Bio
Kristin Bauer van Straten is an American actress best known for her role as Nico, a porn star, in the 2000 feature film Dancing at the Blue Iguana; and for her role as Fangtasia co-owner Pam in the horror drama television series True Blood, from 2008-2014.
Born and raised in Racine County, Wisconsin, Kristin had an idyllic childhood centered around nature and animals. In junior high, she became interested in the arts, specifically drawing.
Being done with academics, after graduation she compiled a portfolio and applied to fine arts school in St. Louis, Boston and New York, of which she attended all three. In 1993, Bauer decided to pursue a career in acting and moved to Los Angeles, California.
While juggling her various odd jobs, she was asked to become part of a movie which earned her more in a day than she was getting in a month.
She still continued drawing and painting while she began appearing on television and in film during the mid-'90s, making her small screen debut in a 1994 episode of L.A. Law. Her first major television break came the following year when she was hired to portray flight attendant Maggie Reynolds on the FOX comedy The Crew, which lasted for one season.
In 1996, Kristin appeared in one of her most memorable guest roles as "Man Hands" Gillian, Jerry's girlfriend, on Seinfeld.
Throughout the years, she has played a few other series regular characters including the Geneva Renault, the buxom secretary of a high-tech security agency, on the short-lived action drama Total Security; Candy Cooper in the CBS family drama That's Life; and the sexy, softball "porn mom" on the NBC comedy Hidden Hills.
In 2008, Alan Ball tapped her to co-manage the vampire bar Fangtasia with formidable Viking Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) on HBO's original drama True Blood.
Today she lives in Los Angeles with her musician husband Abri van Straten and two rescued dogs. She splits her time between shooting, painting and trying to bring light to things that should not be happening.
She works with IFAW, The Amanda Foundation and other charities. Nature and animals are her greatest passion as they "Have always given selflessly to me, so much more than I ever could have dreamed or given back. Mother nature is the greatest, most magical artist I have ever seen."