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.
2022The Devil You Know as Announcer (voice)
1997Bette Midler: Diva Las Vegas as Self - Showgirl
1994Night Realm as Unknown
1991Bugsy as Dancer
1991Lethal Games as Coco
1991Mobsters as Showgirl
1991Shock 'Em Dead as Michelle
1991Dead Certain as Isabella
1991Shock Cinema: Volume Four as Herself / Actress
1990Mob Boss as Mary
1990The Girl I Want as Lisa
1990Dick Tracy as Dancer
1990Wilding as Cathy
1989The Banker as Fran
1989Murder Weapon as Amy
1989Dr. Alien as Coed #2
1989Easy Wheels as Candy
1989Vice Academy as Shawnee
1989Hell High as Teen Girl
1989Blood Nasty as Mona
1989American Rampage as Hooker #1
1988Memorial Valley Massacre as Emily (as Dusty Woods)
1988Phoenix the Warrior as Mohawk
1988Hellbent as Topless Woman
1986Modern Girls as Music Video Dancer
1985Tenement as Chula