Bell took to the instrument but had an otherwise normal Indiana childhood, playing video games and excelling at sports, especially tennis and bowling.

[6] His second was Mimi Zweig, and his third the violinist and pedagog Josef Gingold, who accepted Bell as a student after his parents assured him that they were not interested in pushing their son to be a star but simply wanted him to have the best teacher for his abilities.

He performed the solo part on John Corigliano's Oscar-winning soundtrack to the film The Red Violin and was featured in Ladies in Lavender.

[citation needed] Bell's instrument is the Gibson ex Huberman, a Stradivarius made in 1713 during what is known as Stradivari's "Golden Era".

The violin was stolen twice from its previous owner, Bronisław Huberman; the final time, the thief confessed to the act on his deathbed.

[12] Bell had played the violin; its owner at the time, violinist Norbert Brainin, jokingly told him that it could be his for $4 million.

Bell served as artistic partner for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 2004 until 2007, and as a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He also serves on the artists' selection committee for the Kennedy Center Honors and is an adjunct associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

[19][20][21] Bell collaborated with Hans Zimmer by providing violin solos for the soundtrack of the 2009 film Angels & Demons, based on Dan Brown's 2000 novel of the same name.

[citation needed] In May 2011, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) named Bell its music director.

Written by J. Ralph for the documentary Chasing Ice, it received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

[40][41] On October 5, 2019, Bell married opera singer Larisa Martinez at their home in Mount Kisco, New York.