Bello Bellies Up To 'Coyote Ugly' Bar

This week's big buzz is about Coyote Ugly, opening Friday, a movie set in a rowdy New York watering hole where a group of gorgeous women serve up sex appeal and attitude along with the drinks.

But its star, Maria Bello, says this is not the second coming of Showgirls, the notorious 1995 flop that tried to titillate and managed only to bore its audience silly. She appeared on The Early Show to talk about the movie Wednesday.

Coyote Ugly is a bar owned and operated by a tough-talking woman named Lil. She's played by Bello, best known for her role as Dr. Anna Del Amico in the television series E.R.

Bello tells Anchor Bryant Gumbel, "It's a beautiful story about a young woman's coming of age, actually, a small-town gal's going to the big city, following her heart and following her dream and making it big."

A better movie comparison, she says, is Flashdance. "I was so inspired by Flashdance. When I was 12 years old I was that girl in that movie, in a blue-collar neighborhood," she says. "I remember listening to 'Maniac' and I thought, I'm going to be someone someday. And I think that this film has that same essence and will hopefully inspire young girls like that movie inspired me."

Which is not to say that the movie doesn't attempt to titillate, notably in one scene in which Bellow's bar girls dance atop the bar. "It's like going to a party when you're in the bar scenes, but at the same time the movie is so much more than that and each of the women are so strong, the characters are so strong and interesting," Bello says.

If the movie is about a small-town girl who goes to the big city looking for a break, Bello says she "trained for the movie for about 10 years." She waited on tables and tended bar in New York, crashing on a friend's floor at night while trying to break into acting.

Next up for Bello: Another movie, Duets, is due out this year. And, she just finished shooting an IMAX film set in China in the 1930s, based on a true story about a woman who brought the first live panda to the West.

• Born Maria Elana Bello on April 18, 1967, in Norristown, Pa.
  
• She studied political science at Villanova University, and hoped to be a lawyer before switching career plans after taking an acting class.
  
• She waitressed in New York while working in small theater productions and appearing in commercials, including a stint as the Amstel Light girl.


• She co-founded Harlem's Dream Yard Drama Project, a nonprofit organization for urban kids.


• Bello later went to Los Angeles, where she won guest roles in 1995 series Misery Loves Company and Nowhere Man.


• Her big break came in 1996, when she co-starred with Scott Bakula in the short lived CBS spy series Mr. & Mrs. Smith.


• A guest role on E.R. led to a regulr stint as Dr. Anna Del Amico in the 1997-98 television season.


• She appeared in the film Permanent Midnight co-starring Ben Stiller In 1998, and in Payback, starring Mel Gibson, in 1999.


• In September, fans can catch Bello in Duets, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Scott Speedman.

Bello loves the outdoors and has hiked and camped all over the world. She has visited Tanzania and Botswana, gathering material for a book she plans to write about children around the world.

For more on her new movie, see the official Coyote Ugly site.