Drake Bell

Actor

Name at birth: Jared Drake Bell

Drake Bell is the young co-star of Drake & Josh, the odd-couple comedy series on the Nickelodeon network. Bell has been a professional performer since he was five years old, when he began getting work in commercials. He had several small roles on television and film before getting regular work on the Nickelodeon sketch comedy show The Amanda Show (1999-2002, starring Amanda Bynes). That led to a job as Josh Peck's co-star in Drake & Josh in 2004. Bell, like his character on TV, plays the guitar and sings; Bell composes music for the show and in 2005 released his own album, Telegraph. His film credits include the cable TV movie The Jack Bull (1999) and the feature films Jerry Maguire (1996, starring Tom Cruise) and High Fidelity (2000, starring John Cusack).

Extra credit: In late 2005 Bell was in a car accident that left him banged up but not seriously injured... His mother is professional pool player Robin Dodson... Bell wasn't the pudgy kid with the round glasses in Jerry Maguire -- that was Jonathan Lipnicki.