Kristen Bell

Actress Kristen Bell is best known for playing the title character in cable TV's Veronica Mars for three seasons (2004-07). Bell grew up in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan and studied at New York University's Tisch School of Arts. She made her Broadway debut in the 2001 production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and appeared with Liam Neeson in the 2002 Broadway production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, then made her way to Hollywood. Bell found work in television, including a guest shot in 2003 on The Shield (starring Michael Chiklis) and the lead in the 2004 cable TV movie Gracie's Choice (with Anne Heche). She had a memorable role as a sneaky thief in the first season of Deadwood, then landed the role of a smirky teen detective in Veronica Mars (2004). The show was cancelled after three seasons and Bell landed a recurring guest shot on the series Heroes in 2007. Slight and fine-featured, Bell is a young leading lady often cast as the sassy, independent-but-vulnerable type. Her feature film roles have included the thrillers Deepwater (2005) and Pulse (2006) and the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008).