Background and career
Jared Drake Bell (born June 27, 1986) is an American actor and musician. Born in Newport Beach, California, he began his career as a child actor in the 1990s, appearing on Home Improvement (1994) and in several commercials. He rose to prominence with Nickelodeon, playing starring roles in the sketch comedy series The Amanda Show (1999–2002), the sitcom Drake & Josh (2004–2007), and the Nickelodeon television film series The Fairly OddParents (2011–2014). He also voiced Peter Parker / Spider-Man on the Disney XD series Ultimate Spider-Man (2012–2017) and various Disney XD media. He has won ten Kids' Choice Awards, a Teen Choice Award, and a Young Artist Award, among other accolades. Bell began his musical career contributing to the soundtrack of Drake & Josh. He independently released his debut studio album, Telegraph (2005), and signed with Universal Motown Records in 2006. His second studio album, It's Only Time (2006), emerged as a commercial success. His third album, Ready Steady Go! (2014), was released through the independent record label Surfdog Records. He has since released two independent albums: The Lost Album (2020) and Non-Stop Flight (2024).
Bell was born on June 27, 1986, in Orange County, California. He is the youngest of four children from former professional billiards player Robin Dodson, and swimming pool service technician Joe Bell. Through his father's family, Bell is the cousin of former San Diego Padres relief pitcher Heath Bell. His parents divorced when he was five years old. While growing up in Orange County, Bell attended the Orange County School of the Arts and skateboarded while regularly attending punk rock concerts, the music of which he cites as an influence. He received a GED.
Bell started acting at the age of five, encouraged by his father who attempted to put him into Little League Baseball and other sports with no success before finding Bell's talent in public speaking and his confidence when impersonating people he would watch on television. Bell stated, "I was five, and my dad kind of said, 'Hey, you wanna be an actor?' and I said, 'Sure,' that kind of thing, you know? I was kind of put into it by my dad but, you know, good. I really love it, and I still do it." Bell's first televised commercial was for Whirlpool Appliances. "I had to sit under a tree and eat a Popsicle," Bell later stated, "I thought, 'I could get used to this.'" His first television show appearance was on a 1994 episode of Home Improvement. He appeared in Jerry Maguire (1996), and had a minor role in the Seinfeld episode "The Frogger" in 1998. In 1999, he acted in a commercial for Pokémon Red and Blue and in the film Dragonworld: The Legend Continues. In 2000, he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for his role as Cage Redding in the television film The Jack Bull. He began to play guitar at the age of 12. He received his first official guitar lessons from Roger Daltrey when he starred with him in the 2001 film Chasing Destiny. From 1999 until the show was cancelled in 2002, Bell was a featured performer on The Amanda Show. He also made a guest appearance on the series The Nightmare Room.
In 2003, Bell was cast as Drake Parker alongside Amanda Show costar Josh Peck on the Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh. His song "Found a Way" was featured as the theme song and is included on the show's soundtrack, released on February 22, 2005. During this time period, he appeared as himself on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101 in the episode "Spring Fling", where he performed "Highway to Nowhere", which is also featured on the Drake & Josh soundtrack. He also had his first of three consecutive wins at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for "Favorite TV Actor". In 2005, Bell co-starred alongside Drake & Josh co-star Miranda Cosgrove with Dennis Quaid in Yours, Mine and Ours. Telegraph, Bell's debut album, was released independently on August 23, 2005. The album includes 12 tracks. All the tracks were written only by Bell with the exception of "Highway to Nowhere". Being an independent release, the album ran out of print, and was re-released on August 7, 2007. "Down We Fall" was played on an episode of Drake & Josh titled "Number 1 Fan". In 2005, Bell performed with Hawk Nelson in a video for the Hawk Nelson song called "Bring 'Em Out", which was featured in the film Yours, Mine and Ours. The studio version was included on Hawk Nelson's EP Bring 'Em Out and on the special edition of Hawk Nelson Is My Friend.
In 2006, Bell signed with Universal Motown. Bell's second album, It's Only Time, was released on December 5, 2006. Bell wrote all of the songs, however, they were all co-written with either C.J. Abraham, Michael Corcoran, or both. It reached Number 81 on Billboard's Top 200. It also charted on the Billboard Rock Charts at number 21. The album was more successful in Mexico, reaching number 4 in the Mexico Top 100. It is his first album to chart on the Billboard 200, and his highest-selling album with more than 178,000 copies sold in the United States as of 2012. He released the lead single, "I Know", on October 17, 2006. The video for "I Know" was released in October 2006. The single topped the Mexican music charts. "I Know" also appeared on the 2010 compilation album Pure Love Songs Vol. 2. His song from It's Only Time, "Makes Me Happy", peaked at number 3 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Chart, which is an extension of the Hot 100. The song was featured in the Drake & Josh series finale "Really Big Shrimp". The song also made an appearance on the Pop 100 at number 67 and on the Hot Digital Songs chart at number 45. Because of the song's popularity, on October 16, 2007, the Radio Disney single edit version of his song "Makes Me Happy" was released on iTunes. He also featured on the theme song for the show iCarly, "Leave It All to Me", with his Drake & Josh co-star Miranda Cosgrove. The music video for the song was released on Cosgrove's Vevo YouTube channel on September 28, 2010. The song took the lowest position on the Hot 100, peaking at number 100. It also peaked on the Pop 100 at number 83. He performed some Christmas songs in the Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh film, including "Jingle Bells" and "Christmas Promise". A DVD entitled Drake Bell in Concert was released on December 16, 2008. The video was unable to crack the 2008 or 2009 Top 100 in the U.S., but did chart on the Top 100 Mexican album charts, peaking at number 81. The DVD contains footage of him and his band live on stage while they toured in Mexico, filmed during five sold out fall nights. It also features 2 new songs and five covers, all of which are exclusive to the DVD. In the spring, Bell had a starring role in the comedy spoof film Superhero Movie. Bell recorded a theme song featuring his co-star Sara Paxton for the film called "Superhero! Song", which was released on April 8, 2008. In August 2008, he co-starred in the comedy College, which was shot on location in New Orleans. Bell also starred in Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh alongside Josh Peck, which began production in July 2008, and premiered on December 5, 2008. In 2009, his songs "Unbelievable" and "Modern Times", which were featured on a commercial for Twalkin, were released exclusively on Myspace. Bell was also cast in a pilot for a then upcoming CBS comedy series, Fish Tank, stating Bell's involvement is what put the series into production in the first place. The series however, was never picked up. Bell also had a third album, set to be released in 2009; however, the album was apparently shelved and never released, until it was released in 2020 as "The Lost Album".
In 2010, he made a cameo appearance as Drake Parker in an iCarly episode entitled "iBloop" and a guest role in I Owe My Life to Corbin Bleu. He starred as Timmy Turner in the television film adaptation of its hit animated series The Fairly Odd Parents, A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!, released in 2011 and reprised his role in the 2012 sequel A Fairly Odd Christmas. On May 18, 2011, a music video for Bell's song "You're Not Thinking" was released on YouTube. Bell's EP, titled A Reminder, was released on June 28, 2011. The lead single of A Reminder, "Terrific", was released on June 14, 2011, with the music video being released on December 9, 2012. The EP was produced by John Fields, who previously worked with Rooney, Jimmy Eat World, Selena Gomez, the Jonas Brothers, and Bleu. Bell decided to release the EP as a stopgap measure after a multi-year hiatus from the music scene, noting that a full-length studio album would not be released until the following year. Bell was sued by Fields, the producer of the EP, for 9 songs at 9,000 dollars each, totaling up to 81,000. Allegedly, Bell only paid for 5 songs for 45,000, but only 4 songs made it to the EP. The outcome of the lawsuit for breach of contract stays unreported. In February 2012, Bell appeared in a Shane Dawson YouTube video entitled Kidnapping Drake Bell. Bell was cast as Spider-Man in the animated TV series Ultimate Spider-Man based on the comic book of the same name. He later reprised the role in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, replacing Josh Keaton who originally recorded his role for the series. He has also voiced the role of Spider-Man in two video games, Marvel Heroes, an MMORPG, and Disney Infinity 2.0, in 2013 and 2014, respectively. He was also in the 2012 Nickelodeon film Rags as Shawn. In 2013, Bell participated in an episode of the ABC reality TV series Splash, a celebrity diving competition, in which he made third place. On November 1, 2013, Bell released the studio version of his unreleased song "Nevermind" on YouTube. He released a holiday single, "Christmas Promise", on December 17, 2013. Throughout 2013 and 2014, Bell had roles in several animated films, such as The Naughty List, Adventure Planet, Birds of Paradise and Under Wraps. Bell returned as Timmy Turner in the third The Fairly OddParents live-action film, A Fairly Odd Summer, which was released on August 2, 2014. In 2014, Bell was nominated in the Capital Twitter Awards for Biggest Twitter Feud vs. Justin Bieber. Bell also appeared on Takepart Live to discuss his bankruptcy and other activities. Bell starred in an animated film entitled Frozen in Time, which was released November 11, 2014. Bell had his third studio album set to be released in early 2013. Then, he stated it as "a complete concept record. Getting in a time machine and going back to the 40s and 50s." On April 22, 2014, Bell released his third studio album, his first rockabilly album, Ready Steady Go!, under Surfdog Records, with which he signed in 2012. It was produced by Peter Collins and childhood idol Brian Setzer, frontman of the rockabilly revival band Stray Cats. He has referred to the album as "getting in the DeLorian, hitting 88 miles per hour, and going back to the future." The album's lead single, "Bitchcraft", was released on January 28, 2014. The single was remixed by French electro swing band Caravan Palace. The album's promotional single, "I Won't Stand In Your Way", a cover of the Stray Cats' original song, was released on April 17, 2014. A cover of Cask Mouse's song "Bull", was released as the album's second single on October 8, 2014. The single was listed in the Mexican radio Top 10 for a number of weeks. The album was recorded completely live. It debuted and peaked at number 182 on the Billboard 200 and sold 2,000 copies in its first week of release. Bell took part in the High School Nation Tour in support of Ready Steady Go!, touring High Schools all around the U.S. The tour lasted from September 16 to October 22, 2014. It began in Los Angeles, California and ended in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bell also performed at Exa FM's Concerto Exa 2014 in Mexico City, performing to more than 50,000 people.
