Kristen Bell

"I'm not going to become anybody I don't want to become." — Kristen Bell

Kristen Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress who is best known for her role as Veronica Mars on the UPN/The CW television series of the same name from 2004 to 2007, and currently plays Jeannie Van Der Hooven

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on the Showtime comedy series House of Lies since 2012. In 2010, she portrayed Marni Olsen from the movie You Again.

She voiced Anna in Disney's new movie, Frozen.

She also voiced Hiromi in the 2003 Disney English dub version of The Cat Returns.

Early Life and Education

Bell was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan. Her mother is a registered nurse, and her father works as a television news director in San Antonio. However, her parents divorced when she was two. She now has two half-sisters, Sara and Jody, from her father's second marriage. Bell has a disease called strabismus, which she inherited from her mother. 

When she was four, Bell did not like her name. Her mother convinced her to go by her middle name, Anne. She used the nickname, Annie, until she went into high school. 

Just before she entered high school, Bell's parents decided to pull her out of the public school. They enrolled her in Shrine Catholic High School. During her time there, she participated in the school's drama and music club. In her school's rendition of The Wizard of Oz, she starred as Dorothy Gale. She also appeared in her school's productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Lady Be Good, and Li'l Abner. When she graduated in 1998, she was named the yearbook's "Best Looking Girl" by senior class vote. 

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, her senior year, she left to take a role in a Broadway musical version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. She was only a few credits away from graduating.

Career

Bell had roles in several areas, including film, television, theatre, web series, audio books, and video games. However, most of her career is focused on film and television.

When Bell went to her first audition in 1992, she got a dual role of a banana and a tree in a suburban theatre's production of Raggedy Ann and Andy. Because her mother had established her with an agent before Bell was 13, she was able to appear in several newspaper advertisements. Also at this time, she started private acting lessons. Six years later, she was an uncredited role in the film, Polish Wedding. In her college senior year, Bell left New York University to play the role of Becky Thatcher in a Broadway musical of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. She made her credited film debut in Pootie Tang the same year. A year later, she appeared in the Broadway revival of The Crucible.

In 2002, Bell moved to Los Angeles, California, because of her friendship with writers Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney. She appeared in several television shows as a special guest and auditioned for Skin and a Norm Macdonald series, but had trouble landing a recurring role in a television series. 

Finally, in 2003, Bell landed a role in the film The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay and appeared on the show Punk'd.

Bell's role as Laura Newton in David Mamet's Spartan was her debut in a theatrically released film, in 2004. She also guest-starred on HBO's Deadwood in a two-episode story arc.

Bell is well-known for her role of Veronica Mars in UPN's drama show of the same name, created by Rob Thomas. The series, launched in 2004, starred Bell as the seventeen-year-old detective, Veronica. She noted the similarities between the character of Veronica and her own life — her parents had divorced and her best friend had also died, like Veronica. Both the series and Bell's performance received positive reviews.

In 2005, the cast of Veronica Mars was nominated for a Teen Choice Award for "Choice Breakout TV Show". That same year, Bell performed the theme song from Fame on the "Emmy Idol" portion of the 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

A year later, Bell won the Saturn Award for "Best Actor on Television" for her role on Veronica Mars. During this time, Veronica Mars was nominated for "Best Network Television Show". Aside from Veronica Mars, Bell appeared in several films, such as Fifty Pills, The Receipt, Roman, and Pulse.

In 2007, Veronica Mars was put on hiatus due to another reality show being aired soon. However, later that year, an announcement was made that the show was cancelled in its third season.

Though Veronica Mars was cancelled, Bell had many opportunities in different roles in 2007. Shortly after the cancellation of the show, she filmed on location in Hawaii in the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In the film, she had the chance to do improvisational comedy, which she says was "a lovely experience". The film was theatrically released the next year, in 2008.

Bell also expressed interest in appearing on Heroes, mainly because she was a fan before being cast. In July 2007, Bell met the writers of Heroes on a train ride, as well as two actors from the same show, Zachary Quinto and Masi Oka. The writers mentioned if she ever wanted to come on Heroes, "give us [writers] a call," to which Bell responded that she would “love to”. The next month, she was cast as Elle Bishop. She did not have to audition, and her character appeared in at least 13 episodes during the series.

Before she was cast as Elle Bishop, she was asked to play Charlotte Staples Lewis on the TV series Lost, but she turned down the role. She also voiced the title character of the CW series Gossip Girl, and appeared in person as a surprise cameo in the final episode.

Near the end of 2007, Bell voiced Lucy in the video game Assassin’s Creed, which was released in November for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and the PC in 2008. She reprised her role in Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, released in November one year apart – 2009 and 2010.

In 2008, Bell began shooting for the Disney film When in Rome in Rome and New York, and the film was released two years later. The next year, in 2009, she starred in the comedy film Serious Moonlight and Couples Retreat.

The next three years were not as busy for Bell. She reprised her role as Sarah Marshall for a cameo appearance in the film Get Him to the Greek, which is a spin-off sequel from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Once she was free from film and television roles, Bell espressed her desire to perform on stage again. She co-starred in the film musical Burlesque alongside Christina Aguilera and Cher, which was released on Thanksgiving 2010.

Bell made a cameo appearance in the horror film, Scream 4, released in April 2011. In 2012, she starred in the film Big Miracle, and co-starred with Dax Shepard in the film, Hit and Run. She also appeared in a music video, and portrayed “Mary Magdalene” in a dramatized audio New Testament Bible, which is a celebrity-voiced, dramatized audio New Testament. They used the RSV-CE translation.

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Bell with Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff

Bell is also well-known for her starting role as Jeannie van der Hooven, the female lead in the series House of Lies. She also starred in The Lifeguard, filmed in 2012 and released the following year.

Bell is currently known for her role of Anna in the Disney animated film, Frozen.

Finally, on March 13, 2013, an announcement was made that a Veronica Mars film would be made. Bell and all her fellow main cast members will reprise their roles in the film. The film was released on March 14, 2014.

Personal Life

Bell has been a vegetarian since she was eleven. She 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 Brussels sprouts!" She often raises funds for the ASPCA and other non-profit organizations dedicated to protecting animals. She has three dogs, Lola, Shakey, and Sadie.

In 2007, Bell ended her five-year relationship with Kevin Mann. In a magazine, she explains that dating "makes me want to vomit. And not out of grossness—OK, a little bit out of grossness, but just nerves."

Later that year, Bell began dating actor and former co-star (from the 2012 film Hit and Run) Dax Shepard. They announced their engagement in 2010, but they decided to delay their marriage until same-sex marriage was legal in California. When California passed the section three of the Defense of Marriage, Bell asked Shepard to marry her through Twitter. He accepted. They married in the Beverly Hills County Clerk's Office on October 17, 2013.

In March of 2013, Bell and Shepard had a daughter, named Lincoln Bell Shepard.

More information will be added soon!

​Trivia

• She was pregnant during the making of Frozen.
  • She has now had her baby girl, named Lincoln Bell Shepard, in March 2013.
• As said in an interview, she was a lot like Anna during her childhood.
• She is a vegetarian, as said since she was eleven years old.
• Bell is an animal lover and owns three dogs, named Lola, Shakey, and Sadie.
• She loves sloths, and when her then-financee, Dax Shepard, hired a sloth for her birthday, she broke down in tears.
• She played on an all boys baseball team for two years.
• In an interview, she said that one of her dreams was to play a Disney heroine.
• Bell says that "Anna is very much like Kristen" and her goal was to make Anna a very different kind Disney princess, one that was more relatable. She wanted to create a character "that little kids who felt weirder than most could relate to."
• She says that Anna almost represents "blind love," because Anna is extremely sincere and optimistic, but it's a wonderful trait to have because her faith in others never wavers in spite of however they may feel about themselves.
• Her favorite heartfelt moment in the movie is when Elsa sings "Let It Go" because it represents "someone who is accepting who they are" and loving oneself in spite of being different.
• Her favorite comedic moment in the movie is when Olaf sings "In Summer."

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