Kristen Alderson

Kristen DeAnn Alderson, born May 29, 1991, in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, is an American actress and singer who began performing at the age of five. She is the older sister of actor Eddie Alderson, who portrayed Matthew Buchanan on One Life to Live from 2001 to 2012. Alderson grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and attended Catholic school through seventh grade before transitioning to on-set tutoring during eighth grade. She and her brother later attended a performing arts high school in New York.

Alderson's introduction to performing came when her dance class appeared on Al Alberts Showcase, a locally televised talent show. She was subsequently selected to appear on the series individually each week. An agent who observed one of those performances encouraged her to audition for the Broadway production of Annie, and she was cast in the role of Molly, replacing Christiana Anbri. Her Broadway appearance came in 1997, and she went on to play the same role in a national tour of the musical. Her path to Annie had been shaped in part by a film about the making of the show, which had originally inspired her to pursue acting.

In February 1998, Alderson auditioned for the role of Starr Manning on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live, replacing Meghan Rayder. She was six years old when she won the part, with her first airdate on March 20, 1998. The role began as a recurring one before Alderson was placed on contract in April 2001. She won a Soap Opera Digest Award for Favorite Teen in 2005 for her work on the series. In 2006, she contributed the song "Valentine" to One Life: Many Voices for Hurricane Relief, an album recorded by One Life to Live cast members to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina. That same year she performed on A Holiday Affair, a collection of classic holiday songs by ABC soap opera actors, contributing "Sleigh Ride" as well as the ensemble closing track "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." The album was promoted through a SoapNet special titled A Very Soapy Christmas. Alderson also participated in musical episodes of One Life to Live, including "Babes Behind Bars," "Prom Night: The Musical," and "Starr X'd Lovers," and appeared in television commercials for JC Penney, Citgo, and Soap Network.

Following ABC's April 2011 announcement that One Life to Live would be cancelled, the series finished filming on November 18, 2011. Alderson and her brother declined offers to reprise their roles in an online revival of the show and instead relocated to Los Angeles. On January 11, 2012, it was announced that Alderson would join General Hospital alongside former One Life to Live co-stars Kassie DePaiva, Michael Easton, and Roger Howarth, reprising their respective roles. Alderson's first airdate on General Hospital was February 24, 2012. In March 2013, a legal dispute between ABC and Prospect Park, the company producing the online revival of One Life to Live, prevented General Hospital from continuing to use characters owned by Prospect Park. Alderson's final airdate as Starr Manning was March 20, 2013. She debuted as the new character Kiki Jerome on May 13, 2013, originating that role on the series.

In 2013, Alderson received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Starr on General Hospital. She received nominations in the same category in both 2014 and 2015 for her work as Kiki Jerome. On September 24, 2013, she was honored as "The Star of Tomorrow" by the ZEPHRA Magazine Recognition Awards, and the city of West Hollywood issued a proclamation in her honor. On October 26, 2014, she performed the national anthem at the University of Phoenix Stadium during a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Arizona Cardinals. Alderson chose not to renew her General Hospital contract, with her final airdate as Kiki Jerome on February 16, 2015. The role was subsequently recast with Hayley Erin.

Outside of daytime television, Alderson appeared as Lexi Jules in the Eleventh Hour episode "Agro" in 2008 and as Taisiya Seaver in the Hawthorne episode "Trust Me" in 2009. In April 2018, she starred as Cindy Lou in the Off-Broadway production of The Marvelous Wonderettes at Theatre Row in New York. In 2019, she was cast in the title role of the film The Glorious Resurrection of Claire Owens, and in 2020 she appeared in the pilot episode of Mélange, a series set in the 1980s.

Beginning in April 2022, Alderson starred in Newsical at the Majestic Repertory Theatre in Las Vegas alongside her partner, Taylor Crousore. The production subsequently played at the V Theater in November 2022, the Garner Galleria Theatre in Denver in September 2022, and Off-Broadway at the AMT Theater in New York in March 2023. In February 2024, she starred as Ashley Burke in the Lifetime film The Man in the Guest House. In 2023, Alderson and Crousore launched a podcast called Expecting You, focused on preparing for the birth of their first child. Crousore proposed to Alderson in July 2023 at Pier 84 at Hudson River Park, the location of their first meeting. Alderson announced her pregnancy in September 2023, and the couple welcomed a daughter in January 2024.