Kristen Bell

Kristen Ann Bell (b. July 18, 1980) is an American Actress.

She is mostly known for playing the main title character of the WB's Veronica Mars. Following those, she has also appeared on such films and other TV shows as Heroes, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, When in Rome, Pulse, and others to name a few.

Bell was cast to play G2 Pink Galaxy Ranger Wendy Jane O'Hara in Power Rangers LG: The Rise of Trakeena  and she is signed on for two sequels following the anticipated 2011  film.

Trivia

 * In 2005, Bell was named by  Jane  magazine as "one of the 11 people you'd most like to see naked", [7] and in 2006, Bell was selected "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" on  PETA 's yearly poll. [40]  She was placed #68 on  Maxim s 2005 "Hot 100" list, [41]  #11 in Maxims 2006 "Hot 100" list, [42]  and #46 in Maxims 2007 "Hot 100" list in which she was stated to have "single-handedly saved the  CW  from becoming the worst network ever." [43]  In 2006, Maxim also placed Bell at the top of the "Fall TV's Criminally Sexy Investigators" List. [40]  In 2008, she was featured at #59 on  Ask Men s Top 99 Women of 2008 List. [44]  Reflecting on her admitted popularity with "geeks", Bell was voted the fourth sexiest woman on TV by the staff at  Wizard magazine . [45]
 * In January 2011 it was announced that Kristen would be the new face of Neutrogena
 * has been nominated several times for Television Critics Association Awards and Teen Choice Awards.
 * Bell was also the voice of Cora in Astro Boy and is the voice and face of Lucy Stillman in the Assassin's Creed video game series.
 * Bell was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. She is the daughter of Tom Bell, the television news  director for WOAI-TV in San Antonio, and Lorelei "Lori" Bell, a registered nurse . [1]   [2]  Bell is of  Polish  and  Scottish  descent. [3]  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 Avedian, and Megan. Bell has strabismus , 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 aggravates the ailment. She calls her right eye "Wonky". [4]   [5]

At the age of four, Bell claimed she did not like her first name. Her mother convinced Bell to go by her middle name of Anne instead; she used the name Annie until high school. [6] She attended Burton Elementary school in Huntington Woods. [7]

Just before her freshman year of high school, Bell's parents decided to pull her from the public school  system. [8]  She then attended Shrine Catholic High School in nearby  Royal Oak, where she took part in the drama and music club.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8"> [9]  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 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9"> [10]  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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Saturday_10-0"> [11]

When Bell was 17, her best friend, 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".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Star_11-0"> [12]

Shortly after her high school graduation, Bell moved to New York City to attend the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University ,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Ask_5-1"> [6] majoring in musical theater.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12"> [13]  In 2001, during her senior year at New York University, Bell left a few credits shy of graduating<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Tough_13-0"> [14]  to take a role in the Broadway musical version of  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer .
 * At age 11, Bell became a vegetarian.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Veg_39-2">[40] In PRLG:TROT's cast of characters, Bell is the second cast member in the film to be a vegetarian, Tobey Maguire  is the first to be known as one in his personal life and he never explained in off screen during production.
 * 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 Brussels sprouts!"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Veg_39-3">[40] 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mars_7-1">[
 * 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".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-UGO_14-3">[15] 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30">[31] Bell reprises her role of Lucy in Assassin's Creed II released on November 17, 2009, and again in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, released on 16 November 2010.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-31">[32] 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-32">[33] Bell will voice the character of Marybelle in the animated feature Sheepish, which also has a 2008 release date.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-33">[34] She also starred in the 2009 comedies Serious Moonlight, alongside Meg Ryan, and Couples Retreat, which chronicled four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort. Jason Bateman played her husband.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-34">[35] 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; the film was released in 2010.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-35">[36] Bell reprised her role as Sarah Marshall for a cameo appearance in the film Get Him to the Greek, a spin-off sequel from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, released June 4, 2010.
 * Following the cancellation of Veronica Mars, Bell had voiced interest in appearing on Heroes because she was a fan previous to being cast.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-scifi_24-0">[25] 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[ed] to come on Heroes, give us [writers] a call," to which Bell said she would "love to."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-TV_guide_25-0">[26] She was also spoken to about a role on Lost, but turned down the role<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-EWVid_26-0">[27] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27">[28] to portray Charlotte Staples Lewis.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28">[29] Announced in August 2007, Bell was to portray Elle Bishop, a "mysterious young lady" with an "awesome power".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-TV_guide_25-1">[26] She did not have to audition for the role of Elle,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-UGO_14-2">[15] who made her first appearance in an October 2007 episode, and will appear in at least thirteen episodes during the run of the series.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety_29-0">[30] 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 [Bell’s] schedule."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety_29-1">[30] Concurrently with filming on Heroes, she narrates as title character in the CW series Gossip Girl.
 * 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 US$27.9 million worldwide,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19">[20] however it garnered negative response from critics. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter commented, "despite the starring presence of Kristen Bell, [the] young actress has far less interesting material to work with here than she does as [the character] "Veronica Mars.""<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pulse_20-0">[21]
 * 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 2004, Bell appeared in the Lifetime television movie Gracie's Choice, which received one of the network's highest ratings.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Tough_13-1">[14] 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").
 * In 1992, Bell went to her first audition and won a dual role as a banana and a tree<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Star_11-1">[12] in a suburban Detroit theater's production of Raggedy Ann and Andy.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Ask_5-2">[6] 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Ask_5-3">[6] In 1998, she appeared with an uncredited role in the locally filmed movie Polish Wedding.
 * 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. Her one line in the film was cut and her appearance exists only as a scene shown during the credit sequence.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-UGO_14-0">[15] Additionally, she auditioned for the television series Smallville for the role of Chloe Sullivan, a part eventually won by Allison Mack.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15">[16] 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,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-UGO_14-1">[15] 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 [she] tested for got picked up," including auditions for Skin and a Norm Macdonald series.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Star_11-2">[12] In 2003, she landed a role in the Hallmark Channel movie The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay.

Filmography

 * Film and television


 * Theatre


 * Video games

Wins

 * 2006
 * Saturn Award, for Veronica Mars
 * Jury Prize at the Austin Fantastic Fest, for Roman
 * Family Film Award, for Veronica Mars (shared with Enrico Colantoni)


 * 2005
 * Satellite Award, for Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical

Nominations

 * 2009
 * Teen Choice Award, for Heroes
 * Saturn Award, for Heroes
 * MTV Movie Award, for Forgetting Sarah Marshall


 * 2008
 * Teen Choice Award, for Forgetting Sarah Marshall


 * 2007
 * Saturn Award, for Veronica Mars


 * 2006
 * Satellite Award, for Veronica Mars
 * Teen Choice Award, for Veronica Mars


 * 2005
 * Satellite Award, for Veronica Mars
 * Saturn Award, for Veronica Mars
 * Teen Choice Award, for Veronica Mars
 * TCA Award, for Veronica Mars