Born Tara Leigh Patrick on April 20, 1972 in Sharonville, Ohio, Carmen Electra is a model, television personality and actress who shot to fame with her appearances in Playboy which lead to her role on the television series Baywatch. Today, she has several movies under her belt, such as Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, and Meet the Spartans, all parody films. The daughter of a singer and a guitarist, her mother died of a brain tumor in 1998. In the same year, her older sister Debbie died from a heart attack. Of Irish, German, and Cherokee descent, she graduated from Princeton High School in Sharonville.
When Electra first moved to California in 1994, she met musician Prince who persuaded her to change her name to Carmen Electra. The two also dated for a while. She originally wanted to audition for an all-girl rap group but Prince told her to pursue a solo career instead. She then signed a recording contract with Prince’s record label but her singing career was very short-lived.
After appearing in several television programs throughout 1995, Carmel Electra was featured in a nude Playboy pictorial. This lead to her being cast in Baywatch and Singled Out on MTV. Apparently, she was so popular with Playboy readers that she was featured in the magazine a total of three more times, twice appearing on the cover. Beginning 1997, Electra began starring in movies. Her movie credits include Good Burger, The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human, Scary Movie, Scary Movie 4, Epic Movie, Date Movie, Starsky and Hutch, and Cheaper by the Dozen. Despite constantly getting negative reviews from the critics for her acting, Electra won an MTV Movie Award for best kiss for Starsky and Hutch.
Electra’s other endeavors include a five-disc DVD exercise series, a pole-dancing kit inspired and endorsed by Carmel Electra, a comic book, several commercials, and music videos. She also gained notoriety for marrying basketball bad boy Dennis Rodman from 1998 to 1999 and a brief affair with Pamela Anderson’s former flame Tommy Lee.