Bethany Joy Lenz was born in Hollywood Florida, an only child of Robert
George Lenz (a history teacher and therapist) and Catharine Malcolm
Holt Shepard (a personnel manager and entrepreneur). She is best known
for her role on - the WB hit
One Tree Hill (2003) - as
"Haley James Scott", wife to
James Lafferty's "Nathan" and
childhood mate of
Chad Michael Murray's "Lucas".
Prior to
One Tree Hill (2003),
Bethany spent most of her acting career on the stage. She has called
Musical theater her passion, and has performed in various productions
of "Annie", "The Wizard of Oz", "Gypsy", "Cinderella", "CATS for Cats"
etc...
After moving from Texas to New York, Bethany portrayed "Michelle Bauer
Santos" on CBS's
Guiding Light (1952).
When her two year contract ended there, she left New York and moved to
Los Angeles and guest starred on shows like
Charmed (1998),
Felicity (1998) and
The Guardian (2001). She also
appeared in Los Angeles stage productions of "The Outsiders" - directed
by
Arthur Allan Seidelman and
"Happy Days" (as Pinky Tuscadero) - directed by
Garry Marshall.
After moving from North Carolina (One Tree Hill), Bethany spent a year
raising her daughter Maria before taking any more roles. Although she
started an internet rotating novel 'Diamond Gothic' with 'Abigail
Spencer' and 'JC Coccoli' on 'Hello Giggles.
Bethany came back strong and guest starred on shows like
Men at Work (2012) and
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000),
joined the cast on
Sock Monkee Therapy (2013)
and
Dexter (2006), and got her own TV
show
Songbyrd (2014). She also
joined and performed original songs on Rock the Schools Concert (2012)
and recorded several songs in 2012 (Album: 'Then Slowly Grows') and
2013 (Album: 'Your Woman').
She is an accomplished singer with an four-octave range, trained in New
York by Richard Barrett, the director of the Brooklyn College of Opera,
and in Los Angeles by renowned voice teacher
Eric Vetro
(
Jennifer Garner,
John Stamos and
Ewan McGregor).