Kristen Anderson-Lopez

Kristen Anderson-Lopez, born March 21, 1972, is an American songwriter, lyricist, and Broadway book writer whose work spans stage, film, and television. She is best known for collaborating with her husband, composer and lyricist Robert Lopez, on the songs for the 2013 Disney animated film Frozen and its 2019 sequel Frozen II. Her Broadway credits include In Transit and Frozen, and she has received a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre (2018) as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Book of a Musical (2011).

Anderson-Lopez grew up in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, until 1986, then in the Myers Park neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, and later in Waxhaw, North Carolina, from 1990 onward. Her father took her to see a U.S. Bicentennial musical tribute in Croton-on-Hudson when she was four years old, an experience he credits with sparking her love of theater. She attended Charlotte Country Day School before enrolling at Williams College in western Massachusetts, where she double-majored in drama and psychology and graduated in 1994. Following a theater internship in Florida, she spent several years working temporary jobs in New York City while pursuing a career as a Broadway performer. In 1999, she enrolled in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, where she discovered her vocation as a lyricist and met Robert Lopez. The two married in October 2003 and have two daughters, Katie and Annie, both of whom contributed voice work to Frozen. Anderson-Lopez's sister, Kate Anderson, co-wrote the songs for Olaf's Frozen Adventure.

Anderson-Lopez's stage career began to take shape through her collaborations with Lopez on songs for children's television programs, including Wonder Pets on Nick Jr. and Bear in the Big Blue House on the Disney Channel. In 2006, the couple wrote the songs for the Walt Disney World production Finding Nemo – The Musical. Anderson-Lopez is the co-creator of the a cappella musical In Transit, which was developed at the O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference and ran Off-Broadway at the 59E59 Theatre from September 21 to October 30, 2010. That production received the 2011 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble and earned nominations for the 2011 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and the 2011 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical. In Transit transferred to Broadway, opening at the Circle in the Square Theatre in November 2016 under the direction and choreography of Kathleen Marshall. She and Lopez also co-created the romantic stage musical Up Here, which debuted in 2015 alongside collaborator Alex Timbers. Her work for young audiences includes musical adaptations for Theatreworks USA, among them Diary of a Worm, Fancy Nancy, and Condensed Classics. Anderson-Lopez additionally worked with Lopez on the Disney Theatrical Productions stage adaptation of Frozen, for which Jennifer Lee wrote the book.

In film, Anderson-Lopez and Lopez contributed songs to the 2011 Disney feature Winnie the Pooh alongside Henry Jackman, earning an Annie Award nomination for Best Music in a Feature Production; Anderson-Lopez also provided the voice of Kanga in that film. Their songs for Frozen, including "Let It Go," brought Anderson-Lopez an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards and two Grammy Awards at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. The couple returned for Frozen II, and Anderson-Lopez can be heard singing Elsa's part in the outtake track "I Seek the Truth" from that film's soundtrack. For the 2017 Pixar film Coco, Anderson-Lopez and Lopez wrote songs and lyrics, including "Remember Me," which earned Anderson-Lopez an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 90th Academy Awards and an Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production.

Anderson-Lopez and Lopez extended their collaboration to television with the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe series WandaVision, for which they wrote and produced music including multiple title theme songs modeled on classic American sitcoms and the song "Agatha All Along." In 2024, the pair returned to write multiple versions of "The Ballad of the Witches' Road" for the WandaVision spin-off series Agatha All Along. Anderson-Lopez is signed to Disney Music Publishing.