The Untold Truth Of Lake Bell

As an actor, Lake Bell has played the co-lead in films like the thriller "No Escape" and the romantic comedy "Man Up," has lent her voice to a number of movies and TV shows, and popped up in memorable supporting alongside screen veterans, such as the 2009 Nancy Meyers film "It's Complicated" as the wife of Alec Baldwin's character. "My first scene out of the gate in that movie is the one where Meryl and Steve [Martin] are high on marijuana and there's me and Alec [Baldwin] and I'm supposed to exude this high status as Agnes and look down my nose at Meryl f***in' Streep," Bell told The Daily Beast. Going even further, Bell was the star and writer/director of "In a World...," released in 2013.

It seems Bell can do it all and appears to have no intention of slowing down. She told Elite Daily in 2017, "I feel really lucky that when people ask, 'Where do you see yourself in five years?' I don't have an answer because it's so wildly unpredictable."

While Bell has a gift of making audiences laugh, her real life story has sadly been filled with many difficult moments, from intense work in Hollywood to trying times in her personal life. Yet, through it all, Bell showed she was a creative force in the entertainment industry with a wide-ranging appeal. It's time to ring in the untold truth of Lake Bell.

From a young age, Lake Bell was full of wanderlust. "I've wanted to live elsewhere on my own for as long as I can remember," she told Vogue. One of her first big adventures was traveling to France as a 13-year-old where she worked as a nanny. While taking care of her host family's six children, Bell also observed the locals. "I always thought French women's cheekbones were very beautiful but when I spent a school year abroad in Rennes I learned that the beauty is due to their vocal qualities," she told The New Yorker. Looking back, Bell wished she could have traveled even more throughout her life. "I would actually have gone to more exotic places if I'd been able," she said. 

Bell went on to attend school in London, and years later, would return to England to film "Man Up," a 2015 comedy where she plays a British woman opposite actual Brit Simon Pegg. She dropped into the accent and stayed dropped in until she was done shooting. "Once I set foot in London, I vowed to never use my American accent, and I didn't," she told Business Insider.

Lake Bell's dad is Harvey Siegel, a real estate lawyer with a serious thing for cars. Siegel not only raced cars himself but he also co-owned the Virginia International Raceway complex outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. "I'm pretty nuts about it," Siegel told The New York Times about his passion. Siegel also became a part owner of the New Jersey Motorsports Park, Roadracing World reported. Growing up with a dad who has a hobby of collecting classic cars sure has its perks. "I learned to drive on a King of the Road 500 Shelby Cobra," she told Men's Journal.

Bell also grew up with her family racing one another. "I'd seen father-son competition in my family in a manageable way, I thought, between my dad and my brother on the racetrack," she told The Washington Post, while also noting how dangerous the activity can be. Naturally, Bell also developed an interest in automobiles and later went on to test drive exotic vehicles by Cadillac, Porsche, Jaguar, and Maserati all as a reporter for The Hollywood Reporter. Her written reviews were so popular that the publication named her as an official automotive contributing editor. "I'm just thankful The Hollywood Reporter has been so generously willing to enable my secret addiction," the actor said about her love of cars. "My father and mother couldn't be more proud. In other news, my brother is jealous and won't return my calls," she joked.

Lake Bell was born and raised in New York City. "I definitely have that in the fabric of my being," she explained to Vulture about forever being a New Yorker. A natural performer from the start, she told The Daily Beast she pretended to be the host of her very own talk show before she was in kindergarten. "I didn't fully understand what it meant to be an actor, but I knew it was someone who gets to play different characters, gets to pretend to be in different worlds, and gets to make people laugh or feel," she told Esquire. "I was tirelessly motivated, because I felt very clear about what I wanted to do."

When she was 12, Bell and her mom moved to Florida. "For me, it was a really massive cultural shift and adjustment, for my mom and myself," Bell said in Vulture. This included being exposed to classic American experiences that she only had seen in entertainment before. Though she had been at an all-girls school in Manhattan, "I remember being immediately rapt by the concept of this cheerleading thing. It really felt like you were in the movies," she told Paper. One thing that stayed consistent between her time in New York and Florida was that Bell was a fencer. On an episode of "Busy Tonight," Bell explained that she loved fencing, and given the combination of core use and the overall fun factor, she believed it could be a workout trend.

The actor's full name is Lake Siegel Bell, the middle name from her dad and Bell from her mom, per NPR. "When I moved to Hollywood, everyone assumed it was a stage name," Bell told GQ, especially since her siblings have more traditional names like Luke and Courtney. So, Bell has a theory as to how she earned her unique title: "My parents were just high."

Whatever the actual reason behind the decision, Bell learned how kids feel about unique names. "I grew up with so many insulting puns thrown at me. If this were my stage name, it'd be fine, but I had this s*** when I was young," she explained to GQ. "Kids would be like, Lake Erie. Or, Lake has no waves — that all changed after puberty, of course." As an adult, she said she's heard just about every nickname possible when it comes to her first name. Still, one of her personal favorites was Lake Titicaca, especially as a kid. "I've always loved that one. It's got t**ty and caca in it," she told GQ.

When it came to naming her own children, Bell went with Nova for her girl and Ozzi for her boy. Though according to Bell, these names are fairly common. "These days, it'd probably be more unique to name your kid Jennifer," she quipped in Men's Journal.

Lake Bell began writing as a teenager, often exchanging letters with her mom, who Bell credits for her excellent skills. "Writing letters back and forth with her was an athletic endeavor, and it became something I really looked forward to," Bell explained to Esquire of her childhood at boarding school. This then transitioned into personal writing and later to entertain others. Bell began writing short stories before writing her feature film "In a World..." Not that the transition was always easy and Bell was extremely self-critical towards the early scenes that she wrote. "I had all kinds of stupid, horrible scenes and...you know, f***ing pretentious investigations of the human condition," she told Esquire. Bell continued to evolve and then wrote the screenplay for her next film, "I Do... Until I Don't."

"When I set out to write something, I really do use it as therapy," Bell shared with Elite Daily. "I take aspects of what is real to me and then I disperse it across the whole story." Looking back at her career, Bell told The Irish Times she is amazed that she was able to transition from boarding school letters to creating major motion pictures. "I just didn't think I could do it as an occupation," she said.

One of Lake Bell's funniest roles is, without question, Dr. Cat Black in the Adult Swim series "Childrens Hospital." She's appeared in other hilarious projects such as the miniseries "Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later" on Netflix. While she also has many experiences in dramatic roles, Bell loves bringing the humor. "I enjoy playing a comedy because it makes me smile at the end of the day," she told Vulture. "It's nice to go to work and goof around a little bit, knowing the purpose of your work is to make people laugh and feel good," she added. Bell told GQ she credits both her parents with giving her a unique sense of comedic timing.

Landing auditions for comedic roles wasn't easy at first for Bell, let alone the roles themselves. She told The Daily Beast that she'd been pigeonholed as a dramatic actor early in her career, even though she was very interested in doing funny material. Fortunately, Darren Star, the creator of "Sex and the City" and "Emily in Paris" took a chance on Bell and cast her in his series "Miss Match." This paved the way for Bell to land a role in the comedy "What Happens in Vegas," which also featured Rob Corddry. The two became friends and Corddry then asked her to be in "Childrens Hospital." Regarding transitioning into comedy, Bell said, "I felt really lucky to be asked to get into that world and it genuinely made me happy."

As Lake Bell recalled in The Daily Beast, her mom approved of her decision to become an actor so much so that she suggested her daughter sign up for formal training in London. After acting school, Bell headed to Los Angeles to try to make it in Hollywood. Though she'd spent time honing her craft abroad, her approach to the audition process was unconventional. "Then I did start to get into the drama school thing of like, you're a blank canvas, you wear all black and you neutralize your voice," she remembered. "So I remember going to auditions in all black, no makeup, blank canvas and that does not work in L.A." She eventually landed a two-episode spot on "ER" and then scored her first credited film role in "Speakeasy." Her first gig wasn't for the faint of heart: In one of the episodes of the primetime medical drama, Bell's character pukes at the end of the opening scene. Like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist," Bell pretended to throw up on camera by spitting out pea soup. 

Bell later became a director but even with this production experience, she still enjoys performing in front of the camera. "I like to work as an actor on someone else's set and help them create their vision by just showing up and doing my job," Bell told Elite Daily.

In the 2008 film "Pride and Glory" starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, Lake Bell played Farrell's on-screen wife. Before production started, Bell told GQ her godmother brought Farrell's sex tape to her attention. Years before, Farrell's ex-girlfriend Nicole Narain shared a sex tape they'd made with the public. This sparked a legal battle. While Bell admitted this made for a strange first encounter with Farrell, the two connected on a romantic level and began dating. "It was nice, mild hanging out," Bell recalled to GQ. The two separated with no bad blood. "He's such a friggin' awesome dude, and I'm friends with all of my exes. I'm not a hater," she said.

In June of 2022, a few months following the Chris Rock and Will Smith incident at the Oscars, fans spotted the comedian and Bell hanging out in St. Louis. Both were watching a Cardinals game and some speculated there might be a romance blossoming, according to TMZ. A few weeks later, Page Six reported Bell and Rock were at a restaurant in California with eyewitnesses claiming they were holding hands. Paparazzi also spotted Bell and Rock holding hands during a getaway to the town of Trogir in Croatia. A source told People, "[Bell and Rock] have been seeing each other for a few weeks ... they are getting to know each other and seem to have fun." 

You might think that Lake Bell is completely against marriage, given her film "I Do... Until I Don't," which she wrote, directed, and starred in. By the time the movie hit the theaters, Bell had already fallen in love and was married to tattoo artist Scott Campbell. "I started writing this before I met my husband," Bell told the Evening Standard. "I wasn't romantic or pro-marriage, and I was cynical about commitment." The two met while working on the short-lived HBO series "How to Make It in America" and the romance was swift: Bell and Campbell were engaged after seven months together. "Marriage is traditionally old-school in many respects. It is highly antiquated, and, that being said, beautiful," she told Esquire in 2015. Campbell's childhood in a small town in Louisiana was very different from her New York City upbringing. As she shared in Vulture, "[He] grew up completely unplugged from urban civilization." 

In 2020, Bell posted a note on Instagram sharing that she and Campbell were getting divorced after nine years together. Unfortunately, Bell lived out her fear of divorce that was one of the reasons she was hesitant about marriage in the first place. "I was a child of divorce, so I saw it from the inside out," she told Elite Daily. "So I just felt doomed."

Lake Bell knows a thing or two about voice acting. Some of her credits include DC Comics character Poison Ivy on the animated HBO Max series "Harley Quinn," Vanessa Fisk in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," and as Natasha Romanoff (aka Marvel superhero Black Widow) in the Disney+ animated series "What If...?" 

Her biggest dive into the world of voice work was for her own film "In a World...," a flick that focuses on the world of voice-over work in entertainment. The project, which was also her first as a director, zeroes in on topics like gender disparity and the intricacies of accents. The actor knows a thing or two about accents. As HuffPost declared, "Lake Bell is an accent aficionado."

After making a film about voice work, Bell landed an impressive voice-over job in real life for Apple when she became the voice of the iPhone 6s commercials. "It's like the most profound accomplishment that I've had in my career, that I can finally be that voice. And to be the first female voice of their products is really great," Bell said in Business Insider. As she shared with BUILD Series, the pool of candidates was, perhaps unsurprisingly, full of men. "I felt like I was in the movie," she quipped.

The lockdowns spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic allowed Lake Bell to focus on her upcoming projects. This included "Pam & Tommy," a Hulu series about the marriage between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Bell, who directed two episodes of the miniseries, said it was a cathartic experience. "This was the job that gave me creative sustenance in a time where we were all locked down," she told Variety. "It felt like this incredible respite of monotony in my pandemic. This was the job that gave me creative sustenance in a time where we were all locked down."

Bell also had some comfort in uncertain times thanks to her ex-husband's passion. As she revealed on a 2019 episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live," he is a doomsday prepper, with a room full of gear ready for a potential apocalypse, like a HAM radio setup. He also had what Bell called an "Apocalypse-mobile" that the two could drive for 800 miles before needing more gas. Whether or not the pandemic had anything to do with it, Bell and her husband Scott Campbell were among the celebrity couples that split during quarantine, as per Us Weekly.

Another highlight for Bell during quarantine was when a group of high school students performed an adaptation of her movie "In a World..." "This is not the quarantine talking when I say I am so moved & honored to see this. WELL. DONE. Thank you. You made my lock down," Bell wrote on Twitter.

For someone that makes people laugh for a living, Lake Bell has gone through personal difficulties to create these entertaining projects. An especially trying time was while filming "I Do... Until I Don't" as both the director and one of the leading actors. During production, she had to constantly remind herself that the long working hours would ultimately subside. "It's an increment of time that's intense, robust, and fulfilling, and sometimes that means it's overwhelming," she told Backstage. To help keep calm while creating the film, Bell revealed that even a quick meditation session was helpful. She explained, "if you quiet your mind, you can attack your creative state with a smile on your face, because the whole point is to have fun."

Bell revealed that while audiences see the glamorous end product, the making of films and series often comes with personal sacrifices for those involved. "It takes you away from your family, and when you work really hard you have less time to see your friends," Bell told Elite Daily about her career in entertainment. Moving forward in Hollywood, Bell said she plans to mix business and pleasure by casting people she feels like she could connect with on a platonic level to help make the creation process more enjoyable. "I want to continue to work with friends. Making movies and making TV shows takes a lot of time, you know," she said.

Lake Bell and ex-husband Scott Campbell share two children, daughter Nova and son Ozzi. For both kids, Bell decided to give birth at home, which was in Brooklyn for Nova. "I chose to do a home birth because my best friend growing up had four kids at home and it's what I knew," Bell explained on "The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet" podcast. She admitted the first birth was an exhilarating day full of intense moments. "I felt very empowered by that experience," Bell told People about having her first child. After the birth of Ozzi, the newborn spent 11 days in the NICU before coming home, Bell explained on "Armchair Expert."

Following the birth of Ozzi, Bell became depressed. "I had never felt that before," she said about her low feelings on the podcast with de Cadenet. Bell added, "My heart aches for those who feel that through the hardship of their life every day. I have felt it." The actor explained that while she was originally hesitant to take medicine, she ultimately began using an antidepressant drug, which proved to be a help. "I needed to just be Lake and I felt finally like I could breathe," she added.

Bell later shared in an Instagram post that her daughter has epilepsy. The actor decided to post about this personal information in an effort to connect with others who can relate. "I crave community. We all do," Bell wrote.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

As an actor and creator on many projects in entertainment, Lake Bell is aware of her unique position as a woman in the industry. "I am a woman, and therefore, inherently, feminist issues are interesting to me," she told The Washington Post. One of her ways of advancing women in the industry is as a long-time board member of the Women in Film organization. As a co-creator of the sitcom "Bless This Mess," Bell told Vulture, "I wanted [the show] to be a part of our initiative to systemically work toward gender parity in our industry."

Bell, already known for acting in a wide variety of roles from romance, to comedy, to drama, admitted that she's really up for anything on film, especially in some genres historically geared towards men. "Not all women want to take on an action picture or a blockbuster. But some do. Period. I'd love to be in the mix for 'Jurassic Park' or a James Bond movie," Bell revealed to The New York Times. More than just pushing for equality in movies, Bell is quick to point out stereotypes that she feels might disempower women. Specifically, "I feel that the sexy baby vocal virus that is rampant is unsavory because it is diminishing women and how they're representing themselves," she told the Los Angeles Times in 2013. Regarding the vocal affectation, told "Conan" she believes certain reality show stars are to blame for its omnipresence. 

Lake Bell has built an impressive career combining acting, writing, and directing and as a result, collected many big paychecks. As of 2022, Bell was worth an estimated $3 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. When she was married to Scott Campbell, the two lived together in an impressive San Fernando Valley home, per GQ. Previously, Bell and Campbell lived in a $3 million Brooklyn townhouse with five bedrooms until putting it on the market in 2016, per Architectural Digest. The couple seemed more than happy to change locations. In 2019, Bell told ET, "My husband [Scott Campbell] and I do daily dream about sort of upping and, you know, buying a lot of dirt somewhere and calling it our own."

Another way Bell likes to spend her money is comfort while traveling. She explained that on trips with her ex-husband and two children, flying first class was worth the extra money. In general though, Bell said that she was generally a frugal traveler. "I just don't spend a lot of money naturally — unless it's at the grocery store," she told Collider. This applied to material goods too. "I'm not like, 'Oh my God! I need that bag.' I have the same bags or I borrow my mom's or my grandma's," Bell explained. While she grew up with a dad who collected muscle cars, Bell commutes in a more sensible and eco-friendly way as the owner of an electric car, per Men's Journal. Sounds like a wheel good move.