KRISTEN BELL - Living by Her Own Rules

THE SELF-DESCRIBED NURTURER TALKS ABOUT HER THEATER BEGINNINGS, GRAVITATING TOWARD JOYFUL PROJECTS AND WHY SHE ALWAYS PUTS FAMILY BEFORE WORK.

- GILLIAN TELLING

Kristen Bell's life these days is centered on her family. She only chooses roles that film close to home, and her weekends are usually spent with husband Dax Shepard, 49, and their kids Lincoln, 11, and Delta, 9, playing pickleball on the court they "drew" on their driveway. "It is getting used, let me just say," Bell shares.

The actress is enjoying moments like these because "time is the only nonrenewable resource I have," she says. A few years ago she deliberately stepped back from the spotlight after getting "so tired" of performing.

"I've been practicing trying to say no, and it's very hard.

I have to remember that if you're saying yes, that time is expensive because it's coming from somewhere else." Bell was finally ready to end her hiatus and feel the "electricity" of being in front of the camera again when she found something worth the expense: The star is returning to the small screen on the new Netflix rom-com series Nobody Wants This, opposite Adam Brody. She says the reason was simple: "If it's funny enough and seems like it'd be fun to shoot, it's like, 'Let's do it.' As much as she considers herself a "people pleaser," Bell, 44, is no wallflower. At 15, the Michigan-raised actress fell in love with theater in high school. "I'd found my people," she says.