American actress Moira Kelly is best known for her roles in the television series The West Wing and the film The Cutting Edge.
She was born in Queens, New York City, on March 6, 1968. Moira Kelly, who was the third of Peter and Anne Kelly’s six children and was born in the United States, is of Irish ancestry.
Her mother, Anne, worked as a nurse, while her father, Peter, was a concert violinist. Moira was brought as a Catholic in Ronkonkoma, New York. She graduated in 1986 from Connetquot Senior High School in Bohemia, Long Island. After that, she would go to Marymount Manhattan College.
Early Career
Moira Kelly had aspirations of acting or becoming a nun as a child. After numerous casting changes in the 1984 production of Annie at her high school, she decided to pursue acting.
In the 1991 television film Love, Lies, and Murder, she played Cinnamon Brown in her first professional appearance. She portrayed a teen who was forced by her father to murder her stepmother.
Additionally, her agency convinced her to decline the role of Polly Pry in Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Cannibal! The Musical.
Twin Peaks
She was chosen to replace Lara Flynn Boyle from the television drama in the 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me as Donna Hayward.
Due to a sexual sequence in the movie, devout Catholic Moira Kelly asked her priest for approval before participating.
She was also scheduled to play Kit in 1992’s A League of Their Own, but she was unable to do so because of an accident she sustained while filming one of her more well-known roles.
Acting Career
The Cutting Edge
Moira Kelly made headlines in 1992 when she was cast in the lead role of the romantic comedy The Cutting Edge as a figure skater opposite D.B. Sweeny. She was unable to play Kit in A League of Their Own because of an ankle injury she sustained during production.
She would be Robert Downey Jr.‘s co-star in Richard Attenborough’s fantasy biopic Chaplin that same year, though. In the movie, Kelly would play two roles. Charlie Chaplin was adored by both Hetty Kelly and Oona O’Neil Chaplin.
The Lion King
The lioness Nala was voiced by Moira Kelly in the 1994 Disney animated picture The Lion King. Over the course of her career, she would continue to voice Nala in sequels and spinoffs.
She played an attorney who was wed to a police officer in a 13-episode run of the drama To Have & to Hold in 1998.
The West Wing
Moira Kelly portrayed Mandy Hampton in the political drama The West Wing from 1999 to 2000. For the Jed Bartlet administration on the show, Mandy Hampton, Ph.D., worked as a political media consultant before becoming the White House media director.
In the first season of the show, she only made an appearance in 22 episodes, and she was never seen again.
Her character was supposed to be Josh Lyman’s love opposite, played by Bradley Whitford, but that plot never materialised.
Characters being thrown on the bus to “Mandyville” is a cliche that developed as a result of Moira Kelly’s abrupt and peculiar departure from the series.
Mandy, a character played by Moira Kelly on The West Wing, bears the name of the trope. However, the show also included a large number of additional characters that abruptly disappear without any thanks or goodbyes. Additionally, this cliche has spread beyond of The West Wing.
Mandy was not a particularly well-liked character among viewers, though, which might be the reason showrunner Aaron Sorkin decided to move past her in the second season.
One Tree Hill
She received a key part in the drama One Tree Hill after leaving The West Wing. From 2003 until 2009, she will portray “Karen Roe” and appear in 90 episodes.
What is Moira Kelly doing now?
Actress Moira Kelly is still very active. Since then, she has kept up her work in both film and television.
She made seven episodes of Panic on Amazon Prime in 2021.
In the Disney computer game Disney Dreamlight Valley, she also performed the voiceover for Nala from The Lion King.
Her upcoming Hallmark movie, My Southern Family Christmas, is expected to come out before the year 2022 is out.
Personal Life
Stephen Eric Hewitt, a businessman from Texas, is the husband of Mora Kelly. Since August 2000, the couple has been married.
Two kids were born to Moira Kelly and Stephen Eric Hewitt. Ella, their daughter, was born in 2001. Eamon, their son, was born in 2003.
Instagram is the only social media platform where Moira Kelly Hewitt is known to be active.
