Early life and education

Bethany Joy Lenz was born on April 2, 1981, in Hollywood, Florida. Lenz is the only child of Robert George Lenz, a history teacher and therapist, and Catharine Malcolm Holt Shepard, a personnel manager and entrepreneur. She is of Australian (from her paternal side), Scottish, German and Irish descent. She actually has lineage that traces all the way back to the Scottish King Malcolm. Her grandfather, George Lenz, was a regular on the Broadway stage in the 1950s starring in musicals Wish You Were Here, South Pacific, and many others. Following in her grandfather's footsteps, Lenz began singing at the age of three at The Carpenter's Church in Lakeland, Florida. At the age of seven, Joy and her family moved to Arlington, Texas where she attended Pope Elementary. She was also enrolled in The Creative Arts Theater and School where she took dance, tap, jazz, acting and theater classes. At seven years old, Lenz landed her first stage role playing a Munchkin in a local production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Three years later, Lenz played Scout Finch in the production of To Kill a Mockingbird at the Irving Community Theater in Texas.

Career

Acting

While on a trip to Los Angeles, Lenz landed her first professional job in a commercial for dolls from the teen drama series, Swans Crossing. Lenz eventually went on to appear in additional commercials for Eggo Waffles, Dr Pepper and others. Lenz continued to find work steadily as an actress, and by her sophomore year in high school she landed the role of Linda Halleck in Stephen King's Thinner. She appeared in various pilots, commercials and films and performed regional theatre until she was eventually cast as a series regular on Guiding Light.

At the age of seventeen, Lenz earned a nine episode gig as the teenage clone of Reva Shayne on the CBS Daytime soap opera Guiding Light. Her stint earned her such favorable reviews from viewers, critics and Guiding Light executives alike that Lenz was eventually recast as Michelle Bauer Santos upon Rebecca Budig's exit - an unusual move that was "unheard of" in the industry according to CBS producer, Mickey Dwyer-Dobbin. In 1999 while working on the demanding daytime serial Guiding Light, she graduated from Eastern Christian High School in New Jersey and landed the role of Rose Cronin in Mary and Rhoda, a made-for-television movie that reunited Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper as Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern. At the time Lenz juggled a heavy storyline, a television movie portraying Mary Tyler Moore's daughter, a one-year run of a New York cabaret called Foxy Ladies Love/Boogie 70's Explosion, and the lead role in an independent film. Lenz also filmed two pilots: one playing the daughter of Paul Sorvino, and the other as the lead in the WB's 1972.

At the end of her two-year contract with The Guiding Light she seized the opportunity to leave her role as Michelle Bauer Santos and moved from New York City to Los Angeles to gain exposure in different avenues. Out west, Lenz was directed by Garry Marshall in "Happy Days: the Musical" (playing Pinky Tuscadero; musical directors Carole King and Paul Williams) and by Arthur Allan Seidleman in a staged reading of a musical version of The Outsiders. During this time Lenz also landed guest appearances on Off Centre, Charmed, Felicity, Maybe It's Me and The Guardian. In 2002 Lenz joined the cast of Bring It On Again as the co-captain of the varsity cheerleading squad, Marni Potts.

At the age of twenty two Lenz was cast in the WB's television series One Tree Hill. Lenz originally auditioned for the roles of Brooke Davis and Haley James but ultimately landed the role of Haley James, the quintessential girl-next-door who is best friends with Lucas Scott, portrayed by Chad Michael Murray, and wife of Nathan Scott, portrayed by James Lafferty. During her time on One Tree Hill, Lenz was also offered the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast when it was still in production on Broadway, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with the show. Furthermore, Lenz appeared in an episode of Life Unexpected alongside Kate Voegele as part of a crossover-event between One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected.

In the sixth season, Lenz made her directorial debut. Lenz initially approached producer Greg Prange in 2007 with the idea of directing but was not given the opportunity to direct until two years after her request. Over the course of season six Lenz shadowed several directors, watched them prep and went on scouts. Lenz directed two additional episodes.

After eight seasons on air, One Tree Hill came back for thirteen episodes in its ninth and final season, famously sashaying around in thigh high boots to save her husband. On November 17, 2011, Lenz filmed her last scenes as the character Haley James Scott on One Tree Hill. The show ended on April 4, 2012.

In September 2012 it was confirmed that Lenz would be guest starring on an episode of Men at Work. She played the role of 'Meg' a single mother that the character, Tyler, begins to date. The episode aired on May 9, 2013. It is entitled "Tyler the Pioneer".

In March 2013 it was confirmed that Lenz would have a recurring role on Dexter. Her character 'Cassie' was described as "an attractive former finance executive looking for a quieter life." Lenz's character appeared in the fourth episode of the final season.

In late September 2013, Lenz landed the role Lauren Byrd on the pilot "Songbyrd" for E!. The show centered around Lauren, a genius songwriter who employs a small staff, including her sister, to enable and manage her eccentric, yet wildly successful process. Production for Songbyrd began in late January 2014 in New York City. The show was not picked up by E!.

In January 2015, Lenz and her friend Sid Mallya chose a movie to produce on the website InkTip. The movie, untitled One Of These Days, is written by Phyllis Heltay. In an interview shortly after Lenz mentions that the shooting is scheduled for May 2015. Moreover, in an interview in February 2015, she announced that she is currently writing two pilots dealing with the status of women during the 20's 30's.

In spring 2015, Lenz was cast in the Shonda Rhimes drama, The Catch for ABC playing the role of Zoe. On May 18, 2015, Lenz revealed she was being replaced, writing wrote, "Looks like they need a different type for ZOE, so I'll be replaced," though she still encourages fans to watch the show.

Early 2016, Lenz stars in her friend Kristin Fairweather's first short film, entitled Grace. And in March 2016, she appeared in two episodes of season 3 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Music

Since Lenz's exit from Guiding Light she has completed a demo of original music. Trained by the director of The Brooklyn College of Opera, Lenz plays the guitar and piano, and writes her own music. Her first album, entitled Preincarnate, was released in October 2002. Right then, she worked under the direction of director Garry Marshall and alongside musician Carole King on a new musical adapted from the series Happy Days. She also took the opportunity to work in a public reading of a musical version of the novel The Outsiders directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman.

After that, she was casted as Haley on One Tree Hill where she continued to release new music. In 2005, after recording "When the Stars Go Blue" with costar Tyler Hilton, the duo joined The Wreckers (Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp), and Gavin DeGraw for a 25-city North American One Tree Hill Tour that started in Vancouver. Lenz and Hilton scored the #89 spot on February 2005's Billboard Pop 100 chart with the duet "When the Stars Go Blue." While on tour, Lenz debuted her second independent record entitled, Come On Home. Despite her hectic schedule during the tour, Lenz also filmed her first music video for "Songs in My Pockets" at Coney Island Beach and Astroland in Brooklyn, New York. In 2006, alongside ex-American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, Lenz co-wrote and recorded "Halo" which was released in the second volume of the One Tree Hill Soundtrack. During this time, Lenz inked a deal with Sony Epic Records and worked with her producer, Ron Aniello (Lifehouse, Guster, Barenaked Ladies) to record original material. In 2006 after changes within the company, Lenz split from the label. Despite the musical setback, that same year Lenz traveled to Los Angeles to write and record several songs for the soundtrack for Ten Inch Hero. Lenz's split with Epic allowed her to sign under the independent record label Hillasterion.

In 2008, Lenz took her music to new grounds and formed the band Everly with her lifelong friend, Amber Sweeney. Immediately after the duo was formed, Everly, musical act Angels & Airwaves, and Kate Voegele teamed up with the USO for a live concert event for military personnel. The USO concert was filmed and formed the basis for a One Tree Hill episode, titled Even Fairy Tale Characters Would Be Jealous.

After six months of writing a libretto of The Notebook Musical based on the New York Times best selling novel, The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, Lenz brought the idea to her producer Ron Aniello. Shortly after they formed Galeotti & Aniello Productions. and presented their first-ever Live Theatrical Workshop in October 2009. The workshop was a preliminary step toward an eventual opening in New York and consisted of basic sets, costumes and choreography. All actors were expected to be off-book for performance. The workshop was intended to assist the creative team in visualizing, editing and critiquing the play as well as to garner Producer interest and investors. Lenz had until that point kept facts about the musical under wraps; in November 2010 in response to Twitter followers successfully raising more than $2000 in one day for the charity Love146, Lenz released the song "Troublesome Tongue". The song features Noah's father and his friends explaining Noah's childhood stutter to new love Allie (Allie is played by Lenz in the recording).

In 2012, the Everly band split after four years of collaboration, the two artists preferring to focus on their solo careers. So, in November of the same year, Lenz joined fellow One Tree Hill co-star Michael Grubbs of the band Wakey!Wakey! and other singers at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City for the BTF Concerts: Rock The Schools 2012 concert. She performed new songs and two duets with Grubbs entitled "I Know" and "Irresistible". At the concert, she sold a 9-song CD entitled "Then Slowly Grows".

During an interview with Shine On Media in May 2013, Lenz stated she was meeting with long-time friend and music producer Jeff Cohen to record an album. On May 22, 2013, Lenz tweeted a picture of the recording studio. The caption read, "Recording new music in #Nashville with old pal Jeff Cohen! #LeavingTownAlive #CrazyGirls" On June 4, 2013, Lenz tweeted "Sneak peek at my new album..." and linked a video on WhoSay to a new song "Please". During an interview with Mary Ann Albright in late July 2013, Lenz talked about her plans for her musical career. She plans on releasing her first full-length studio album in the near future with the title Your Woman as an independent release on her blog. Lenz went on to say, "The best way I can describe this album is Patsy Cline meets Paula Cole meets Sam Cooke." On August 10, 2013, Lenz released "Please" on vibedeck and August 11 on iTunes as Bette, (as a feel on another musical name, that she didn't use more than once). The song was highly wanted from her fans after she performed it on Rock the Schools Concert in 2012. On July 18, 2014, Lenz released "Calamity Jane" on iTunes. The song was released as a teaser for Lenz's soon to be released album. Lenz stated: "While I'm reworking my album, here's a little teaser. This song will sound totally different on the new record, but I thought you'd enjoy hearing this version." On July 21, the song was on her WhoSay site and later on her SoundCloud site.

In November 2014, Lenz created a Kickstarter fundraising page for her new EP. Production on the EP began in early December. As well as supporting the new EP, fans were able to give back to the charity STOP THE TRAFFIK. The project, entitled "Get Back to Gold" was released (iTunes, Amazon.com) on December 23, 2014, and was just a sneak peek for her new album.

Due to legal proceedings with her producer, David Waechter, the project went down and Lenz decided to change her team. She is now known as "Joy Lenz and the Firepit Band" and has musicians and back up singers : WhiteRose (Danny Shyman) on guitar, Doo Crowder on vocals and guitar, Ben Zelico on drums and Meaghan Maples and Brittany Gilmore as back up singers. A tour is planned from May to July 2016.

Personal life

Lenz married former Enation keyboardist, Michael Galeotti, on December 31, 2005.

On February 23, 2011, Lenz gave birth to a daughter, Maria Rose Galeotti.

In March 2013, Lenz announced that she would be divorcing her husband after six years of marriage. She wrote: "You'll all be wondering soon why everyone is calling me 'Bethany Joy Lenz' again. I'm sorry to say that Michael and I have decided to divorce. We remain friendly and dedicated to raising our beautiful girl in love and we appreciate your prayers and support during this difficult time." She and her daughter reside in Los Angeles, California.

She dated actor Wes Ramsey from 2012 to 2015.

Philanthropy

Introduced to Love146 by former Everly bandmate, Amber Sweeney, Lenz has been actively supporting the international human rights organization largely through social media outlets. On June 12, 2011, through her official Twitter account, Lenz revealed details of her newest project; an online boutique called "Lark". The boutique sells apparel with original designs by Lenz and all proceeds benefit Love146, To Write Love On Her Arms, as well as Reading is Fundamental.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1992	Psalty's Salvation Celebration	Shelly Barnes	Credited as: Joy Lenz
1996	I Love You, I Love You Not	Extra	Uncredited
	Thinner	Linda Halleck	Credited as: Joie Lenz
2000	Mary and Rhoda	Rose Cronin
	End of August	August Wells
2004	Bring It On Again	Marni Potts
2011	Just Yell Fire: Campus Life	Herself	Credited as: Bethany Joy Galeotti
2014	The Christmas Secret	Christine Eisley	Television Movie
2016	Extortion	Julie Riley

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	1973	Lisa	Unsold Warner Bros. pilot
1998-2000	The Guiding Light	Teenage Reva Shayne clone	9 episodes
		Michelle Bauer Santos	106 episodes: March 23, 1998 - April 21, 2000
2001	Off Centre	Heather	Episode 1.02: "Feeling Shellfish"
	Charmed	Lady Julia	Episode 4.06: "A Knight to Remember"
	Felicity	Gretchen	Episode 4.06: "Oops...Noel Did It Again"
2002	The Legacy	Jess	Unaired UPN pilot
	Maybe It's Me	The Salesgirl	Episode 1.10: "The Romeo & Juliet Episode"
2003	The Guardian	Claire Stasiak	Episode 2.18: "My Aim Is True" Episode 2.20: "What It Means to You"
2003-12	One Tree Hill	Haley James Scott	Main cast
2010	Life Unexpected		Special appearance on episode 2.05: "Music Faced" Crossover with One Tree Hill
2013	Men at Work	Meg	Episode: 2.06: "Tyler the Pioneer"
	Dexter	Cassie Jollenston	Recurring role Episode: 8.04: "Scar Tissue" Episode: 8.05: "This Little Piggy" Episode: 8.06: "A Little Reflection" Episode: 8.07: "Dress Code" Episode: 8.08: "Are We There Yet?"
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Darcy Blaine	Episode: 14.05: "Frame by Frame"
	Sock Monkee Therapy	Holly	Episode: 1.04: "Holly"
2014	Songbyrd	Lauren Byrd	Unaired pilot
2016	Home	Rose Bell	Main Cast
2016	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Stephanie Malick	Episode: 3.13: "Parting Shot" Episode: 3.16: "Paradise Lost"

Self appearances

Year	Appearance	Role	Note
1997	Kids Choice Awards	Guest
1999	26th Daytime Emmy Awards Nominations Ceremony	Presenter
	26th Daytime Emmy Awards
2000	Ainsley Harriet Show	Guest
	Access Hollywood
	Soap Opera Digest Awards	Host
	27th Daytime Emmy Awards	Presenter
2003	Total Request Live	Guest
2004
	U-Pick Live
	WPIX
	Total Request Live
2005	Daily Download
	Total Request Live
		Guest Host
	WGN Morning News	Guest
	Fox News
	KTLA Morning News
2011	10 on Top

Director

Year	Title	Notes
2009-10	One Tree Hill	Episode 6.16: "Screenwriter's Blues" Episode 7.17: "At The Bottom of Everything" Episode 8.09: "Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace"

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Director
1988	The Wonderful Wizard of Oz	Munchkin
	Gypsy	Baby June
1991	To Kill a Mockingbird	Scout	Scott Jacoby Matt Moses
1999-2000	Foxy Ladies Love/Boogie 70's Explosion	Performer	Fritz Brekeller
2000	The Outsiders	Sandy	Arthur Allan Seidelman
2005	Happy Days	Pinky Tuscadero	Garry Marshall
2012	CATS for Cats	Performed "Macavity"	Shawn Simons

Producer

Year	Production	Credit	Notes
2009	The Notebook Musical	Writer/Producer	Based on novel The Notebook by: Nicholas Sparks Co-Produced by: Ron Aniello

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Group	Award	Result
2000	Guiding Light	Soap Opera Digest Awards	Favorite Couple	Nominated
2004	One Tree Hill	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Breakout TV Star Female: for "One Tree Hill"	Nominated
			Choice Fresh Face Female'	Nominated
			Choice TV Sidekick	Nominated
2007	Ten Inch Hero	Santa Cruz Film Festival	Best Soundtrack for: "Ten Inch Hero"	Won
2010	One Tree Hill	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Scene Stealer Female	Nominated
			Choice Parental Unit for: "One Tree Hill"	Nominated

Discography

Main article: Bethany Joy Lenz discography

The following is a list of albums and songs by Bethany Joy Lenz that has been recorded.

Studio albums

Year	Title	Record label	Notes
2002	"Preincarnate"	Limited edition independent record	No longer available for purchase
2005	"Come On Home"
2006	"The Starter Kit"	Epic Records	Unreleased
2012	"Then Slowly Grows"	Independent Record	First released at the Rock the Schools Concert
2013	"Your Woman"	Victrola Records	First released at the One Tree Hill Convention 2013

EPs

Year	Title	Record Label	Notes
2008	"Mission Bell - EP"	Hilasterion Records	Released as Everly
2009	"Fireside - EP"
2010	"B Tracks: Vol. 3 - EP"
	"B Tracks: Full Collection"
2014	"Get Back to Gold"	Imagine Music	Released as Joy
2015	"It's Christmas"	Independent Record	Released as Joy Lenz & The Fellas

Singles

Year	Title	Album	Notes
1992	"God has a Plan for My Life"	Psalty's Salvation Celebration Soundtrack
2000	"All Along"	End of August Soundtrack	Featuring: Danny "The Farrow" Anniello
2002	"Ebony and Ivory"	Undercover Brother Soundtrack	Dubbed over Denise Richards' voice
2005	"When the Stars Go Blue"	One Tree Hill Soundtrack Volume 1	Featuring: Tyler Hilton
2006	"Halo"	Friends with Benefit: Music from the Television Series One Tree Hill, Volume 2	Composed by: Kara Dioguardi & Matthew Gerrard
2007	"Something Familiar" "The Long Way" "Get Your Love"	Ten Inch Hero Soundtrack
2008	"Feel This"	Feel This - Single	Featuring: Enation
	"I Want Something That I Want"	The One Tree Hill Sessions	Featuring: Grace Potter
2009	"Quicksand"	B Tracks: Vol. 1 - Single	As: Everly
	"Maybe"	B Tracks: Vol. 2 - Single
2013	"Please"	Please - Single	Released as: "Bette"
2014	"Calamity Jane"	Calamity Jane - Single	Previously titled: "Wicked Calamity Jane"

Miscellaneous songs

• "215"
• "February Leather"
• "Cameron"
• "I'll Never Walk Alone"
• "The Loneliness is Better Near Now"
• "One More Thing"
• "Ophelia"
• "Troublesome Tongue"
• "Street Where You Live"
• "It Happens"
• "It's Magic"
• "Someone to Watch Over Me"
• "Lullaby"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]