Christy Carlson Romano

Christy Carlson Romano (born March 20, 1984) is an American actress, podcaster, and singer. On the Disney Channel, she played Ren Stevens on Even Stevens and the voice of the titular character from Kim Possible.

Early life Romano was born on March 20, 1984, in Milford, Connecticut, the youngest of four children of Anthony Romano and Sharon (née Carlson). She was raised Catholic and is of Italian descent. Romano began her career at six years old upon being cast in some national tours of Broadway shows, including Annie, The Will Rogers Follies with Keith Carradine, and The Sound of Music with Marie Osmond. She made her first feature film appearance in 1996 as a singing "Chiquita Banana" in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You. She also appeared in Henry Fool (1997) and Looking for an Echo (2000).

Career

Film and television In 2002, she acted in three Disney Channel projects simultaneously, supplementing her work on Even Stevens with a starring role in Cadet Kelly, alongside Hilary Duff, and voice acting as the title character in Kim Possible. Romano was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her work on Kim Possible. The show inspired an adventure scavenger hunt activity at Disney's Epcot which ran for over five years, as well as two Disney Channel movies Kim Possible: So the Drama and Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time.

Romano voiced Yuffie Kisaragi in the English version of the movie Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, as well as in the Disney/Square game Kingdom Hearts. Throughout her teens and twenties, she starred in movies for ABC Family and Disney Channel, including Campus Confidential, Taking Five, The Cutting Edge: Going for the Gold, and The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream. Various other appearances include MTV's Kaya, CBS' Joan of Arcadia, The WB's Summerland, and TNT's Hawthorne. In 2012, she directed a music video for Steph Gold's "THE SUN" which was accepted into the Los Angeles Shorts Fest 2012. Amongst other titles, Romano has appeared in many films since her Disney days including Lifetime's Deadly Daycare, Wes Craven's The Girl in the Photographs, Loosies, and Christmas with the Andersons. In March 2016, she directed her first feature, Christmas All Over Again starring Nickelodeon's Sean Ryan Fox and YouTube star Todrick Hall; Lionsgate released the film for Christmas 2016.

Romano appeared as pop star Poppy Blu in the live action Kim Possible television movie which premiered on February 15, 2019. Starting that year, Romano started her own YouTube show called Christy's Kitchen Throwback, in which she would cook recipes with former child actors and Disney stars as guest hosts. In August 2020, it was announced that Romano would host the cooking show Bucket List Bistro for Fox.

On November 15, 2024, Fox announced that Romano was one of fifteen contestants to appear in the third season of reality quasi-military training television series Special Forces: World's Toughest Test.

Podcasts Romano hosts several podcasts. She hosts Vulnerable where she interviews former child stars. She also hosts I Hear Voices with her former Kim Possible co-star Will Friedle. She also hosts Even More Stevens with her former Even Stevens co-stars Nick Spano and Steven Anthony Lawrence.

Music While working at Disney, Romano recorded songs as part of soundtracks for Kim Possible and other Disney projects. She first sang on the Disney Channel on a musical episode of Even Stevens which led to more singing on the series and with Disney in general. In 2004, Walt Disney Records released Romano's debut album Greatest Disney TV & Film Hits, a compilation of previously released soundtrack appearances and new material. After her Broadway run of Beauty and the Beast Romano signed a record deal with Jason Flom at Atlantic Records. Flom was fired before Romano released her first album and Romano's deal was not honored. She continued to write music with Kara DioGuardi and The Matrix and placed her songs in several movies.

Other ventures

Romano made her Broadway debut in 1998 as Mary Phagan in the musical Parade by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown. In February 2004, Romano began a 31-week run as Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. Romano was the youngest actress to portray the character on Broadway. She reprised the role in Atlanta's 2005 Fox Theatre production of Beauty and the Beast. In September 2008, she joined the Broadway company of Avenue Q as Kate Monster for several weeks. Romano starred as Michelle off-Broadway in White's Lies at New World Stages in 2010, alongside Betty Buckley and Tuc Watkins.

Romano penned a novel, Grace's Turn, for Disney literary subsidiary Hyperion, which received accolades by the New York Public Library (NYPL) as the 2007 Teenage Book of the Year.

After her singing career, Romano began narrating audiobooks, including Pop Princess by Rachel Cohn, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer trilogy by Michelle Hodkin, and Beautiful Blue World by Suzanne M. LaFleur. She also narrated audiobooks To Catch a Killer by Sheryl Scarborough, Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong, Kaleidoscope Hearts by Claire Contreras, and the Adventures of Owl Series by Kristi Charish. On August 22, 2006, she published her own novel, Grace's Turn, for which she provided the narration as well.

Personal life After Even Stevens ended, Romano struggled with depression, self-harm, and alcohol abuse during her late teen years and early twenties. Her experience of playing Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway was taxing on her voice, which was already in delicate condition after she had to have surgery to remove vocal nodules right before her audition. She also admitted that she was pushing her voice past its limit to get through her run while trying to make Disney Theatrical Productions proud.

Romano later attended Barnard College in Manhattan, New York and received her degree in Film Studies. Romano and writer-producer Brendan Rooney met in February 2011 while she was studying at Barnard College. They became engaged in November and, after two years of engagement, married on December 31, 2013 at the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta. They have two daughters.

On February 7, 2025, Romano was shot in her right eye in Austin, Texas during a clay pigeon shooting outing with Rooney for his 42nd birthday, which was accidentally caused by another party. Rooney assessed the situation and had Romano taken to a hospital. Some of the shrapnel was removed, but one shotgun pellet fragment was lodged behind her eye and was left alone due to being too risky to remove. In June 2025, Romano spoke publicly about the shooting. She revealed that the fragment lodged behind her eye remained, along with another pellet fragment in her forehead.

On February 17, 2026, Romano revealed that she tested positive during a cancer screening. This is not an official cancer diagnosis, and further testing is required to definitively diagnose Romano.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1996 Everyone Says I Love You Trick-or-Treat Child 1997 Henry Fool Pearl 1999 Goosed Gail 2000 Looking for an Echo Tina Pirelli 2005 Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Yuffie Kisaragi Voice role

Television Year Title Role Notes 1996 The Many Trials of Tammy B Dani Television film 1999 Guiding Light Erica 2000–2003 Even Stevens Ren Stevens Main role 2001 B.S. Andy Brenner Television film 2002 Cadet Kelly Cadet Captain Jennifer Stone Television film 2002–2007 Kim Possible Kimberly Ann "Kim" Possible Lead voice role 2025 Special Forces: World's Toughest Test Herself Contestant in season 3 2002 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series – Leading Young Actress 2003 Young Artist Award Best Young Adult Performer in a Teenage Role The Even Stevens Movie 2005Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Performer in an Animated ProgramKim Possible