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Jared Drake Bell (born June 27, 1986), better known as Drake Bell, is an American actor, comedian, guitarist, singer/songwriter, and occasional television director. Bell is commonly associated with his real-life best friend Josh Peck, who co-starred with him in both The Amanda Show, with Amanda Bynes, and Drake & Josh. After beginning his career as a child star in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he appeared on The Amanda Show and became well-known among young audiences for his role on the series Drake & Josh.

In addition to his acting, Bell has a growing career as a musician, and co-wrote and performed the theme song to Drake & Josh, entitled "Found a Way". In 2005 he independently released his debut album, Telegraph. His second album, It's Only Time, was released in 2006 after signing with Universal/Motown.

Personal life

Drake Bell was born in Orange County, California. He is the son of women's pool champion Robin Dodson.

Car accident

On December 22, 2005, Bell was involved in a car accident on Los Angeles' Pacific Coast Highway. He was driving with a friend when a truck ran a red light and caused a head-on collision. This resulted in a fractured skull, fractured neck, a broken jaw, six missing teeth and several facial lacerations. His best friend and co-star on Nickelodeon's Drake and Josh, Josh Peck, was there with him in the hospital to give him moral support, the doctor said it was not life threatening according to an interview in 2006. After recovering, Bell underwent plastic surgery to reverse the cosmetic effects of the crash. He said that the crash was somewhat of a positive influence on his career and to his own life saying "you have to just smell the flowers because it (life) can all be taken away like that *snaps fingers*.'.

Career

Acting

Bell first appeared in a 1994 episode of Home Improvement entitled "Swing Time". He then appeared in the film Jerry Maguire as Jesse Remo in 1996, and had a small role in the Seinfeld episode "The Frogger" in 1998. In 1999, he acted in a commercial for Pokémon Red and Blue. In 2000, he was nominated for the Young Artist Award for "Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot" in the "Supporting Young Actor" category for his role as Cage Redding in the made-for-television film The Jack Bull. During the early 2000s, Drake was a featured performer on The Amanda Show and made a guest appearance on the series The Nightmare Room, before being cast as Drake Parker on the Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh, which began airing in 2004. During this time period, he made a guest appearance as himself on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101 and won the first of three consecutive "Blimp Awards" at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in the "Favorite Male TV Actor" category. In 2006, Bell co-starred alongside fellow Drake & Josh actress Miranda Cosgrove with Dennis Quaid in Yours, Mine and Ours. In the spring of 2008, Bell had a starring role in the comedy spoof film Superhero Movie. In August 2008, he appeared in his first R-rated comedy College, which was shot on location in New Orleans. Drake has signed a producing deal with Virtus Entertainment and will star in The Miracle of Santa Rosa. Bell will also be in another Virtus Entertainment production, this one a mini-series titled Flying Tigers. Bell recently starred in Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh alongside Josh Peck, which began production in July 2008, and premiered on December 5, 2008.

Music

Bell was first professionally associated with music when he was in the 2001 movie Chasing Destiny. In the film, he co-starred with The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey, who gave him his first guitar lessons. Bell performed on television for the first time in 2002 when he performed his first original song, "Lost A Lover", on The Amanda Show. Another one of his songs, "Found a Way", is featured as the theme song for Drake & Josh. The song is included on Drake & Josh: Songs from and inspired by the hit TV show, along with two other compositions he has written and performed, as well as appearing on on his debut album, Telegraph, which was released independently on September 27, 2005.

In 2005, Bell collaborated with Hawk Nelson on a song called "Bring 'Em Out," which was featured in the movie Yours, Mine and Ours. Bell and fellow band-mate Michael Corcoran do all the score music for Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly. In 2006, Bell signed with Universal Records and met Gustavus Adolphus College graduate Tom van Dell, who would later become his manager. He released his first single, "I Know", on October 17, 2006. The video for "I Know" was filmed in October 2006. Bell's second album, entitled It's Only Time, was released on December 5, 2006. Bell performed live on MTV's TRL the day after it was released. In the summer of 2007, he went on a Nextfest tour in support of It's Only Time, opening up alongside Corbin Bleu for Aly & AJ.

On October 16, 2007, iTunes released a Radio Disney single edit version of his song "Makes Me Happy", the second single for Drake's album It's Only Time. He also wrote with band-mate Michael Corcoran, and sang the theme song for the show iCarly, "Leave It All to Me," with Miranda Cosgrove. The music video for the song premiered on May 24, 2008. Bell has recorded a theme song featuring Sara Paxton for his movie Superhero Movie called "Superhero! Song". He performed some Christmas songs in the Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh movie.

Critics have described his music as heavily influenced by The Beatles and The Beach Boys, with the Beatles being his main influence. Two of his other influences are Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly.

A DVD entitled "Drake Bell In Concert" was released on December 16, 2008. The DVD contains footage of him and his band live on stage while they toured in Mexico, in October 2008. It also features 2 new songs and 5 covers, all of which are exclusive to the DVD.

Third album

In late 2007, Bell was working on his third studio album, originally intended for a spring 2008 release.

A few new songs have been heard, one called "Sea Song", and another called "All Alone at the Disco" can be seen on his "Live In Concert" DVD. In some other concerts he has played "Our Love" and "Yesterday's Fool", which can also be heard on a SayNow message. He announced "Here am I" on another SayNow message. He released a minute of a Spanglish edit of "All Alone at the Disco" and one minute thirty seconds of "Unbelievable" on his official MySpace.

Filmography

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit requestadding to it . (July 2009)

• 1986 births
• American film actors
• American male singers
• Actors from California
• People from Orange County, California
• American child actors
• American child singers
• American singer-songwriters
• American television actors
• American rock guitarists
• Living people