Television personality and actress Vanessa Minnillo was born on November 9, 1980 at the former Clark Air Force Base in Angeles City, the Philippines. Born to a Filipina mother and an American father, who then worked for the USAF, she spent her childhood in different places around the world, due to her father’s occupation. She finally settled down, with the rest of her family—her father has since remarried after divorcing her mother—in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1990.
She entered the public eye in 1998, when she represented South Carolina in that year’s Miss Teen USA. Her run in the pageant was successful, as she was crowned Miss Teen USA; she was the first from her state to win such honors. She has since made a name for herself as a television host, first handling hosting duties for MTV’s Total Request Live from 2003 to 2007. In 2005, she also joined the team of Entertainment Tonight, acting as the news program’s New York correspondent. She also hosted the 2004 Miss Teen USA pageant, and the 2007 Miss Universe pageant. By this time, she was growing in popularity, gaining attention of the media (from showbiz magazines to men’s magazines) and viewers alike.
She left both TRL and ET in 2007 and decided to pursue an acting career. She made her film debut in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, playing a minor role; this, however, wasn’t her first acting role, appearing as early as 2001 in the daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful. She has since appeared in the parody film Disaster Movie, and confirmed her participation in the upcoming feature Redefining Love. She hasn’t left the hosting business, however; she most recently took hosting duties for the ABC reality series True Beauty, which premiered in early 2009.