• Keith Christian is married to actress Kellie Martin and have two children
• He has a degree in politics and economics and a BA in law from Yale University and Columbia Law School
• He works as a lawyer and owns a cattle ranch in rural of Colorado
• They own an online toy store called Romp as their family business
• Keith and Kellie are dedicated to conscious parenting and providing eco friendly toys for their children

 

Keith Christian is known as the husband of Kellie Martin, the actress, who is mostly famous for her roles in such series as “ER”, “Life Goes On” and “Mystery Woman”. They have two children, and run an online toy store as their family business.

Early life and family

James Keith Christian was born on 2 May 1974, in Polson, Montana USA. He holds American nationality and his zodiac sign is Taurus. He spent his childhood living with his parents on their family farm. Since his early years he has been close to nature, and this feeling hasn’t let go of him – in his middle age he returned to his roots, and has the farm house for himself and his family.

Educational background

Keith matriculated from his local high school in Polson in 1992.

He entered Yale University, graduating in 1995 with a degree in politics and economics, and then enrolled into Columbia Law School from which he graduated with a BA in law in 1999.

Career

Keith started working as a lawyer right after his graduation, in his specialization of maritime and transportation law. He is still a partner of his law companies, located in Woodland Hills and Studio City in California. For a long period of time Keith worked as an aviation attorney at the company named Irell and Manella, located in Los Angeles. However, his married life enriched his career, as Keith admitted his wife Kellie Martin inspired him to acquire several businesses. Thus, he turned from a lawyer to a cattle rancher, as he owns now a ranch in rural of Colorado, which he runs even when he is in Los Angeles, working at his main job.

Personal life, wife Kellie Martin

Keith met his future wife, the actress Kellie Martin, while they both studied at Yale University. The couple started dating during their first courses, eventually getting married on 15 May 1999. On 4 November 2006 they gave birth to their first daughter, Margaret Heather “Maggie” Christian, but didn’t welcomed their second daughter, Olivia James Christian, until 2016 – Kellie admitted she didn’t expect another baby to appear in their family, but was happy to find out she was expecting a girl: ‘I know girls, so I was really, really happy to have another girl. A boy would have been a whole other thing to figure out’, she shared in her Interview with People magazine. She added that Keith helped her a lot with the kids: ‘He helps me so much and he makes me brave because I find babies terrifying, which is probably why I put off having another one for so long!’.

Olivia has congenital vision problems, and already wears bifocal eyeglasses even though she is only three years old. Kellie often shares their family photos on her Instagram account – they spend a lot of time together. Before Keith, Kellie dated Joey Lawrence, an American actor. In April 1993 Kellie had an affair with Scott Weinger, who is another American actor. Nothing is known about Keith’s previous affairs.

Who is Kellie Martin?

Kellie Noelle Martin was born 16 October 1975, in Riverside, California USA. Her mother, Debbie Jett, was a teacher in one of the local kindergartens, while her father, Doug Martin, was a retail executive and buyer in a local department store. Kellie’s aunt was the nanny for the children of the popular American actor, Michael Landon (starred in “Bonanza” (1959–1973) and “Little House on the Prairie” (1974–1983)); she helped Kellie to land her first acting role when she was only seven years old, and Kellie got a chance to appear in the series entitled “Father Murphy”, which was produced by her aunt’s employer, Landon.

However, even before she got her first acting role, Kellie was a child model for “Taco Bell”, when she was around four years old.

Kellie Martin’s early acting career

Kellie started by appearing in episodes of such shows as “Highway to Heaven” (1984), “The Canterville Ghost” (1985) and “Wonderful World of Disney” (1986). She also landed her first recurring role in the series “The Hogan Family” (1987-1988), in which she portrayed the character of Tracy Nash. In 1988 she had her first voice-over role in the animation series “A Pup Named Scooby-Doo”, voicing over the character of Daphne Blake. Before she became really famous, she also appeared in episodic roles in such series as “Baywatch”, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “Charles in Charge”.

Kellie Martin’s further career success

In 1989 Kellie was cast in her first main role in the series “Life Goes On”, in which she played Rebecca “Becca” Thatcher.

The series had four seasons with 83 episodes in total, and helped Kellie to win Young Artist Awards twice, in 1990 and in 1991, in the category Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series. In 1992 she was named Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Drama Series from Viewers for Quality Television Awards. In 1993 Kellie was nominated for the Emmy Award for her role of Becca as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, but didn’t win.

In 1998 Kellie landed the role of Lucy Knight in the super popular series “ER”, appearing in 36 episodes of the show. From 2003 to 2006 Kellie played Samantha Kinsey in the series of TV movies about “Mystery Woman” produced by Hallmark Movie. She also appeared in such popular shows as “Ghost Whisperer”, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice” in 2009.

Later she continued working with Hallmark Movies, landing the main role in the new series of TV films “Hailey Dean Mystery”, from 2016 to 2019 appearing in nine movies of the series, portraying the character of Hailey Dean. The most successful were “Hailey Dean Mystery: A Prescription for Murder”, “Hailey Dean Mystery: A Marriage Made for Murder” and “Hailey Dean Mystery: 2+2=Murder”.

Among Kellie’s voice-over roles there are Roxanne from “A Goofy Movie” (1995), Mona in “Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas” (2004) and Allana from “Thru the Moebius Strip” (2005).

Special approach in conscious parenting: Keith and Kellie’s concept of healthy baby products

Kellie and Keith agreed from the first day of their parenting that they were going green as much as they could.

Kellie Martin

From the day first daughter Maggie, was born, they constantly searched for eco-friendly toys, clothes and bottles they could give to their baby. ‘I’m really passionate about keeping everything around your baby as safe as possible’, Kellie shared in her interview to Modern Mom in 2008 – ‘everything in my daughter’s closet, crib, playroom and anything that touches her skin will be free of toxic chemicals’. The Christians moved to the ranch in Colorado partly to surround their baby with pure nature and organic food, still thinking over ways of getting eco-friendly toys for Maggie. Kellie found the shop called Romp and bought a lot of wooden toys from there, feeling grateful to have such an opportunity, until she found out that the shop was closing, as Jenn LaBelle, the owner of the shop, was going to focus on her other business endeavors. Kellie insisted they should buy the shop and run it together as their family business.

Buying the Romp toys shop and other endeavors

Keith says that he liked buying the running business, as they could skip the start-up phase and had a loyal customer base. Jenn LaBelle was also very supportive in transiting the business and guiding Kellie and Keith. However, Keith admits he only helps his wife with this shop, as she is the real boss in it: ‘This is definitely Kellie’s business. I am just the support staff’, Keith shared in his interview with Time  magazine in 2012. Nevertheless, Kellie said it turned out to be a bit trickier than she thought it would be: ‘Being my own boss isn’t something I thought I could do. If Keith and Jenn [LaBelle] hadn’t been encouraging me, I don’t think I could have done it’. Jenn LaBelle also shared her admiration for Kellie and Keith’s interest and dedication to the idea of developing the brand, as she first thought some Hollywood actress just wanted to put her name on her shop and make it another ‘vanity project’.

Kellie and Keith added new products to the shop, including nesting dolls (which are Russian dolls nesting one in one) and white board books, which in fact became the new Christmas hit. Maggie helps parents to test new toys, and even acts as a focus group.

Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts

Keith likes spending his spare time in the fresh air, walking and having family picnics. Kellie, enjoys practicing yoga. They have a dog named Rusty.

Appearance

Keith has short black hair which has turned grey with aging. He has blue eyes, but wears glasses. He is 6ft 1in (1.87m) tall and weighs around 196lbs (89kgs).

Net worth and salary

As of 2019, Kellie Martin is reported to have a net worth of over $3 million, from acting and the toy store. Sources estimate that Keith’s income is well over $100,000 a year, and his wealth similar to that of his wife, from his fprimary career as a successful attorney.

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Author

Benjy is currently a reporter for BiographyPedia based in Adelaide, Australia. Prior to joining BiographyPedia in July 2019, he was a Bizarre TV reporter and theatre critic at TheSun. Benjy has also written for DailyMail and TMZ. Benjy studied journalism at Goldsmiths University of London, graduating in 2009. You can contact him at [email protected].

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