Kristin Bauer

Kristin Bauer van Straten, born Kristin Neubauer, is an American film and television actress. She is widely recognized for her television roles, including the vampire Pamela Swynford De Beaufort on the HBO fantasy drama True Blood, Jerry's girlfriend Gillian on Seinfeld, and Maleficent on the ABC series Once Upon a Time.

Bauer van Straten was born in Racine, Wisconsin, and is of German descent. Growing up, she engaged in sports, horse riding, and firing shotguns. She graduated from the Prairie School in Wind Point. In her youth, she studied fine arts at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as in Boston and at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. She later decided to pursue an acting career and moved to Los Angeles, where she has resided since beginning her acting career in 1994. Alongside acting, she continues to draw and paint, creating works that include commissioned portraits.

Her television career began taking shape in 1995 when she landed her first regular series role as Maggie Reynolds on The Crew. She went on to secure recurring roles in several other series, such as Geneva Renault in Total Security, Candy Cooper in That's Life, Rebecca Colfax in Dirty Sexy Money, and Belinda Slypich in Hidden Hills.

Over the course of her career, Bauer van Straten has appeared in numerous notable projects. She played a featured dancer in the 2000 film Dancing at the Blue Iguana, starred in the award-winning short film Room 302 in 2001, and had a minor role in the 2004 Adam Sandler film 50 First Dates. She also voiced the superhero Mera in the animated series Justice League. Her guest television appearances include shows such as L.A. Law, Everybody Loves Raymond, Dark Angel, Two and a Half Men, Star Trek: Enterprise, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Desperate Housewives, and George Lopez. In Seinfeld, she portrayed Gillian in the episode titled The Bizarro Jerry.

From 2008 to 2014, she portrayed Pamela Swynford De Beaufort on HBO's True Blood, advancing from a recurring role to a series regular in late 2009. In 2011, she was cast as the evil fairy Maleficent in the fantasy series Once Upon a Time.

In addition to her acting career, Bauer van Straten is involved in animal rights activism and environmental conservation. She partnered with the Animal Legal Defense Fund in 2011 to campaign for the release of a tiger named Tony kept at a truck stop, worked with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to promote cruelty-free cosmetics, and uses her platform to promote shelter animal adoption. She is a vegan and advocates for eco-friendly, sustainable living. On the personal front, she married musician Abri van Straten on August 1, 2009.