Issue Date: February 26, 2006
She came from Mars
Kristen Bell has built a solid fan baseas the sassy sleuth in TV's "Veronica Mars." Next up: She heads for the big screen.
By Michele Hatty
"I've been cracking my knuckles under the table the whole time we've been talking," Kristen Bell, 25, reveals toward the end of an hour-long lunch amid the palm and lemon trees at Beverly Hills' swanky Four Seasons Hotel. As she pushes her hands forward to demonstrate the myriad ways she's able to manipulate the knuckles on her small fingers, it's clear this rapidly rising star doesn't take herself too seriously.
Bell, who burst into pop culture's consciousness as the ingenue star of UPN's Nancy Drew-meets-"90210" drama "Veronica Mars" (Wednesdays, 9 p.m. ET) in the fall of 2004, has quickly distinguished herself from the standard pack of blond Hollywood starlets. As the show's title character, she brings a mixture of warmth, playfulness and vulnerability to the small screen.
"I don't think there's anything tougher than being the single lead of a drama, because you just work non-stop," says "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas. "And she constantly delivers."
The show follows popular-girl-turned-loner Veronica as she solves crimes -- her dad is a private eye, and sleuthing seems to run in the family -- while trying to get through high school.
"What I love is that it shows kids that the loser can be the cool person," Bell says emphatically. "High school is not the be-all, end-all of the world."
Just before Bell entered her freshman year, her parents decided to take her out of the public school system and send her to a Catholic high school. "I thought my life was over," she says. "I don't know that I've had such a drastic thought since that day in eighth grade when they told me. And I said to my mom -- she quotes me on this all the time -- 'I'm never going to make another friend.' And I believed it!"
Luckily, that was not the case. Instead, the actress sailed through high school (her classmates even voted her "best looking"), and she still keeps up with many of her high school friends.
Now Bell, who got her start at 19 performing on and off Broadway to glowing reviews in shows such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "The Crucible" and "Reefer Madness," is taking her chance on the big screen. She'll star in Pulse, a remake of a Japanese horror flick, due in July.
The film follows Bell as her character, Mattie, tries to uncover why a friend committed suicide. It's a dark premise, but one that intrigued the young actress: "The cool thing about Japanese horror movies is that they don't base themselves on showing blood and guts. It is much more of a mind game and harder to figure out."
The film also skewers our modern-day addiction to high-tech communication, something even Bell cops to: "My life is in my Sidekick. I don't enjoy the fact that I need it so much. But I do. I need it. I text message all day."
She does not, however, visit any of the many fan sites on the Web dedicated to "Veronica Mars." "I'm scared that they're going to say something bad about me, because I'm very insecure," she admits with a little laugh.
Maybe so, but Bell comes across as confident. She chats unselfconsciously about everything from her favorite lip balm ("Rosebud Salve, the one in the little blue tin. I keep it everywhere -- my car, [my boyfriend's] car, every purse I own ...") and her hockey addiction ("I'm from Detroit; it's in your blood!") to her next role ("I just read for a serial killer. Who knows if I'll get it. But it was interesting.") and her so-called "dark side" ("The first 10 minutes after I wake up, I'm pretty wretched. I don't like to talk. And I "have" to have my coffee. That's when I am probably unapproachable.").
Mornings aside, you won't hear Bell complain about her life. "I totally have days when I'll cry because I'm sad, or I'll be ungrateful for an hour or two. And then I'll slap myself and say, 'OK, but in the grand scheme of things, you work on a TV show, so shut up!' " she says. "I'm the luckiest girl in the world."
Go to top
Kristen Makes A Difference
While growing up in suburban Detroit, Kristen Bell took care of a steady stream of foster dogs, providing a temporary home for shelter animals so they wouldn't have to spend long stretches of time in kennels. Now she's using her celebrity status to champion the Helen Woodward Animal Center, a national rescue shelter for dogs and cats. At the San Diego-area chapter, Bell urges others to adopt and is an adoptive mom herself to three dogs: Lola, a corgi-chow mix; Shakey, a corgi-Chihuahua mix; and Sadie, a black Labrador who survived Hurricane Katrina. "Nobody wanted her, but I did. She's a mess, but she is wonderful," she says.
|
