Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Although her first film role was an uncredited appearance in
Polish Wedding, Bell previously acted in stage and musical productions. In 2001, she made her
Broadway debut as
Becky Thatcher in
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. After re-locating to
Los Angeles, Bell landed various television guest appearances and small film parts, before she gained fame as the
title role on the critically acclaimed television series,
Veronica Mars from September 2004 to May 2007.
During her time on
Veronica Mars, Bell reprised her role as Mary Lane in the film version of
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical, a stage production she had taken part in. She also portrayed the lead role in
Pulse, a remake of a
J-Horror film. In 2007, she joined the cast of
Heroes playing the character
Elle Bishop, and
Gossip Girl as the offscreen titular narrator. Additionally, she played the title character in the comedy movie
Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Bell has received a
Satellite Award and
Saturn Award, and has been nominated several times for
Television Critics Association Awards and
Teen Choice Awards. Bell also starred in the 2009 comedy,
Couples Retreat, and is also the voice of Cora in
Astro Boy.
Early life and family
Bell was born and raised in
Huntington Woods, Michigan, a suburb of
Detroit. She is the daughter of Tom Bell, the new
television news director for
WOAI-TV in San Antonio, and Lorelei "Lori" Bell, a
registered nurse.
[Kristen Bell Biography (1980-)] Bell is of
Polish and
Scottish descent.
Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and she has two half sisters, Sara and Jody, from her father's second marriage. She has four step-siblings from her mother's second marriage to John Raymond Avedian, Laura, John, Matt, and Megan. Bell has a
lazy eye which affects her right eye. She inherited it from her mother, who had it corrected as a child. Bell claims that if she does not get enough sleep, it furthers the ailment. She nicknames her right eye "Wonky".
At the age of four, Bell claimed she did not like her first name and opted to change it to "Smurfette" after the character in the
The Smurfs. However, her mother convinced Bell to go by her middle name of Anne instead; she used the name Annie until high school.
She attended Burton Elementary school in Huntington Woods
where she studied singing and tap dancing.
Just before her freshman year of high school, Bell's parents decided to pull her from the
public school system.
She then attended
Shrine Catholic High School in nearby
Royal Oak, where she took part in the drama and music club.
During her time at the school, she won the starring role in the school's 1997 production of
The Wizard of Oz as
Dorothy Gale and also appeared in productions of
Fiddler on the Roof (1995),
Lady Be Good (1996), and
Li'l Abner (1998). In 1998, the year she graduated, Bell was named the yearbook's "Best Looking Girl" by senior class vote.
When Bell was 17, her best friend Jenny DeRita, whom she met at age 11 during a
Detroit community theater production, was killed in an automobile accident. Bell said that it was
"both the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me. [...] Once you learn not to take people for granted, you live a lot happier life".
Shortly after her high school graduation, Bell moved to
New York City to attend the
Tisch School of the Arts at
New York University,
majoring in musical theater.
In 2001, during her senior year at New York University, Bell left a few credits shy of graduating
to take a role in the
Broadway musical version of
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Career
Early work (1992–2003)
In 1992, Bell went to her first audition and won a dual role as a banana and a tree
in a suburban Detroit theater's production of
Raggedy Ann and Andy.
Her mother had established her with an agent before Bell was 13, which allowed her to appear in newspaper advertisements for several Detroit retailers and television commercials. She also began private acting lessons.
In 1998, she appeared with an uncredited role in the locally filmed movie
Polish Wedding.
Kristen Bell also portrays Sally Wister in The History Channel’s Choosing Sides: Young Voices on the Revolution currently showing at Independence Hall visitors center in Philadelphia.
In 2001, Bell left
New York University to take a key role as
Becky Thatcher in the short-lived
Broadway musical of
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. That same year she made her credited film debut in
Pootie Tang. However, her one line in the film was cut and her appearance exists only as a scene shown during the credit sequence.
Additionally, she auditioned for the television series
Smallville for the role of
Chloe Sullivan, a part eventually won by
Allison Mack.
In 2002, she appeared in the Broadway revival of
The Crucible with
Liam Neeson,
Angela Bettis and
Laura Linney. Bell then moved to
Los Angeles, California in 2002 because of her friendship with writers
Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney,
and appeared in a handful of television shows as a special guest, finding trouble gaining a recurring role in a television series. Bell had "tested like eight times and booked nothing and every show
[1] tested for got picked up," including auditions for
Skin and a
Norm Macdonald series.
In 2003, she landed a role in the
Hallmark Channel movie
The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay.
Breakthrough (2004–2006)
In 2004, Bell appeared in the
Lifetime television movie
Gracie's Choice, which received one of the network's highest ratings.
She made her debut in a theatrically released film, with
David Mamet's
Spartan, as Laura Newton, the kidnapped daughter of the U.S. President, acting alongside
Val Kilmer. Bell also guest-starred on the
HBO's drama
Deadwood in a two-episode story arc ("
Bullock Returns to the Camp" and "
Suffer the Little Children").
She then won the role of the title character in
UPN's drama
Veronica Mars, which was launched in the fall of 2004. Created by
Rob Thomas, Bell starred as the seventeen year old detective
Veronica, which put her alongside actors
Enrico Colantoni who played her father,
Jason Dohring,
Percy Daggs III and
Ryan Hansen. Bell noted the parallels between the character of Veronica and her own life — Bell's parents had divorced and her best friend had also died, like that of Veronica.
The series earned positive reviews from television critics, as did Bell's performance. Some critics felt that she was overlooked, however, and deserved an Emmy Award nomination.
In 2005, Bell starred in
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical, reprising the role she played in the short-lived 2001
off-broadway musical. The musical was a spoof of the
1936 exploitation film of the same name.
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical debuted on the
Showtime network on April 16, 2005. On September 18, 2005, Bell performed the theme song from
Fame on the "Emmy Idol" portion of the
57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. She and the cast of
Veronica Mars were nominated for two Teen Choice Awards in 2005: "Choice Breakout Actress" and "Choice Breakout TV Show".
In 2006, Bell won the
Saturn Award for "Best Actress on Television" for her acting on
Veronica Mars, while the series was nominated for "Best Network Television Show". Aside from working on
Veronica Mars, in April, Bell starred as Gracie in
Fifty Pills, an entry for the
Tribeca Film Festival. She appeared in a short independent film called
The Receipt and the horror film
Roman, which was directed by her
The Crucible co-star Angela Bettis. Released on August 11, 2006,
Pulse starred Bell as the lead Mattie. A remake of the Japanese horror film
Kairo, the film grossed
$27.9 million worldwide,
however it garnered negative response from critics. Frank Scheck of
The Hollywood Reporter commented, "despite the starring presence of Kristen Bell,
[2] young actress has far less interesting material to work with here than she does as
character "Veronica Mars.""
Recent and future roles (2007–present)
Veronica Mars continued on UPN until the third season, in which the show was renewed and returned on the newly created
The CW. On January 19, 2007 CW Entertainment President
Dawn Ostroff announced that, while she was pleased with the gradual improvement of
Veronica Mars's ratings, the series would be put on hiatus after February sweeps to air a new
reality series,
Pussycat Dolls Present. On May 17, 2007 Ostroff announced the cancellation of the series.
The two-hour series finale aired in the United States on May 22, 2007, and on June 11, 2007 Thomas officially announced in an email to TV Guide's Michael Ausiello that
Veronica Mars had been canceled by the CW.
A
Veronica Mars feature film and comic book series continuation had been discussed,
and for a short time there was talk of another collaboration between Bell and creator Thomas that would be unrelated to the
Veronica Mars series.
Following the cancellation of
Veronica Mars, Bell had voiced interest in appearing on
Heroes because she was a fan previous to being cast.
On July 29, 2007, during a train ride back to Los Angeles from the
San Diego Comic-Con with
Heroes actors
Zachary Quinto and
Masi Oka, and writers from the series, the writers had mentioned that if she "ever want
[3] to come on
Heroes, give us
[4] a call," to which Bell said she would love to.
She was also spoken to about a role on
Lost, but was not offered one
despite speculation that she was to portray
Charlotte Staples Lewis.
Announced in August 2007, Bell was to portray
Elle Bishop, a "mysterious young lady" with an "awesome power".
She did not have to audition for the role of Elle,
who made her first appearance in an October 2007 episode, and will appear in at least thirteen episodes during the run of the series.
The casting of Bell, as
Heroes creator
Tim Kring explains, "was not easy to pull off", but because of the large ensemble cast of the series and multiple
story arcs, "we found a way to jump into a small window in
’s schedule."
Concurrently with filming on
Heroes, she narrates as title character in the CW series
Gossip Girl.
Shortly after the cancellation of
Veronica Mars in early 2007, Bell filmed on location in
Hawaii for her starring role as the title character in the
Judd Apatow comedy
Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She noted that the
improvisational comedy in the film was "a lovely experience".
The film, written by and also starring
Jason Segel was released theatrically on April 18, 2008. Bell lent her voice and likeness to the video game
Assassin's Creed which was released on November 13, 2007 for the
PlayStation 3 and
Xbox 360 and April 8, 2008 for the
PC.
Bell reprises her role of Lucy in the upcoming
Assassin's Creed II set for release on November 17, 2009.
In the spring of 2006, she finished filming the
Star Wars-themed comedy
Fanboys, which had its release date pushed to January 14, 2008. This was due to additional funding given to director
Kyle Newman to shoot new scenes, however, the busy schedules of the actors only allowed for filming in September 2007, thus moving the release date to accommodate that.
Bell will voice the character of Marybelle in the animated feature
Sheepish, which also has a 2008 release date.
She will also star in the comedy
Serious Moonlight, alongside
Meg Ryan. The film is in post-production and has an estimated 2009 release date. On March 31, 2008 Bell began shooting for the
Mark Steven Johnson-written
Disney film
When in Rome in locations in
Rome and New York.
Bell co-starred in the 2009 film
Couples Retreat, a comedy chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort.
Jason Bateman played her husband.
[Trio of Ladies Going on Couples Retreat" TV Guide. October 15, 2008. Retrieved on October 15, 2008. She has just finished shooting scenes for her guest appearance on Party Down. Her episode will air sometime in may. She is also currently re-shooting scenes of her movie When in Rome.]
Bell has also said that when she is free from film and television roles, she would like to perform on stage again.
She will co-star with singers
Christina Aguilera and
Cher in the musical,
Burlesque currently in production.
In the media
[
Bell.jpg|thumb|upright|Bell at the 2007 [[Scream Awards], an award show dedicated to the
horror and
science fiction]] genres
In 2005, Bell was named by
Jane magazine as "one of the 11 people you'd most like to see naked",
and in 2006, Bell was selected "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" on
PETA's yearly poll.
She was placed #68 on
Maxim's 2005 "Hot 100" list,
#11 in Maxim
's 2006 "Hot 100" list,Maxim
's 2007 "Hot 100" list in which she was stated to have "single-handedly saved the CW from becoming the worst network ever."Maxim
also placed Bell at the top of the "Fall TV's Criminally Sexy Investigators" List.
She claims to have never thought of herself as womanly because she "always play
roles and look
[3] and act
[3] 10 years younger than
is", however as she explains, "Something magical happened when I turned 25 — I looked in the mirror and was like, You might not get carded for an R-rated movie anymore. Like I didn’t have a little stick figure anymore."
Bell has said that many of the characters she has played are
tomboys because she was "not homely enough to play the
nerdy girl and not nearly pretty enough to play the pretty girl".
Bell has been associated with the idea that "nerdy is the new cool", and she explains, "what was previously perceived as nerdy is now viewed as original. What I like about nerdiness,
geekiness, is it doesn’t really matter what you’re into — it just means you’re not a follower."
She has also said, "I love nerds.
Comic-Con junkies are the tastemakers of tomorrow. Isn't that funny? The tables have turned."
Vanessa Juarez of
Entertainment Weekly commented that Bell's role on
Veronica Mars,
Heroes and as a
Star Wars fanatic in
Fanboys has "solidif
[5] her placement at the center of the geek universe", while
Rodney Rothman stated, "I guess she's cornered the market on losers."
Bell's work is often compared to
Sarah Michelle Gellar's portrayal of the
titular character on the
cult television series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Frank Scheck of
The Hollywood Reporter stated that Bell was "arguably the television successor
Gellar's portrayal of Buffy when it comes to fighting bad guys." Bell is sometimes confused with Lauren Conrad from the show The Hills. "Yeah, sometimes fans yell, 'Hey, Lauren' to me, but usually from a distance." said Kristin in a recent interview
Despite "new celebrity" status, Bell claims that she is not concerned because "no one ever recognizes
[6] anyway". As Bell explains, "I hang out with
Hayden quite a bit — they never take pictures of me. I just step to the side, and I push myself in front of her when she wants to get out of it, or put her in the car."
Personal life
At age 11, Bell became a
vegetarian.
In an interview with PETA, Bell stated, "I have always been an animal lover. I had a hard time disassociating the animals I cuddled with — dogs and cats, for example — from the animals on my plate, and I never really cared for the taste of meat. I always loved my
Brussel sprouts!"
During her time in Michigan, Bell fostered animals from
Michigan Humane Society and she now supports the
San Diego-based Helen Woodward Animal Center. Bell often attends fund raisers for the
ASPCA and other
non-profit organizations dedicated to protecting animals. She owns a
Welsh Corgi-
Chow Chow mix named Lola, a
Welsh Corgi-
Chihuahua mix named Shakey, and a black
Labrador Retriever named Sadie, who was 11 years old when she was rescued from
Hurricane Katrina and adopted by Bell in 2005.
She and many of those who worked on
Veronica Mars, including friend
Ryan Hansen, are involved with the charity organization
Invisible Children Inc. The goal of the organization is to create awareness regarding the plight of
Northern Ugandans who are caught in the midst of a
civil war between the government and
Joseph Kony's
Lord's Resistance Army.
Bell has also done a public service announcement for
Do Something's great Healthy Living Campaign.
Bell supported, and campaigned for,
Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election. Along with
Rashida Jones, she visited college campuses in
Missouri to discuss the candidates and encourage voter registration.
[Hollywood Starlets Challenge Rolla Students to Make their Voices Heard] Bell has shown her support for the
Writers Guild of America in the
writer's strike, appearing in the picket lines in December 2007 stating, "the writers are just looking for some fairness."
In 2007, Bell ended a five-year relationship with former fiancé
Kevin Mann,
and went on to date actor
Dax Shepard.
She told
Complex magazine that dating "makes me want to vomit. And not out of grossness — OK, a little bit out of grossness, but just nerves." Bell explains, "I’ve always been a
serial monogamist."
As she is a Detroit native, she is also an avid fan of the
Detroit Red Wings hockey team.
[Veronica Mars star a true 'Citizen of Hockeytown' - Red Wings Snapshots - MLive.com]
Filmography
