Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. She began her acting career starring in stage productions and attended the Tisch School of Arts in New York. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and starred in the Broadway revival of The Crucible the following year. In 2004, she had a role in the film Spartan and received praise for her performance in Gracie's Choice.

Bell gained critical acclaim for her first major role as the title character in the teen noir drama television series Veronica Mars (2004–07). For her performance she was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television. She reprised the eponymous role in the 2014 film continuation of the series. During her time on Veronica Mars, Bell appeared as Mary Lane in the film Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005), a reprise of the role she had played in the New York musical upon which the film was based. From 2007 to 2008, Bell starred as Elle Bishop in the sci-fi drama series Heroes.

In 2008, she had her breakout film role as the title character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She has since appeared in a number of comedy films, including Couples Retreat (2009), When in Rome (2010), You Again (2010),The Boss (2016), Bad Moms (2016) and A Bad Moms Christmas (2017). Bell garnered further recognition for voicing Princess Anna in the Disney animated fantasy film Frozen (2013), the short films Frozen Fever (2015) and Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017), and the upcoming Frozen 2 (2019). From 2012 to 2016, she starred as Jeannie van der Hooven, the female lead on the Showtime series House of Lies. Since 2016, she has starred in the main role of Eleanor Shellstrop on the NBC comedy series The Good Place.