Celebrity crush: Kristen Bell (revised)

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Today's revised entry features an actress whose career has taken her to a level of fame higher than most others on this list, but I'll keep on revising it because I have been a fan of hers since pretty early on (Veronica Mars and Spartan, specifically).

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Name: Kristen Bell (images -- some NSFW due to tacky fake nudes | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: The Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods, Mich., according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Honestly? It seems she's best known for appearing in frothy romantic comedies where Katherine Heigl could just as easily play the same role, and as the uncredited narrator of Gossip Girl, when her talent could be put to so much more.

Kristen played the title character on Veronica Mars for three years and recurred in two seasons of Heroes as a girl with the power to emit electric blasts (hence my calling her Electronica Mars). She also guested in a single episode of the wonderfully cast Everwood (which had celebrity crushes Emily VanCamp and Sarah Drew as co-stars, and recurring roles by fellow crushes Sarah Lancaster and Nora Zehetner).

Appearing nude in the defunct Jane magazine, which did
an annual "People We Want to See Naked Right Now"
issue as a service to the community.

In film, she's also played a president's kidnapped daughter in the David Mamet film Spartan, a fangirl in the comedy Fanboys, the spoiled actress title character in the more poignant than expected Forgetting Sarah Marshall (reprising the role briefly in Get Him to the Greek), and a clean-cut young woman who ends up in Satan's thrall after sampling marijuana in Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (based on a stage show in which she'd also appeared).

Humble Beginnings: Spartan and Veronica Mars -- especially the latter -- put her on the map starting in 2004. But other works before then that merit mention include a traumatizing guest appearance on The Shield and a two-episode turn on Deadwood as a young con artist. She also did a few made-for-TV movies early on, such as Gracie's Choice, based on a true story of a teen who sought emancipation to raise her siblings after their mother proved not up to the task.
Obligatory Edgy Stuff: That covered-up nude photo from Jane magazine posted above is about it. She seems very well-adjusted, a self-described "serial monogamist" (proof that monogamy is hot!) who is engaged to Parenthood co-star Dax Shepard, a vegetarian and pet lover.

In Fanboys.

Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: She's a great actress willing to make an ass of herself if the role requires it -- her character on Heroes was as snarky as Veronica Mars but unhinged, even sadistic at times, and Sarah Marshall was a manipulative train wreck -- but she also has an ability to go from wisecracking to utter nerves of steel in a heartbeat. Kristen has a great set of pipes, too, as shown on Veronica Mars and in Reefer Madness -- and a great voice that stands on its own, as shown on Gossip Girl.

If that Justice League movie ever happens, and Serinda Swan is
not available, I vote Kristen Bell for the role of Zatanna.

And she rocks the pink bikini pretty well, too.
TV and Web series credits: Party Down, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Party Down, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Heroes, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * Heroes, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Veronica Mars, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * Veronica Mars, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Punk'd, season 6, episode 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Veronica Mars, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Deadwood, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Everwood, season 2: "Extra Ordinary" (Amazon | iTunes) * The O'Keefes (2003) (Amazon | iTunes) * American Dreams, season 1: "Act of Contrition" (Amazon | iTunes) * The Shield, season 2: "The Quick Fix" (Amazon | iTunes)

Voice work, narration and music: Gossip Girl, season 5 (Amazon | iTunes) * Gossip Girl, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010 video game) (Amazon) * Astro Boy vs. the Junkyard Pirates (2010 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Gossip Girl, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * Assassin's Creed II (2009 video game) (Amazon) * Astro Boy: The Video Game (2009) (Amazon) * Astro Boy (2009) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Cleveland Show, season 1: "Da Doggone Daddy-Daughter Dinner Dance" (Amazon | iTunes) * Gossip Girl, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2008 deluxe soundtrack) (Amazon | iTunes) * Gossip Girl, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Assassin's Creed (2007 video game) (Amazon) * The Cat Returns (2002 anime) (Amazon | iTunes)

Music videos: "Madder Red" by Yeasayer (iTunes) * "No Sleep Tonight" by The Faders (iTunes)
Film and TV-movie credits: Dance of the Merlitons (Amazon | iTunes) * Safety Not Guaranteed (Amazon | iTunes) * House of Lies (2011 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Movie 43 (Amazon | iTunes) * Everybody Loves Whales (Amazon | iTunes) * Scream 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Burlesque (2010) (Amazon | iTunes) * You Again (2010) (Amazon | iTunes) * Lost Masterpieces of Pornography (2010 short) (Funny or Die) * Get Him to the Greek (Amazon | iTunes) * When in Rome (2010) (Amazon | iTunes) * Couples Retreat (Amazon | iTunes) * Serious Moonlight (Amazon | iTunes) * Fanboys (Amazon | iTunes) * Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Amazon | iTunes) * Flatland: The Movie (2007 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Roman (2006) (Amazon | iTunes) * Pulse (2006) (Amazon | iTunes) * Fifty Pills (Amazon | iTunes) * The Receipt (2005 short) (Amazon | iTunes) * Deepwater (Amazon | iTunes) * Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (Amazon | iTunes) * Last Days of America (Amazon | iTunes) * Spartan (2004) (Amazon | iTunes) * Gracie's Choice (2004 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay (2003 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * People Are Dead (Amazon | iTunes) * Pootie Tang (Amazon | iTunes) * Polish Wedding (1998) (Amazon | iTunes)