Drake Bell

Born: June 27 1986

Where: Orange County, California, USA
The actor is best known for the American TV comedy Drake & Josh.

However, he has also made several big screen appearances ranging from High Fidelity to the spoof Superhero Movie.

The son of a professional snooker player, he made his first television appearance was in a Whirlpool commercial when he was around 5 years old.

In 1994 he appeared in the TV show Home Improvement and made his big screen debut the following year in the comic book feature Drifting School.

The same year he appeared in the drama The Neon Bible and went on star alongside Tom Cruise and Renee Zellwegger in director Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire.

In 2000, he was nominated for the Young Artist Award for his role as Cage Redding in the made-for-television film The Jack Bull.

During the early 2000s, Bell 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 in Drake & Josh.

He also played the young John Cusack in the Nick Hornby adaptation High Fidelity and subsequently stuck with TV work, including The Amanda Show.

In addition to his acting, Bell has a growing career as a musician, releasing several albums for Universal/Motown.

Offscreen, he was lucky to survive a car crash in December 2005 when he was in a head-on collision with truck after it shot a red light.

Recent work includes the 2008 film spoof Superhero Movie.