Kirsten Storms Biography

Kirsten Renee Storms (born April 8, 1984) is an American actress. She played Isabella "Belle" Black on the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives from 1999 to 2004. In 2005, Storms was cast as the character Maxie Jones on the ABC soap opera General Hospital and its spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift. She departed the series in September 2011 upon being diagnosed with endometriosis and was replaced in the role by Jen Lilley. After nearly a year off-screen, Storms returned as Maxie on September 5, 2012.

Early life and career

Storms was born in Orlando, Florida. She has a younger sister named Gretchen, a brother named Austin and a stepbrother named Chris. She is the daughter of Karen Storms and CBS affiliate sportscaster Mike Storms. According to Storms, she always knew she wanted to be a soap opera actress. At age five she announced:

After visiting her father at work, Storms convinced her parents to enroll her in acting classes, leading to her being discovered by a talent scout at the age of five. The talent scout suggested she be enrolled their child in an intensive children's acting camp in the Catskills, New York.

Storms' first role was a commercial for Galoob Baby Doll. After appearing in a handful of other commercials, her television career included a recurring role on ABC's Second Noah plus a lead role in Sing Me a Story with Belle. At age twelve, she moved with her family to Los Angeles, California. Soon after that, she landed the recurring role of Laura Cummings on The WB's long-running program 7th Heaven. She appeared in three episodes between 1998 and 2001, in which she played a girlfriend of Simon (played by David Gallagher). She was later chosen to play the title character in Disney Channel's original movie Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. The movie had the largest rating for any Disney Channel original movie at the time. She later reprised the role in two more sequels. Storms continued to appear in a string of family shows and television movies, including The Trojan Horse, a Hallmark production. She also took a supporting role in Disney's Johnny Tsunami and voiced Bonnie Rockwaller in the Disney Channel animated series Kim Possible.

Television

Days of our Lives

On August 5, 1999, Storms signed on to play Isabella "Belle" Black on the NBC daytime drama Days of our Lives. Although she initially faced viewer upset at the sudden SORAS aging her casting brought to the character, Storms soon was popular with the audience. Her five years on the soap opera would feature her in many high profile storylines, such as the popular relationship with Shawn Brady, played by Jason Cook, as Storms' character was promoted heavily as a major character within the show.

At the end of her five-year contract, Kirsten opted to not renew her contract with the series, one reason being her pilot had been picked up for the primetime show Clubhouse. Her final episode aired on July 15, 2004.

Clubhouse

Clubhouse was a prime-time television series that aired on CBS starting the fall of 2004, created by Daniel Cerone and produced by Aaron Spelling. The series revolved around Pete Young (Jeremy Sumpter) and his dream of becoming a professional baseball player. Storms played Pete's sister, Betsy. Unlike the innocent character of Belle that Kirsten had just left, Betsy was a rebellious teenager often finding herself in trouble over such issues as sex, drugs, and alcohol. Storms embraced the new role, stating, "I can relate to a lot of things Betsy does. I've sat and talked with the executive producer about my first tattoo and the first time I ever had a drink of alcohol, things that she's going to be experiencing too." The show ended up being cancelled after 5 episodes. It shot 11 episodes, and can be viewed on "Brilliant, But Cancelled" on cable TV.

General Hospital

Storms returned to familiar territory on May 23, 2005, becoming the third actress to portray Mariah Maximiliana "Maxie" Jones on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. In 2008, Storms was reunited with Jason Cook, who joined the soap as Matt Hunter. She received an Emmy nomination for her role in 2009.

Storms vacated the role in fall 2011 due to medical reasons, later revealed to be endometriosis. She was temporarily replaced with Jen Lilley, and originally scheduled to return to work in February 2012. Her illness prevented her from returning on time, and Lilley was kept on for the foreseeable future. In July 2012, it was announced that Storms would return to the series. On September 5, 2012, Storms reprised the role of Maxie on-screen.

Personal life

On September 7, 2007, Storms was pulled over on a Los Angeles freeway by California Highway Patrol for tossing a lit cigarette out of the window of her Mercedes. After failing sobriety tests, she was arrested for a DUI. Her blood alcohol content was measured at 0.13, above the California legal limit of 0.08. In November 2007, she pled no contest to the charges and was ordered to attend twelve Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, complete a 90-day alcohol program, and pay $1,643 in fines. She also had her license suspended for six months and was placed on three years probation.

Storms is close friends with General Hospital co-star Kelly Monaco, featured in the E! Entertainment reality show Dirty Soap, which debuted on September 25, 2011. In early 2013, it was confirmed that Storms was in a relationship with co-star, Brandon Barash. In August 2013, the couple confirmed to People that they had secretly wed in June, and were expecting their first child in January 2014.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
Film
1997	Crayola Kids Adventures: The Trojan Horse	Aphrodite	Video
1999	Belle's Tales of Friendship	Kirsten	Video
2003	Kim Possible: The Secret Files	Bonnie Rockwaller (voice)	Video
2011	Nice Guys Finish Last	Hot Girl	Short film
Television
1996	Second Noah	Ashley	Episode: "Julio Is My Dad" Episode: "A Dog's Life"
1996	'	Kid #2	Episode: "Pilot"
1998	You Wish	Betsy	Episode: "All in the Family Room"
1998	Any Day Now	Lydia	Episode: "It's Called Depression"
1998	7th Heaven	Laura Cummings	Episode: "It Takes a Village" Episode: "It Takes Two, Baby"
1999	Sing Me a Story with Belle	Kirsten	TV series
1999	Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century	Zenon Kar	TV movie
1999	Love Letters	Teenaged Melissa	TV movie
1999	'	Raped Girl (uncredited)	TV movie
1999	Johnny Tsunami	Emily	TV movie
1999	Movie Stars	Mandy Silverman	Episode: "Like Father, Like Son"
1999"2004	Days of our Lives	Belle Black	408 episodes
2001	Zenon: The Zequel	Zenon Kar	TV movie
2001	7th Heaven	Laura Cummings	Episode: "One Hundred"
2002"07	Kim Possible	Bonnie Rockwaller (voice)	39 episodes
2003	That's So Raven	Nicki	Episode: "The Parties"
2003	Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time	Bonnie Rockwaller (voice)	TV movie
2004	Zenon: Z3	Zenon Kar	TV movie
2004"05	Clubhouse	Betsy Young	11 episodes
2005	CSI: Miami	Missy Marshall	Episode: "Cop Killer"
2005	Kim Possible: So the Drama	Bonnie Rockwaller (voice)	TV movie
2005"11, 2012"?	General Hospital	Maxie Jones	692+ episodes
2006	Skater Boys	Jessica Gordon	Episode: "Sundown" Episode: "Band of Gold"
2007	General Hospital: Night Shift	Maxie Jones	5 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work	Result	Ref
2000	Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot: Leading Young Actress	Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
2001	Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Daytime TV Series: Young Actress	Days of our Lives
	Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Child Actor
2002	Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Drama Series: Leading Young Actress
2003	Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress
2005	Soap Opera Digest Award for Favorite Triangle (shared with Charity Rahmer, Martha Madison, Kyle Brandt and Jason Cook)
2009	Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series	General Hospital