Annie Karstens was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and attended Arizona School for the Arts as a member of the school's first graduating class. Annie found her second home in Phoenix at Valley Youth Theater, a community theater which also staged Emma Stone, Jordin Sparks, Chelsea Kane and other now well-known actors. Annie did dozens of plays at VYT, including Grease, West Side Story, and the title role in Anne of Green Gables. During high school, Annie somehow balanced life in the theater with several jobs, including scooping ice cream at the local mall, working in paper factory, and hostessing in a poodle skirt at a popular local 50s diner. After high school, she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and went on to pursue a career as a newspaper reporter in New York City and back in her hometown in the West Valley of Phoenix. All the while, Annie continued acting in short films and the occasional feature film within the Phoenix film community, garnering her a handful of Best Actress awards in independent film festivals. She was cast in a Principal role in Take Me Home Tonight, which shot in Phoenix, and she shortly after segued her career to Los Angeles to pursue acting full-time. It wasn't easy. Annie did the requisite jobs of waiting tables and other odd jobs to make ends meet. But slowly and surely, her passion for acting has allowed for a steadily rising career doing what she loves. She lives with her partner Steve, a motion graphics artist, and their son in Hollywood.
