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:

“

One of the first agents I got, I told, 'When I grow up, I'm going to be on a soap opera. You can get me commercials and stuff now, but what I really want to do someday is be on a soap opera.' No one took me seriously. But I knew, even though I hadn't actually watched one, it was something I always wanted to do.

”

After visiting her father at work, Storms convinced her parents to enroll her in acting classes, leading to her discovery by a talent scout at the age of five. The talent scout suggested she be enrolled 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

"I've known since I was 5 years old that I wanted to be an actress. I've wanted to work on a soap opera for a long time, and this is like all my dreams coming true at once. I known I'll want to try other things eventually, but I'm very happy working right here."

—Storms in 2000, on her role as Belle Black.

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 viewers 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. Storms took maternity leave on January 2, 2014, and returned on April 8 of the same year.

Other work

In 2015, Storms appeared as Selene Winterthorne in the soap opera web series Winterthorne.

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 pleaded 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, which was featured in the short-lived E! Entertainment reality show Dirty Soap, which aired during the fall of 2011.

In early 2013, it was confirmed that Storms was in a relationship with her former General Hospital 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, a girl, in January 2014. On January 7, 2014, Barash confirmed on his official Twitter account that Storms had given birth to a baby girl, Harper Rose Barash. On April 6, 2016, Soap Opera Digest revealed that Brandon and Kirsten have filed for divorce after more than 2 and half years of marriage citing irreconcilable differences but they will raise their daughter together as they are splitting amicably.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Crayola Kids Adventures: The Trojan Horse	Venus	Direct-to-video
1999	Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century	Zenon Kar	Television film
	Belle's Tales of Friendship	Kirsten	Direct-to-video
	Love Letters	Teenaged Melissa	Television film
	Johnny Tsunami	Emily	Television film
2001	Zenon: The Zequel	Zenon Kar	Television film
2001-05	Express Yourself	Herself	Interstitial series
2003	Kim Possible: A Stitch in Time	Bonnie Rockwaller (voice)	Television film
2004	Zenon: Z3	Zenon Kar	Television film
2005	Kim Possible: So the Drama	Bonnie Rockwaller (voice)	Television film
2011	Nice Guys Finish Last	Hot Girl	short

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Second Noah	Ashley	2 episodes
1998	You Wish	Betsey	Episode: "All in the Family Room"
	Any Day Now	Lydia	Episode: "It's Called Depression"
	7th Heaven	Laura Cummings	3 episodes
1999	Movie Stars	Mandy Silverman	Episode: "Like Father, Like Son"
	Sing Me a Story with Belle	Kirsten	2 episodes
1999-2004	Days of Our Lives	Belle Black	Series regular
2002-07	Kim Possible	Bonnie Rockwaller (voice)	39 episodes
2003	That's So Raven	Nicki	Episode: "The Parties"
2004-05	Clubhouse	Betsey Young	11 episodes
2005	CSI: Miami	Missy Marshall	Episode: "Cop Killer"
2005-present	General Hospital	Maxie Jones	Series regular
2006	Skater Boys	Jessica Gordon	2 episodes
2007	General Hospital: Night Shift	Maxie Jones	5 episodes
2015	Winterthorne	Selene Winterthorne	1 episode

Awards and nominations

List of acting awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result	Ref.
2000	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot: Leading Young Actress	Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century	Nominated
2001	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Daytime TV Series: Young Actress	Days of Our Lives	Nominated
2001	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Child Actor	Days of our Lives	Won
2002	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Drama Series: Leading Young Actress	Days of our Lives	Won
2003	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Younger Lead Actress	Days of our Lives	Nominated
2005	Soap Opera Digest Award	Favorite Triangle	Days of our Lives	Nominated
2009	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series	General Hospital	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]