Vanessa Joy Minnillo (born November 9, 1980) is an American television personality, television host, model, and actress. A former Miss Teen USA, she is mostly known for hosting Total Request Live on MTV from 2003–2007 as well her past reporting as a New York-based correspondent for Entertainment Tonight.Early life:
Minnillo was born November 9 at Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Pampanga, Philippines, the daughter of Helen Berecero and Vince Minnillo, who was a U.S. Air Force Aircrew member. Her father is an American of Italian and Irish descent. Her mother is Filipino. Helen met Vince when he was based in the Philippines. Minnillo has an adopted brother, Vincent, who is two years older than she is.
As a child, Minnillo's family moved numerous times due to her father's work in the United States Air Force, including living in Washington, California, Nevada, Florida, Germany and Japan and placing Minillo in eight different schools within nine years Minillo's parents separated in 1983, divorced in 1986
Subsequent to Helen's remarriage to another United States Air Force serviceman, Vanessa and her brother moved to Turkey with their mother and stepfather. By 1990, as a result of Desert Shield, Minnillo and her brother returned to their father's home, eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina where she attended Bishop England High School and was a cheerleader. Vanessa was raised from then on by her father and his second wife Donna.
CareerBeauty pageants:
Minnillo entered the public eye as Miss South Carolina Teen USA 1998, and went on to be crowned as the winner of the 1998 Miss Teen USA pageant. She was the first delegate from South Carolina to capture the title and the first winner of the pageant to be chosen as Miss Congeniality.
She later co-hosted the Miss Teen USA 2004 pageant with Tony Potts and Miss Universe 2007 with Mario López.
Hosting:She is best known for hosting MTV's Total Request Live (TRL), 2003–2007 and as an Entertainment Tonight NYC correspondent, 2005-2007.
She hosted Miss Teen USA (2004) and co-hosted Miss Universe (2007).
Minnillo was a finalist in E!'s competition to find a replacement for Brooke Burke as host for the show Wild On losing out to Cindy Taylor.
She has hosted True Beauty, a competition in which 10 contestants competed for $100,000 and inclusion in People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People issue. The series premiered on ABC on January 5, 2009 and ended on February 23, 2009 for its first season. ABC renewed the series for a second season as a midseason replacement.
Advertising:
Since leaving MTV and Entertainment Tonight, she has been featured in a print and web-based advertising campaign for BONGO Jeans' Spring/Summer 2007 collection.
She has been the spokesperson of Flirt! Cosmetics, a line she helped create that debuted in August 2007 in Kohl's department stores.
In May 2006, Maxim magazine listed Minnillo as #15 in its Hot 100 issue.
She was on the covers of Maxim (October 2006, October 2007), Shape (March 2007) and Lucky (July 2007).
Acting:Minnillo has appeared in episodes of television series such as That's Life, City Girls, The Bold and The Beautiful and Maybe It's Me. She returned back to television as Ashlee in an episode of How I Met Your Mother in 2008 during its third season.
Vanessa made her theatrical debut in the 2007 superhero film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in a cameo as Julie Angel. The film earned a total gross of $289,047,763 and received mixed reviews. The film was a sequel to the 2004 superhero film Fantastic Four.
She later appeared in the 2008 spoof comedy Disaster Movie as the lead female Amy. The film was released on August 29, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The film had moderate box office success earning $34,624,652 worldwide. The film received extremely negative reviews, earning it six Razzie Award nominations. It currently stands at number nineteen on the IMDb Bottom 100 as of December 2009.
Minnillo was to appear in the 2009 romantic comedy Redefining Love but it was announced she was no longer attached.
On November 4, 2009, it was announced that Vanessa will star with Kim Kardashian on CBS' CSI:NY on Dec. 16 , TVGuide.com has confirmed."The ladies play two women who've managed to concoct a very interesting scheme that ends in murder," executive producer Pam Veasey tells People. They will be joined by Minnillo's former MTV colleague, LaLa Vasquez, as well as the band Train.
Personal life:After meeting Nick Lachey and starring in his music video "What's Left Of Me", the pair dated for nearly three years. Minnillo's publicist confirmed the couple's split in June 2009.
Lachey and Minnillo reconciled in the Fall of 2009.
Minnillo is fluent in English and has passing knowledge of two languages spoken in the Philippines: Kapampangan and Tagalog. She has a close relationship with her stepmother Donna Minnillo and brother Vincent.
