Karen Russell

Acting

Karen Russell

Born 1962-04-12 · Erie, Pennsylvania, USA

Karen Russell was a buxom, shapely, and voluptuous brunette actress and dancer who popped up with pleasing regularity in a handful of entertainingly trashy low-budget straight-to-video exploitation pictures made throughout the 1980's and 1990's. Karen made a memorable film debut as nasty street gang moll Chula in the brutal urban action opus "Tenement." She was quite funny and appealing as the ditsy Shawnee in the crudely amusing "Vice Academy." Russell's other noteworthy parts include sweet, but troubled Mafia princess Amy in the gloriously outrageous "Murder Weapon," motorcycle mama Candy in "Easy Wheels," naive hooker Fran in the hugely enjoyable "The Banker," cop Francesco Quinn's bitter estranged ex-wife Isabella in "Murder Blues," and lusty groupie Michelle in "Shock 'Em Dead." Moreover, Karen appeared in small roles as a dancer in the mainstream features "Dick Tracy," "Havana," "Mobsters," and "Bugsy." After calling it a day as an actress in the mid-1990's, Russell went on to become a yoga teacher and founder of her own business Yoga Groove based in North Hollywood, California. - IMDb mini biography by: woodyanders

Acting credits

Phoenix the Warrior poster
3.8

In a post-apocalyptic world, women warriors battle each other from junkyards to gravel pits as they determine the fate of the entire world.

Phoenix the Warrior

1988

Dick Tracy poster
6.2

The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.

Dick Tracy

1990

Bugsy poster
6.3

New York gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea.

Bugsy

1991

Mobsters poster
6.3

The story of a group of friends in turn of the century New York, from their early days as street hoods to their rise in the world of organized crime...

Mobsters

1991

Havana poster
5.8

During the revolution, a high-stakes gambler arrives in Cuba seeking to win big in poker games. Along the way, he meets and falls in love with the wife of a Communist revolutionary.

Havana

1990

Modern Girls poster
5.5

Margo, Kelly, and CeCe have three things in common: they're roommates, they're gorgeous, and they're hooked on the glamour and excitement of L.A.'s rock and roll nightlife. When they get mixed up with a rock star, an arrogant ex-boyfriend, a pseudo-sadist, and the nicest nerd in the City of Angels, it's a full night to say the least!

Modern Girls

1986

Vice Academy poster
4.5

A band of female police cadets train to join the Hollywood vice squad. The toothsome rookies are assigned to infiltrate a kiddy porn operation, then must go undercover and join a prostitution ring run by Queen Bee.

Vice Academy

1989

The Banker poster
4.5

High-priced prostitutes are being systematically murdered, their corpses mutilated, and a bizarre South American symbol painted in blood is found at the scene. The cop investigating is out to solve the crime before his ex wife, a reporter, becomes the next victim.

The Banker

1989

Tenement poster
5.3

A drug-dealing band of violent street thugs terrorize the tenants of a South Bronx apartment building.

Tenement

1985

Dead Certain poster
3.5

A detective becomes obsessed with bringing a man to justice, whom he is sure is a serial killer and the murderer of a woman with which both men were involved. However, the supposed killer may be as much a victim as the murdered people.

Dead Certain

1991

The Devil You Know poster
6.7

Once-incarcerated Marcus Cowans is trying to turn over a new leaf with the support of his loving family. Upon discovering that one of his brothers may have been involved in a horrific crime, Marcus grapples with the limits of brotherhood and loyalty. He and his family, increasingly weary of the justice system’s failings, end up in the crosshairs of a seasoned but jaded detective.

The Devil You Know

2022

Memorial Valley Massacre poster
4.2

Campers on a holiday are terrorized by an axe-wielding maniac.

Memorial Valley Massacre

1988

Dr. Alien poster
5.1

When the mysterious and sexy Ms. Xenobia takes over the biology class at the local college, the dating life of supergeek Wesley Littlejohn takes a serious turn. Littlejohn agrees to be a lab rat for the professor's unusual vitamin research study. Now, thanks to some out-of-this-world supplements, he's been transformed into the campus stud. But Xenobia has ulterior extraterrestrial motives in this sci-fi sex comedy.

Dr. Alien

1989

Easy Wheels poster
3.9

A group of leather-clad bikers are on the trail of the female bikers who are stealing babies all over the state and selling them on the black market.

Easy Wheels

1989

Murder Weapon poster
4.7

Two mobster daughters leave a sanitarium, host a party inviting ex-boyfriends, who then start disappearing mysteriously.

Murder Weapon

1989

Hell High poster
4.9

A teacher still haunted by the death of two teens that she accidentally caused as a young girl goes berserk when four teens start harassing her and then attack her in her home.

Hell High

1989

B-Movie Queens Revealed poster
NR

Interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of the first three Vice Academy films.

B-Movie Queens Revealed

1993

Hellbent poster
4.7

A bandleader whose career is nosediving makes a deal with the owner of a bar to sell his soul for success.

Hellbent

1988

Shock 'Em Dead poster
4.2

Martin is a total loser, who nobody cares for. When he fails to get a position as guitar player in Lindsay's band and loses his job on the way, he makes a deal with a Voodoo priestess. She promises him the fulfillment of all his dreams if he swears obedience to her. He becomes a rock star and has many women - but to stay alive, he has to kill other people.

Shock 'Em Dead

1991

The Girl I Want poster
4.0

A brainy girl turns bimbo and a football star turns brainy in order to attract each other's attention, only to discover that they liked each other the way they were in the first place.

The Girl I Want

1990

Mob Boss poster
5.1

A nerd becomes the head of his father's crime family.

Mob Boss

1990

American Rampage poster
3.8

Ex-San Francisco vice cop Samantha Roarke and Hollywood homicide detective Ryan Hayes team up to investigate an international drug cartel in Los Angeles, leading them to an ex-CIA operative turned drug kingpin who's organizing a heroin distribution center in the city.

American Rampage

1989

Bette Midler: Diva Las Vegas poster
7.8

Diva Las Vegas was a show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas starring Bette Midler performing as singer and comedian. The one-time performance was filmed for television; HBO released it as a TV special originally broadcast on January 18, 1997 and repeated on February 2, 1997. Midler won the 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for the special. Among the songs performed were The Rose, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, From A Distance, Friends, Wind Beneath My Wings, Stay With Me and Do You Want To Dance?. Bette's daughter Sophie von Haselberg appeared for a short time during the song "Ukulele Lady". She sat with the rest of the cast and musicians on stage playing a ukulele and singing the words.

Bette Midler: Diva Las Vegas

1997

Blood Nasty poster
3.3

Roy is killed by a couple of jewel thieves and then brought back to life and possessed by deceased serial killer "Blade". He returns home and his mother is not very happy to see him as she wants to collect his life insurance policy. Soon, things get out of hand as mom is trying to make sure nobody knows that Roy has "come back" and Blade is trying to let everybody know that he has "come back".

Blood Nasty

1989