Background
Allen made her motion picture debut in Enough starring as Gracie, the young daughter of Jennifer Lopez"s character.
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Tessa Allen
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Before Enough, Allen appeared in many commercials, the first of which when she was only 4 months old in a Maytag commercial. Following this Allen appeared in many commercials including the very popular McDonalds Happy Meal "The Tigger Movie" promotion which ran for 3 weeks, the longest McDonalds promotion of its time. After she filmed Enough, Allen was picked up almost right away by National Broadcasting Company to play Hannah Hansen on its Friday night family drama Providence from 2001 until the show was discontinued in December 2002.
She was the third Hannah Hansen and the first non-twin role.
Providence co-stars Melina Kanakaredes and Seth Peterson have said that it was easy to be upstaged by Allen with her wacky outfits, her perfect timing and her cuteness because the camera loved her. After Providence ended, Allen shot many commercials including a Jif Peanut Butter commercial called "Sleepover" which has been reported to be seen on air until late 2005, early 2006.
Allen was next seen on a television show as a guest star on Computer Society of India: Miami"s 2002-2003 season 1 finale playing Emma Kaye, a little girl who was abducted by a child molester. The episode aired in May 2003.
After this short stint, Allen was asked to return to the show to play Luke and Laura Spencer"s daughter Lesley Lu (Lulu) Spencer, a change that required that the character"s age be retroactively lowered.
Allen appeared as Lulu every now and then, often with television grandmother Lesley. Allen left General Hospital when Julie Marie Berman took over the role in fall 2005 to play a SORASed (rapidly aged for plot purposes) Lulu. During her time on General Hospital, Allen filmed a short film called Walls of Jericho for the 168 Festival.
Here she was reunited with on-screen mom Karen Geraghty who had also played Allen"s mother in her 2003 Jif commercial.
Karen stated after filming Walls of Jericho that "I have worked with many kids before through commercials, short films, et cetera but none compare to Tessa. I love working with her and would do so again in a heartbeat".
Foreign her role as Emily in this short film, Allen was nominated for best supporting actress. After Allen"s run as Lulu Spencer ended, she continued to film television commercials including a Mass Mutual commercial which aired during both the 2006 and 2007 United States Tennis Open.
In 2006, Allen was in her first theatre production as the evil stepsister Anastasia in Cinderella and in early 2007, Allen shot another short film, this time a University of Southern California graduate film entitled Open House, where she plays a younger version of the main character.
In March 2007, Allen shot a Doritos commercial which featured the music group The Black Eyed Peas. In October 2007, Allen began filming another University of Southern California graduate film called Sunnier Days, where she plays the lead character on a road trip with her falling-apart family. In May 2008, Allen booked and shot another lead role in a student film called The Moment She Fellow
Allen was born in Manhattan Beach, California.
She has three sisters, Madison, Jeanne, and Adeline, all of whom have acted in the past Tessa was recently engaged to long time boyfriend, Gregory Bellwoar.
They plan to get married in the Fall of 2017.
