Background and career
Kirsten Storms (born April 8, 1984) is an American actress. Her roles include Zenon Kar in the Zenon film trilogy, Emily in the film Johnny Tsunami, and Bonnie Rockwaller in the television series Kim Possible. Storms played Isabella "Belle" Black on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1999 to 2004, and from 2005 to 2026 she was Maxie Jones on the ABC soap opera General Hospital and its spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift.
Storms was born in Florida. She is the daughter of CBS affiliate WCPX-TV (now WKMG-TV) 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 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.
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 upset viewers at the sudden SORAS aging her casting brought to the character, Storms became popular with the viewers. Her five years on the soap opera featured her in high-profile storylines, such as the relationship with Shawn Brady, played by Jason Cook. At the end of her five-year contract, Storms 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 16, 2004.
Clubhouse was a primetime 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 was canceled after only five episodes aired. A total of 11 episodes were shot and later aired on Trio as part of its Brilliant But Cancelled series.
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 for 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. In March 2017, Soap Opera Spy reported that Storms was leaving the show for "personal reasons". She returned to General Hospital in August 2017.
