Kristen Noel Swanson (born December 19, 1969) is an American actress. She is best recognized for having played Buffy Summers in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer and appeared in the 1996 film The Phantom.^[3]

Her first starring role was in Wes Craven's horror film Deadly Friend (1986), followed by her portrayal of Catherine "Cathy" Dollanganger in the film adaptation of V. C. Andrews's Flowers in the Attic (1987). Swanson also starred in several films, including Hot Shots! (1991), Mannequin Two: On the Move (1991), The Program (1993), The Chase (1994), 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997), Big Daddy (1999), and Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), and appeared in Pretty in Pink (1986) and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986).

Swanson, born in South Laguna, California at the South Coast Community Hospital, was raised in Mission Viejo, California. by her parents Rosemary Albrecht and Robert Russell Swanson, a high school teacher.^[4] At the age of nine, she expressed interest in acting to her parents, and began pursuing roles in television commercials. She landed her first job appearing in a doll house commercial, which was followed with several more commercial appearances.^[4]

Swanson began her acting career at The Actors Workshop with R. J. Adams and promptly moved into TV advertising roles and several one-off appearances in TV series such as Cagney and Lacey and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1986, she debuted on the big screen in two John Hughes films: Pretty In Pink, in a non-speaking role, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off as a character who announces a convoluted excuse for Ferris's absence in class. Her first starring role was later in 1986, in Wes Craven's Deadly Friend as Samantha – "the girl next door." The next year she played Cathy in the adaptation of V. C. Andrews' best-seller, Flowers in the Attic.

Swanson described how she was cast in Pretty in Pink: "[Writer] John Hughes said, 'We're re-shooting the end of Pretty in Pink. I was wondering if you would come be in this scene with our main character, Ducky, because the way we tested it in the movie theater, it didn't work. We need him to end up with somebody else at the end of the movie. So would you play the part?'"^[5]

By 1990, Swanson had made many television appearances, including multiple appearances in Knots Landing (1987–1988), Nightingales (1989), her first starring role in a television series, although it only lasted a season, and a short-lived Burt Reynolds television series called B.L. Stryker (1989).

Throughout the 1990s, she starred mostly in films. She played the title role in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although not a hit at the box office originally, it had a profitable rental life. She appeared in both starring and supporting roles in films such as Hot Shots!, The Program, The Chase, and her most critically acclaimed role, playing Kristen Connor, a student discovering her sexuality, in John Singleton's Higher Learning. She also appeared in the film adaptation of the comic-book The Phantom and the dark comedy 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag with Joe Pesci. Most of these films failed at the box office and she reverted to television work, in the late 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1998–99 season of Early Edition, Swanson played Erica Paget, a love interest of the main character, Gary Hobson. In 1999, Swanson played Vanessa, the ex-girlfriend of Adam Sandler in the film Big Daddy. In 2000, she returned to a television series, as the star of Grapevine, a revamp of a 1992 TV series that was canceled after five episodes. The same year, she starred in the successful film Dude, Where's My Car?, alongside Ashton Kutcher, Seann William Scott and Jennifer Garner.

Swanson posed nude for Playboy magazine in November 2002 in a cover-featured pictorial.^[6] She appeared in and won in the 2006 Fox television program Skating with Celebrities, partnered with Lloyd Eisler.

In 2007, she became a spokesperson of the Medifast diet. In the following year, she guest-starred in three episodes of the lesbian web series 3Way.In the same year, she appeared in an episode Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

In 2021, a release date of June 15 was announced for Swanson's recent feature and a Jennifer Nichole Lee and Paul Schneider collaboration, Just Another Dream. She co-starred alongside long-time friend Dean Cain.^[7]

Swanson married her Skating with Celebrities partner Lloyd Eisler in 2009. They have a son, and two children from his previous marriage.^[8]

Swanson is a Republican.^[9] Swanson co-starred in Obamagate, a stage play that focused on Donald Trump, with Dean Cain.^[10]

In 2021, Swanson was hospitalized with COVID-19 with severe respiratory complications.^[11]

Wins

• 1989: Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Horror or Mystery Motion Picture – Flowers in the Attic
• 2019: Independent Women's Forum Annual Award Gala – Resilience Award

Nominations

• 2021: Royal Starr Film Festival for Best Feature Film – Just Another Dream
• 2012: Movieguide Awards for Most Inspirational Television Acting – A Christmas Wish
• 2011: Movieguide Awards for Most Inspiring Movie Acting – What If...
• 1992: Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Actress – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• 1988: Young Artist Award for Best Young Female Superstar in Motion Pictures – Deadly Friend
• 1987: Young Artist Award for Exceptional Young Actress Starring in a Television Special or Movie of the Week – Mr. Boogedy
• 1986: Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress – Guest in a Television Series – Cagney & Lacey episode "On the Street"