Christy Carlson Romano

Christy Carlson Romano is an American actress, podcaster, and singer. She is well known for her work on the Disney Channel, where she played Ren Stevens on the series Even Stevens, voiced the titular character in the animated series Kim Possible, and starred as Cadet Captain Stone in the television movie Cadet Kelly.

Born on March 20, 1984, in Milford, Connecticut, Romano is the youngest of four children born to Anthony Romano and Sharon Carlson. She is of Italian descent and was raised Catholic. Romano began performing at age six in national tours of Broadway musicals, including Annie, The Will Rogers Follies, and The Sound of Music. She made her feature film debut in 1996 in Everyone Says I Love You, followed by roles in Henry Fool and Looking for an Echo.

Romano achieved widespread recognition in 2002 while working on Even Stevens, Cadet Kelly, and Kim Possible simultaneously. Her voice performance in Kim Possible earned her a Daytime Emmy nomination and spawned two animated films, Kim Possible: So the Drama and Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time. Her screen credits also include television movies such as Campus Confidential, Taking Five, and The Cutting Edge sequels, alongside appearances on shows like Joan of Arcadia, Summerland, and Hawthorne. She later appeared in feature films including Loosies, The Girl in the Photographs, and the 2019 live-action Kim Possible movie. Romano made her feature directorial debut with Christmas All Over Again in 2016.

Beyond her television and film projects, Romano made her Broadway debut in 1998 in the musical Parade. In 2004, she played Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, becoming the youngest actress to play the role in that production. She later joined the Broadway cast of Avenue Q as Kate Monster and appeared in the off-Broadway production White's Lies. Romano has also hosted several digital series and podcasts, including Vulnerable, I Hear Voices, and Even More Stevens, and she launched the podcast network PodCo in 2023.

As a musical artist, Romano contributed songs to various Disney soundtracks and released the debut compilation album Greatest Disney TV & Film Hits through Walt Disney Records in 2004. She was later signed to Atlantic Records, though her planned album was not released following internal label changes. Romano has also written music for films, narrated numerous audiobooks, and authored the 2006 novel Grace's Turn, which was named the 2007 Teenage Book of the Year by the New York Public Library.

Romano earned a degree in Film Studies from Barnard College, where she met writer-producer Brendan Rooney in 2011; the couple married in 2013 and have two daughters. In recent years, Romano announced her participation as a contestant on the third season of Special Forces: World's Toughest Test and was cast in the Hallmark Channel and Disney collaboration movie Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True.