There’s lots of things an actress can do during her time off, but Kristen Bell has decided to use her time to give back to those who are less fortunate.

“There’s this weird interim period between working on set as an actor where you’re reading a ton of scripts and meeting and trying to get the next job, so I’m in that cycle right now. But I’ve been doing a lot of nonprofit work for the last couple months,” Kristen told Crushable at Cosmopolitan’s Practice Safe Sun Awards today. “I went to Haiti and I’m getting involved with a couple of causes down there. Invisible Children is another charity that I work for. We’ve been trying to pass a piece of legislation for the past two years, and it passed about three weeks ago and the President has signed it, and so we could very shortly put an end to the longest running war in Africa [in Northern Uganda], which is very exciting.”

Kristen told us she even traveled to Capitol Hill to lobby for the bill, and her commitment to the cause and excitement was evident in the way she spoke animatedly about it. “It gives the government 180 days to come up with a solution to apprehend the person responsible for the war and turn him over to the International Criminal Court,” Kristen said of the bill. “It’s rare that we would intervene on foreign soil, but in this case, there’s no one defending these people. And they don’t have anything in their soil and they don’t have oil and they don’t have metals and they don’t have gold and they don’t have diamonds and they don’t have anything but their own humanity and so it’s totally important to me because it’s just people sticking up for other people.”

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Kristen Bell is “nervous” about being in love because she is such a “control freak”.

The 29-year-old actress is engaged to Dax Shepard, with the pair expected to wed later this year. Kristen is head-over-heels in love with Dax, which scares her because her emotions have past the point where she can control them.

“I think you can steer you own destiny,” she explained. “If you’re putting positive energy out there, I think that’s going to come at you most times.

“I think with love your gut tells you what to do – you don’t really control it. I’m kind of a control freak so that makes me nervous.”

Kristen is currently trying to break into feature films after a successful career in television. She is working on a musical at the moment, which she has always dreamed of doing.

“I don’t have the instinct to record an album or anything, but I do really love musical theatre,” she told Total Film magazine. “There is a deep, dorky part of me that jams in the car to any and all musical theatre possible.

“I really try to stay involved with it. I’m working on a musical of Heathers with Andy Fickman who director You Again. It’s really funny and dark and awesome.”

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Kristen Bell recently got her motorcycle license.

"It was intense," said Bell. "They assess your risk-taking skills, and they ask you a whole bunch of questions psychiatrically that would make them figure out whether or not you would blow a stop sign if no one else was around."

She passed with flying colours, but was amazed by how hard the machines are to control. Kristen loves steering them but admits they can be scary, which is why she thinks she should stick to driving cars.

“They’re hard to control. I thought I would be a lot better at it than I was, but there is something about the whole concept of the freedom of the road that’s very inspiring. But I think for now, having experienced it, I might stick with my beach cruiser. It’s a little more controllable,” she revealed. “I don’t trust myself enough to ride out into the street on my own. That’s a big machine. I’m not going to join the Hell’s Angels.”

Kristen explained a large part of the test was an assessment of her risk-taking skills. She had no problem impressing as she is very nervous of rule breaking. The 29-year-old always does what she is told, believing laws are put in place for a reason.

The star added she was amazed when she found out where her test would be taking place. “I took it in the pouring rain of a Mercedes dealership parking lot, which I thought was the most ironic place to hold it, because if I hit something, I don’t just hit a tree – I hit someone’s Mercedes,” she told the American edition of OK! magazine. “I kept it on my Flip video, which I’ll have to cherish for the rest of my life. And I took it in the pouring rain, which was very hard.”

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The 29-year-old actress is constantly working, but when she gets time off, she doesn’t follow in the footsteps of other celebrities and book a five-star overseas escape.

Instead, the blonde beauty locks herself in her Los Angeles home and simply relaxes, spending her days cooking for her family and her fiancй Dax Shepard.

“I’m a big fan of the ‘staycation’ where you lock your doors and stay at home,” Kristen laughed. “I really do like being home. I don’t even think I would want to go anywhere. I like to cook. My boyfriend and my family are nice enough to eat my food.”

Kristen recently filmed new movie When In Rome, and travelled to Italy to do so. She couldn’t believe how amazing the food there was, and is now planning to return there to take a cooking course.

“I ate my face off in Rome,” she told Total Film magazine. “I want to go to culinary school there. They have a dish called baked cheese and they just take a bunch of cheese and they bake it. I thought that was brilliant.”

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In a recent interview, Amanda Seyfried said she wasn't sure if her British beau Dominic Cooper is "the one." As it turns out, he isn't – at least for now.

PEOPLE confirms that Seyfried, 24, and Cooper, 31, are no longer dating. "Amanda and Dominic have been on and off for a while – and right now they're taking a break," a source says. "But they're great friends and could still get back together."

While Seyfried has been promoting her new movie Letters to Juliet, Cooper has been at the Cannes Film Festival, where he was spotted talking to Seyfried's former Mean Girls costar Lindsay Lohan – and even had his arm around her waist at a party.

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Amanda Seyfried talks about choosing a man over her career, fitness, life in Hollywood and a whole lot more in the June issue of Self magazine.

On her daytime TV acting: "I was bad," she says, adding, "I had no idea what was going on." She said that acting and singing lessons helped her confidence.

"Remember, nobody's perfect. In Hollywood, people may seem perfect, but that's because they spend thousands on trainers and diets and surgeries. We're made to feel as if we're supposed to look like that, but it's not realistic at all. If you have a negative body image, exercise, but not for your appearance. The main thing you can change is how you perceive yourself. Stop looking in the mirror and realize that you're living for yourself, not other people. If we're so busy trying to change ourselves, especially aesthetically, we're going to miss out on other, bigger things. When I see a scene in a movie where my belly sticks out, I'm like, That doesn't look good. But then, in a later shot, I still have a pudgy belly. What are the chances of me having a six-pack for the next movie? Slim to none. But staying in shape is healthy and important, and endorphins are a godsend!"

"I've been an up-and-comer for so long. Now everybody is telling me that I'm having "a moment." I'm like, "All right, how long does that last?" It's not always about being appreciated but about appreciating what you have. Life is like a game: If you're still working at it, then you've won. Stay on that path. Every little step you take is an accomplishment. Remember, be realistic, but don't stop being optimistic!"

"For a simple bad day, I would say go for a good coffee break with nature. I like to go hiking. Or have a drink at a friend's house. I think it's important to either be with people who love you for who you are and not what you do, or to be with yourself in a place where your existence doesn't matter much. Knowing yourself, who you are and what you want are important. I know that I need my relationships to be consistent. In a world, and especially in an industry, where things are so unreliable, the people in my life are most important. Sharing and loving and laughing and understanding with them is what makes me happy. And my dog. I feel immediately better when I pick him up."

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