American actress Leslie Bibb was born on November 17, 1974 in Bismarck, North Dakota. She began her showbiz career as a model, when she, then age 16, was selected as a winner of a nationwide modeling search on The Oprah Winfrey Show. After finishing her junior year at the Saint Gertrude High School in Richmond, Virginia, she signed a modeling contract in New York City and modeled internationally over the summer, before resuming her studies. She dropped out of the University of Virginina after a semester to give full attention to her modeling career, appearing in different magazine spreads. She also trained in acting at the William Esper Acting Studio.
Bibb made her screen debut in 1996, as a guest on the television series Pacific Blue. She made her feature film debut in 1997, where she portrayed a tour guide in Howard Stern’s autobiographical film Private Parts. She got her first regular television role on the same year, when she replaced Susan Walters in the second season of the comedy The Big Easy. In 1999, Bibb got her major break, playing the lead in the teenage drama Popular. She played Brooke McQueen, the most popular girl in her school who, despite her successes, deals with her unresolved grief over her mother leaving her as a child, as well as with bulimia. The second season ended in a violent cliffhanger, with Brooke being run over; it would turn out to be the series’ finale, as it was cancelled in 2001.
The show’s success gave Bibb roles in more prominent films, such as The Skulls and See Spot Run. After guest roles in ER, Line of Fire and CSI: Miami, she was given a recurring role as Detective Lu Simmons in the crime drama Crossing Jordan, until her character was killed off in the show’s sixth season. She most recently appeared in the films The Midnight Meat Man, Trick ‘r Treat and Iron Man.