Chrysta Bell Zucht, known professionally by her first name Chrysta Bell (sometimes styled as ChrystaBell), is an American singer, model, and actress.
Chrysta Bell’s love for music began at home, through her mother, who is also a singer. She credits her mother for early exposure to many different genres of music and started her professional singing career at a young age as a session vocalist in a recording studio owned by her parents in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas.
After attending high school in San Antonio, she moved to Austin, Texas, and joined a well known local American swing jazz band called 8½ Souvenirs. The band was notable for its Django Reinhardt, gypsy jazz and other European influences and received some national attention after making an appearance on an Austin City Limits broadcast in April, 1998. The group was signed to the RCA Victor label when Bell was 19 years old.
In September 2011, she released a debut solo album This Train, which was co-written and produced by David Lynch and released independently through La Rose Noire Records. The album was officially re-released throughout Europe with additional bonus material on Jan 31, 2014, through the German-based label, QQ5. Lynch has called her his "muse"; she practices Transcendental Meditation.
Chrysta Bell is also an actress. She appeared in the Chinese film Once Upon a Time in China and America opposite Jet Li (for which she was credited under her birth name, Chrysta Bell Zucht), the television series Switched!, and a commercial for the Ford Motor Company. On April 25, 2016, Chrysta Bell was announced as a cast member of the continuation of the series Twin Peaks, set to air on Showtime in 2017.