Although she made her film debut in the little-seen
Pootie Tang, this plucky actress had much better luck with her subsequent projects. After studying at NYU's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, she quickly found stage work, including a leading role in the campy off-Broadway musical
Reefer Madness, which was eventually turned into a TV-movie also starring Bell. The small screen ended up being her primary medium, and she had a number of guest appearances and TV-movies under her belt when she landed the title role of a teen-outcast-turned-investigator on
Veronica Mars. Although
Mars didn't fare too well in the ratings, the show developed a cult following and ran for three seasons on UPN and the CW, and Bell's portrayal of a high-school gumshoe who's wise beyond her years earned her a great deal of critical respect. She followed up that series with a reoccuring role on the NBC show
Heroes and also returned to film with parts in the raunchy comedy
Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the romantic fantasy
When in Rome. Off screen, Bell is also a vegetarian and an animal lover who has adopted three rescue dogs: Sadie, Lola and Shakes.
Kristen Bell Fast Facts:
- Made her Broadway debut in 2001 in a musical version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, playing Becky Thatcher.
- Cast in the off-Broadway show Reefer Madness.
- Made her small-screen debut in 2003 in the season premiere of The Shield, playing a gang member's girlfriend.
- Named by Jane magazine as one of the 11 People You'd Most Like to See Naked.
- Performed the theme song to Fame at the 2005 Emmy Awards.
- Did volunteer work at a hospital in Brazil, where she helped two women give birth.
- Kristen Bell Relationships:
- Tom Bell - Father
- Kevin Mann - Ex-significant Other
- Dax Shepard - Fiancé
- Lorelei Bell - Mother
- College:
- New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, New York, NY