Kristen Anne Bell, who was a Huntington Woods, Michigan-bred, began her career playing on Broadway plays, like "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Crucible". She then moved to Los Angeles and scored various TV guest spots and minor parts in films before finally landing her first lead role in the 2004 "Spartan" as Laura Newton. In the same year she received critical praise for playing the title character on the television series "Veronica Mars", which won her a Best Actress on Television Saturn Award in addition to several other award nominations. She then reprised the role in the 2014 big screen version of the series.

"Veronica Mars" lasted until 2007 and Bell was quick to land herself a guest starring role on another hit series "Heroes", which saw her starring as Elle Bishop. She was nominated for a Teen Choice Award and Saturn Award. After that, she was involved in the hit series "Gossip Girl" as the off-screen titular narrator. Beginning from 2012, she starred as Jeannie van der Hooven, one of the lead roles on Showtime's comedy drama series "House of Lies".

On big screen, Bell was best known as the title character in the 2008 romantic comedy drama film "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" which helped her earning worldwide fame. Besides, it also brought her two Teen Choice Award nominations and an MTV Award nomination. She has since lent her famous figure to such notable movies, as "When in Rome", "Get Him to the Greek", "Burlesque", "Scream 4", and "Hit and Run". In 2013, she provided the voice for Princess Anna in the critically acclaimed "Frozen" and won Alliance of Women Film Journalists for Best Animated Female.

Bell, who was born on July 18, 1980, has been married to actor Dax Shepard on October 17, 2013. They have one daughter together; Lincoln Bell Shepard, born in March 2013. It was announced in June 2014 that the couple was expecting their second child.