‘NEARLYWEDS’
CAST BIOS
NAOMI JUDD (Renee) – From humble beginnings as a single Mom in a small Kentucky town to her meteoric rise as a country music superstar and American icon, Naomi Judd's incredible lifelong journey is an inspiring story of overcoming the odds through optimism and hard work.
Judd was first known to the world as half of country music's mother/daughter duo, The Judds. Reaching unprecedented success throughout the 80's and 90's, The Judds sold 20 million records, scored fifteen #1 hits and received over sixty industry awards, including six Grammy's and seven consecutive CMA Vocal Group of the Year awards and the ACM's Top Vocal Duet award. At the pinnacle of their career, Judd was stricken with Hepatitis C, a potentially fatal chronic liver disease, incurred from an infected needle when she worked as a registered nurse cutting short her musical career and forcing her into retirement to battle the disease. The Judds bid farewell to the fans in 1991, but Judd did not step out of the public spotlight for long.
Today, she is a survivor of Hepatitis C and served as the first national spokesperson for the American Liver Foundation. Using her fame, her experience as a former RN and her passion to help people, she's re-directed energies into communicating her learning and research through educating audiences about the scientific link between mind, body and spirit in the healing process as a keynote speaker. A member of Dr. Andrew Weil's board of directors, Judd advocates an integrative holistic approach to medicine along with the latest in modern technology. She helps to bridge the conversation between academia, medical communities and the everyday person about health and family-related issues whether her audience is the National Institutes of Health or a group of uninsured, single working Moms.
In 2004, her self-penned bestseller, Naomi's Breakthrough Guide, 20 Choices to Transform Your Life, remained on The New York Times best-seller list for over eight weeks. In 2005, Judd wrote her third children's book, Gertie the Goldfish, and in 2006, The Transparent Life hit the shelves. Hallmark Channel tapped her to host, “Naomi's New Morning,” a weekly talk show that aired from 2005 to 2007. In 2007, she released yet another best-seller titled Naomi's Guide to Aging Gratefully which was a message of empowerment to the millions of Baby Boomers in this country. She also served as spokesperson for Partners Against Pain, Post Cereal's "Heart Health" campaign, Prilosec and AARP. In seasons 2008-2009 she helped launch CMT's reality competition hit, “Can You Duet” as a talent judge. And coming full circle to where we first discovered this unique, captivating personality, she and Wynonna took to the road in 2010 for “The Judds: The Last Encore Tour” and released a new single, “I Will Stand By You.” Chronicling that experience was a hit docu-series, “The Judds,” which premiered April 2011 on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. The series followed the award winning mother/daughter duo as they hit the road for their first and final concert tour in ten years. Cameras captured their emotional journey as they worked to heal their relationship, reconnect with the fans and share the spotlight once again.
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2012 finds Judd back in the familiar role of radio host with her six-week SiriusXM radio series “Think Twice” which launched nationwide on June 8. Meanwhile, Judd continues humanitarian efforts including River Cities Harvest, the Saint Louis University Liver Center, M.A.D.D., Parents Television Council, Make-A-Difference Day, Women's World Peace Initiative, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and created her own July 4th Judd's Annual Food Drive to benefit families of Appalachia.
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DANIELLE PANABAKER (Erin) – A stunning and talented young actress, Danielle Panabaker has quickly grabbed attention as one of Hollywood's most vibrant talents.
Panabaker will next be seen starring in "Girls Against Boys" directed by Austin Chick, which premiered at SXSW 2012 and will be released by Anchor Bay Films later this year.
She recently starred in John Carpenter’s latest thriller “The Ward” opposite Amber Heard and in the independent film, "Weakness," opposite Bobby Cannavale. Other film credits include Overture Films' "The Crazies" directed by Breck Eisner, in which she starred opposite Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell as the receptionist at a medical center in a small town whose residents mysteriously begin going insane. Panabaker also starred as the female lead in the highly anticipated remake of "Friday the 13th," opposite Jared Padalecki. The Paramount film, directed by Marcus Nispel and produced by Michael Bay, was released on February 13, 2009 and grossed over $43 million its opening weekend, setting a new record for the highest take for an R-rated horror film. She also appeared opposite Kevin Costner and Dane Cook in the MGM thriller "Mr. Brooks." Her additional film credits include Sony Pictures’ “Yours, Mine and Ours,” opposite Renee Russo and Dennis Quaid and Disney’s “Sky High,” opposite Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston.
On television, Panabaker starred as James Woods’ unwaveringly wise daughter on the CBS drama “Shark” and garnered much critical acclaim for her breakout performance in the HBO miniseries “Empire Falls,” in which she starred opposite Paul Newman and Ed Harris.
Panabaker also appeared in the Disney Channel Original Movie "How My Personal Private Journal Became a Best-Selling Novel," where she and her sister, Kay, played versions of the same character. Her additional television work includes starring roles in “Searching for David's Heart” (for which she won the 2005 Young Artist Award for Best Performance for a TV Movie Leading Young Actress), “Mom at Sixteen,” “Sex and the Single Mom,” the Disney Channel Original Movie “Stuck in the Suburbs” and the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “Beverly Lewis’ The Shunning.”
Her notable guest-starring roles have included “The Guardian” (for which she won the 2004 Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series Guest Starring Young Actress).
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She has also made such notable guest appearances on "Bones," "Grimm," "Law and Order: Los Angeles," "Necessary Roughness," "Memphis Beat," “Chase,” “Medium,“ “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Eli Stone,” “Law and Order: SVU,” "CSI," "Malcolm in the Middle” and “Summerland.”
Born in Georgia, Panabaker graduated from high school at the age of 14 and received her Bachelor's degree in English from UCLA. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
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JESSICA PARKER KENNEDY (Casey) – Coming off of a recurring role on the CW's “90210,” Jessica Parker Kennedy is now headed to the Starz Network as one of the series leads of their new adventure series, “Black Sails.” Executive produced by Michael Bay and created by Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine, “Black Sails” is set 20 years before the events of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
Prior to joining “90210,” Kennedy starred in the CW series, “The Secret Circle,” as a high school student who comes to realize that she and her group of friends are all witches. Kennedy has been named one of E! Entertainment's "Hot Faces of Fall," featured as one of Zap2It's "Underrated TV Stars of 2011" and adorned TV Guide's Hot List.
Kennedy's additional film roles include “50/50,” opposite Seth Rogan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival, for which it also received an Independent Spirit Award nomination); Andrew Niccol's “In Time,” opposite Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried and “Another Cinderella Story,” opposite Selena Gomez.
Past television credits include ABC's “V” and “Brothers and Sisters,” the CW's “Smallville,” Nickelodeon's “The Troop” and MTV Network's “Kaya” and “Valemont.”
Kennedy is also a professionally-trained singer and splits her time between Los Angeles, California and Vancouver, British Colombia.
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BRITT IRVIN (Stella) – Born in Vancouver B.C. Britt Irvin started performing at the age of 10. From that moment on she was successfully booking roles in a broad spectrum of film and TV. At the age of 13 she booked her first series regular on the American classic "Little Men," based on the famous Louisa May Alcott book series Little Women. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for best supporting actress and best ensemble cast. Her career steadily progressed and soon she was working with the likes of Nick Stahl and Aaron Paul in MTV's “Wasted,” Dakota Fanning in Steven Spielberg's mini-series "Taken," Bryan Cranston's daughter in "National Lampoons: Thanksgiving Family Reunion" and the Showtime hit "Jack" staring Stockard Channing and Anton Yelchin, just to name a few. As her career continued she began
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to show off her comedic chops in such projects as Lorne Michaels’ (“SNL” creator) feature "Hot Rod" with Andy Sandberg and Isla Fisher, a starring role in MTV/the N's teen comedy "The Assistants," Lifetime's "Write and Wrong" with Kirstie Alley and a recurring role on CW's "Aliens In America." In 2008 Irvin was nominated for a Leo Award for best supporting actress in Carl Bessai's critically acclaimed "Normal" starring Carrie Ann Moss. That film also won best Canadian Feature at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. She is probably best known for her recurring role as the popular comic book superhero Stargirl in CW's hit series "Smallville."
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TRAVIS MILNE (Nick) – Canadian actor Travis Milne is most well known as the rookie police officer Chris Diaz on the hit series “Rookie Blue.” Although falling in love with cinema at an early age, he did not begin acting until his mid-teens after encouragement by his high school drama teacher. Milne’s first major break was in 2007 when he was cast as one of the hosts of the environmentally conscious series “My Green House.” The show informed people on how to make earth friendly renovations to their homes. In 2008, he played lawyer Eric Baldwin in the edgy television movie “Confessions of a Go-Go Girl.” In 2009, Travis played Bobby in Reginald Harkema’s film “Leslie, My Name is Evil.” The film, which is a controversial commentary on Charles Manson, had its premiere at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival.
The one hour police drama “Rookie Blue” is produced by E1 Entertainment and airs simultaneously in Canada and the United States on Global and ABC networks. The series follows a group of recent graduates from the police academy as they try to navigate their ways as rookie officers. The third season of the show aired this past summer and they are already in production on a fourth season.
A self-proclaimed jock, Milne spends his free time playing football and basketball. He is also an attentive environmentalist and a carpenter. He really enjoys working with his hands and one day hopes to build his own house. Milne currently resides in Toronto and Los Angeles.
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STEVE BACIC (Mark) – It’s only a matter of time before Steve Bacic becomes a household name. Having already garnered international recognition with leading roles in TV series such as “NCIS” (CBS), “ER” (NBC) and “CSI: Miami” (CBS), he’s a leading man who is equally comfortable playing a dramatic role or a comedic one. He has appeared as a series regular on “Andromeda” (Global), “The Guard” (Global), “Crash & Burn” (Showcase) and the critically acclaimed HBO series, “Big Love.”
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Bacic moved to Vancouver from his hometown of Windsor, Ontario. His breakout role was a large guest star on the hit television series, “21 Jump Street” – the biggest part ever given to a Canadian on the show at that time. Since his debut, he has worked consistently in both Canada and the United States, culminating into close to a hundred credits and 15 years of non-stop work. His most recent projects include the role of Sam in the television movie, “Profile for Murder” and the feature film, “Suddenly,” where he plays a supporting lead as Dan Carney, a Secret Service agent.
Bacic continues to devote himself to the art of acting with the same passion that led him to a successful career and which will guarantee his place as one of Hollywood’s leading men.
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RYAN KENNEDY (David) – Ryan Kennedy was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and is the oldest of three brothers. His career aspirations leaned towards investigation and working for the FBI, but he began pursuing acting in 2004 after auditioning for a small role in a locally filmed movie.
A lucrative career followed: Kennedy was awarded Best Supporting Actor at the Oklahoma Trail Dance Film Festival and won Best Ensemble Cast at the Hollywood First Glance Film Festival for his dark and chilling performance in the gritty and disturbing movie “Chasing The White Dragon.”
Kennedy’s most recent work includes a series regular role in the CW’s “Hellcats,” a series recurring guest role on Syfy’s “Caprica,” a guest spot on ABC’s “V,” a recurring portrayal as Cosmic Boy (DC Comics’ The Legion Of Super-Heroes) on “Smallville,” as well as guest star performances on CBS’s “Flashpoint,” USA’s “Psych,” Syfy’s “Sanctuary” and the highly anticipated first season of “Stargate: Universe.”
He recently starred in the Hallmark Movie Channel Original Movie, “Hannah’s Law,” opposite Danny Glover, Sara Canning, Billy Zane and Kimberly Elise, as Doc Holliday.
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