Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress and film producer. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. After moving to Los Angeles, Bell landed various television guest appearances and small film parts before appearing in a lead role in the David Mamet film Spartan. She later gained fame and critical praise as the title character on the television series Veronica Mars from September 2004 to May 2007 and will reprise the role in the 2014 film based on the series. During her time on Veronica Mars, Bell appeared as Mary Lane in the film Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical, a reprise of the role she had played in the New York theatrical production of the eponymous musical upon which the film was based. 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 off-screen titular narrator. In 2008, she played Sarah Marshall in the comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She has since appeared in a number of comedy films, such as Fanboys, Couples Retreat, and When in Rome. Bell is the voice and face of Lucy Stillman in the Assassin's Creed video game series. Bell has received a Satellite Award and Saturn Award, and has been nominated several times for Television Critics Association Awards and Teen Choice Awards. She also lent her voice to Princess Anna in the Disney movie Frozen.Bell currently stars as Jeannie van der Hooven in the Showtime series House of Lies.

Bell was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Her mother, Lorelei (née Frygier), is a registered nurse, and her father, Tom Bell, works as the television news director for WOAI-TV in San Antonio. Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and she has two half sisters, Sara and Jody, from her father's second marriage. Bell is of Polish and Scottish descent. Bell hasstrabismus, 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."

Bell stated that she did not like her first name at the age of four. Her mother convinced Bell to go by her middle name of Anne instead; she used the name Annie until high school.

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^[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.

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".

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.

In 2007, Bell ended a five-year relationship with former fiancé Kevin Mann. She later 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."

Bell began dating actor Dax Shepard in late 2007. The couple announced their engagement in January 2010, however, they decided to delay marriage until the state of California passed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage. They co-starred in the 2012 film Hit and Run. After section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act fell on June 26, 2013, Bell asked Shepard to marry her through Twitter,which he accepted. Bell and Shepard were married at the Beverly Hills County Clerk's Office on October 17, 2013. They have one daughter, Lincoln Bell Shepard, born in March 2013.

Film