Bree Turner

From the NFL Field to the Coen Brothers' Choreography

Bree Turner grew up watching her father crash into other men in the professional football league. That physical discipline and rigor shaped her entry into show business long before anyone handed her a script with long lines. During the nineties, her résumé was filled not with text auditions but with dance shoes and rehearsal tights.

In 1996, she appeared as a background dancer in The Big Lebowski. She wasn't a professional actress yet. She was an athlete who knew how to move in front of the Coen brothers' camera and understood that space was earned through technical precision. That same year, she took part in Dunston Checks In and, shortly after, in the fourth installment of Austin Powers.

But dancing has an expiration date.

Toward the end of the decade, she decided her voice needed to be as valued as her legs. She started studying acting at King's College London and returned to Los Angeles to look for roles that didn't depend on group choreography. Her first big break came with Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo in 1999, where she played one of Rob Schneider's clients.

In 2004, she starred in Bring It On Again. It was a direct-to-DVD sequel that sold millions of copies and made casting directors see her as more than a pretty face in the background of a shot. In that film, Bree Turner carried the weight of the story and proved she could handle the rhythm of physical comedy without help.

Cable TV's Safe Haven

Financial and professional stability didn't come from the big screen. In 2012, she signed a contract to appear in the NBC series Grimm. She played Rosalee Calvert, a fox-like creature who ran a spice apothecary. What was initially supposed to be a short story arc ended up lasting until the series finale in 2017.

Television pays the bills.

For six seasons, she shot a total of 125 episodes in Portland. Filming Grimm was a period of technical growth in which Turner learned to work with digital effects and latex prosthetics that took hours to apply. It was there that she came to know the security of a steady paycheck and the loyalty of a fan base that still follows her to fantasy genre conventions today.

In 2018, she went through a highly publicized divorce from Justin Saliman (a renowned orthopedic surgeon) after a decade of marriage. This personal chapter coincided with a slowdown in her film work. Instead of retiring, though, she chose to diversify, taking on roles in fast-paced TV series and streaming movies.

In 2020, she appeared in the series 9-1-1 in a episodic role that showed her talent for straightforward drama. She wasn't chasing big awards or fashion magazine covers. Her strategy was to stay active in an industry that tends to punish aging for actresses who started out as dancers.

And the gamble paid off.

In 2022, she shot the film Glass Houses under the direction of Sarah Pellerin. That same year, she landed a supporting role in the Netflix comedy Me Time, where she shared the set with Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg. In 2023, she appeared in the horror short Quarantine, showing that her interest in dark genres was still going strong after her stint in police fantasy.

Bree Turner lives in Los Angeles with her two children and keeps a low profile on social media. In 2024, the production of Me Time reportedly ran up marketing costs that exceeded 20 million dollars in its first week of release.