Bethany Joy Lenz Facts: Celebrities Who Started on Soaps

Bethany Joy Lenz is best known for starring as Haley James Scott on The CW show One Tree Hill for nine seasons, as well as appearing in series like Pearson, Colony, Dexter, and Charmed. She also appeared on a soap.

Along with her acting career, Lenz is also very passionate about music and is a fantastic singer. From where she was born and raised to the reason she took her role on Grey’s Anatomy, here are five fast facts about the actress.

Who Is Bethany Joy Lenz?
Lenz was born on April 2 in Hollywood, Florida to parents Robert, a history teacher and therapist, and Catherine, a personnel manager and entrepreneur. At the age of 7, Lenz and her family moved to Arlington, Texas where she started taking dance classes and landed her first stage role in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Soap Beginnings
When she was 17 years old, Lenz was cast as the teenage clone of the legendary Reva Shayne on Guiding Light. Though she was only on the show for nine episodes, viewers and critics loved her so much that they hired her back in the pivotal role of Michelle Bauer, who she played for a couple of years.

Love For Music 
Along with her acting career, Lenz has always had a passion for music. She continued working on her singing career while she was on One Tree Hill, even releasing music with her co-star, Tyler Hilton (Chris). She also performed in a band called Everly for a few years and worked on a musical version of Nicolas Sparks’s book, The Notebook.

Close To Her Heart
The actress recently had a recurring role on Grey’s Anatomy as Jenny, the fiancée of Paul — Jo Karev’s abusive ex-husband. While the part was clearly emotional, Lenz revealed on the Steve Harvey Show that it was especially personal to her because she herself had been in an abusive relationship in the past. Showrunner Krista Vernoff called Lenz to ask if she’d play the part because she knew of her history.

Getting Personal With Bethany Joy Lenz
Lenz married Enation band member Michael Galeotti on December 31, 2005, and she had their daughter, Maria, on February 23, 2011. However, after six years of marriage, the couple ended things in March 2012.