept facts about the musical underwraps; however, on November 2010 in response to Twitter followers who successfully raised more than $2000 in one day for the charity
Love146, Galeotti released the song "Troublesome Tongue". "Troublesome Tongue" features Noah's father, and his friends explaining Noah's childhood stutter to new love Allie (played by Galeotti).
Personal life
Galeotti married Enation band member Michael Galeotti on December 31, 2005. They are expecting their first child together. When she is not filming One Tree Hill, Galeotti lives in Battle Ground, Washington where she and her husband own a restaurant. Recently, Galeotti has become heavily involved in Love146, a non-profit international human rights organization that works toward the abolition of child sex trafficking and exploitation.
