Neve Campbell has broken into the movie scene as a Screaming sensation. She had an audience built up from her TV series; Party of Five , but no one expected her to become so successful in the movie industry. She is talented and very sexy-and will dominate the screen for many years to come. article continued below.....

Acting and performing is present all through Neve's family, her Dutch-descended mother and Scottish father met on an acting job. Though her parents split up shortly after she was born, they were in full support of Campbell when she decided, after taking in a performance of The Nutcracker at the age of six, that she wanted to learn ballet. Three years of private lessons paid huge dividends when the prestigious National Ballet of Canada, which takes on only a handful of new students from among the thousands who apply each year, accepted the nine-year-old Campbell.

The young dancer studied with the company for five years before the intense demands on her time and her gifts became too much for her to bear. "I basically had a nervous breakdown," Campbell has since recalled of the extreme performance pressures that caused her to give up ballet and follow the generally less mentally and physically taxing pursuit of acting. Quite understandably, having the words "Spent five years with the National Ballet" on her résumé helped the aspiring thespian win a role in a Toronto production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera just months after she had hung up her toe-shoes. At fifteen, Campbell was the youngest member of the cast, and she ended up staying on for two years and eight hundred performances.

Canadian television producers came knocking after Campbell bid Phantom a fond adieu, and the next couple of years witnessed her appearances in several commercials, a handful of television movies, and a Canadian feature film, Paint Cans. South of the border, audiences got their first good look at the beguiling ingenue in 1994, when MTV aired several episodes of the Canadian TV series Catwalk, a show Campbell had walked out on after a single season because she felt her character had become little more than a sex-fiend. That same year, she appeared in a lead role in the NBC movie I Know My Son Is Alive, alongside American television veterans (and real-life couple) Corbin Bernsen and Amanda Pays. NBC producers subsequently persuaded their young discovery to fly out to Southern California to get a better feel for the American television industry.

Within weeks of arriving in Los Angeles, Campbell beat out three hundred other hopefuls to secure a role in a Fox pilot about four siblings and their baby brother who must raise themselves after their parents die in a car crash. Thanks largely to Campbell's fetching, fresh-faced looks and the hunky appeal of co-stars Matthew Fox and Scott Wolf, Party of Five became a staple for the all-important youth demographic, and survived several threatened cancellations to become one of the most popular drama series on TV. In addition to scoring points with starry-eyed teens, Party of Five's cast members impressed critics across the nation with the caliber of their acting, and, before long, Hollywood producers came calling. Wisely, Campbell opted not to complicate her graduation to the silver screen by stretching her abilities.

For her role in 1996's The Craft, she switched from playing an angst-ridden teen who must cope with such everyday problems as unwanted pregnancy and family alcoholism to playing an angst-ridden teen who must cope with such everyday problems as witchcraft and levitation. Opening atop the heap at the late-spring box office, The Craft scored a modest success, which properly primed audiences for the Yuletide release of Campbell's next screen vehicle, the blood-soaked Scream. Once again, Campbell played it safe, taking on the role of yet another angst-ridden teen, this one preyed upon by a serial killer with a yen for horror movie conventions.

Veteran director Wes Craven surrounded Campbell with a bevy of pretty faces (including those of Drew Barrymore, Courteney Cox, and Skeet Ulrich); screenwriter Kevin Williamson loaded the script with sarcastic one-liners; and-ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom!-teens everywhere flooded into theaters for a bit of good old-fashioned sex appeal and stabbing. Ever since she Scream-ed her lungs out in theaters across America, Campbell's career has been on the fast track, both on the small and big screens.

Apart from her Party of Five duty, she returned to theaters in the imaginatively titled sequel to Scream, Scream 2, in which she co-starred with fellow lovelies Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jada Pinkett. She next teamed with Kevin Bacon and Matt Dillon for Wild Things, a twisty modern noir that positions Campbell as an oversexed white-trash teen; and with Mike Myers and Salma Hayek for the disco-era homage 54.

Unfortunately, her personal life hasn't been quite as smooth-sailing: in July 1997, Campbell separated from her husband of two years, actor Jeff Colt, and the couple divorced the following May. From what we hear, Scream 3 is coming out in the future. Many surprises lurk in the upcoming film-will Sydney die? Or will we have a happy ending to the "trilogy"? Check back here soon for more info concerning the upcoming smash.

• (2000) On People (USA) magazine's '50 Most Beautiful' list.
• (1999) Dated John Cusack.
• (October 1998) Voted No.3 in EMPIRE (UK) magazine's 100 sexiest movie stars of 1998.
• (1998) One of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.
• Neve is her mother's maiden name.
• Neve (pronounced "Nev") is an Italian word meaning "snow".
• Dated Matthew Lillard.
• Dated Pat Mastroianni.
• Younger sister of Christian Campbell (I).
• Joined the National Ballet School of Canada at age 9.
• Has brown eyes.
• Posed for a swimsuit photo believing it to be intended for a catalogue only to see it appear on a Toronto billboard.
• Mother is Dutch, father Scottish.
• Had to turn down the role in Armageddon (1998) because of conflicts with the Party of Five schedule.
• Had to turn down the role in Rounders (1998) because in the contract it said she would have to be in Scream 2 (1997) and she wasn't sure if she wanted to do it or not.
• (1999) Revealed that at aged 14 she suffered a "nervous breakdown" which resulted in complete hairloss, and that only intensive acupunture grew it back.
• Went to Lorne Park high school where her father is drama teacher.
• In a public restroom, a fan knocked on her stall door, put a pen and paper underneath and said, "Can I get your autograph?" Campbell replied, "Can I finish peeing first?" -- Cosmopolitan magazine, October 1999
• (2000) Leaving "Party of Five" (1994) at the end of the season.
• Appeared in the Toronto production of the Broadway Musical "Phantom of the Opera" as a ballerina (early 90's).
• Was a chorus girl in the original Toronto cast of Phantom of the Opera starring Colm Wilkinson.
• (2001) Dated Billy Burke (I).
• (August 2001) Campbell's relationship with John Cusack was reconciled after a two-week hideaway vacation.

• "I figure when I'm 50 and broke, I'll want to do another one. Maybe my character, Sidney, has been in an insane asylum for all these years. She breaks out and becomes a killer herself." - on the prospect of making another sequel after Scream 3 (2000).
• "I keep suggesting that the entire family gets run over by a huge Mack truck. I know it's a little bit on the depressing side, but the show started when the parents were killed in a drunk-driving accident. I think we should keep with the sadness until the end." - on how to end the series "Party of Five" (1994)