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Saturday, July 30, 2011
Vanessa Minnillo was born on 9th November 1980 at Clark Air Force Base in the Pampanga, Philippines, Minnillo’s mother was a Philippino native who married Minnillo’s father, a USAF aircrew member, while he was stationed at Clark. The couple separated when the youngster was only six, with her mother gaining custody of her and her older adopted brother, Vince.
After the mother remarried another serviceman, the family moved to Turkey. It was the last time that Minnillo and her brother would live with their mother, as she returned her children to their father in Charleston, SC, following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait. The young girl spent the rest of her childhood in Charleston with her father and stepmother, remaining understandably estranged.
Minnillo decided on a change of plans. Instead of going directly to college, she opted to move to Los Angeles in search of the ubiquitous fame and fortune. Her camera-friendly face got her small jobs as host on Fox Sports and a short stint on the soap opera “The Bold and The Beautiful” (CBS 1987- ). In 2003, she began her all important relationship with MTV, following an appearance on “Beach House 2003.
One “ET” assignment in particular put her on the non-MTV radar – donning a fat suit under the pretense of shining a spotlight on what overweight people go through each day out on the street. Minnillo, who was apparently unaware of the cruelty of others, was said to have felt shocked and horrified when people sneered at her or simply ignored her. In an ironic twist, that same year Maxim magazine named Minnillo #62 on their Hot 100 List.
Olivia Wilde was born on 10th March 1984 in New York City, New York, USA. Who later adopted her acting surname from playwright Oscar Wilde - was raised in Washington D.C. by her father, Andrew, a former National Geographic reporter and author, and her mother, Leslie, a journalist, author and producer for "60 Minutes" (CBS, 1968- ).
Her sister Chloe was a writer, while her grandfather, James Helvick (a.k.a. Claud Cockburn), and her two uncles, Alexander and Patrick Cockburn, were also journalists. Not interested in the family business, Wilde wanted to do act. After graduating from the Georgetown Day School in D.C.
She landed the lead in her first television series, "Skin" (Fox, 2003), a modern day take on "Romeo and Juliette" in which she played the sultry daughter of an adult film producer (Ron Silver) who falls for the son (D.J. Cotrona) of an anti-porn district attorney (Kevin Anderson).
Following a supporting turn in the mildly received Paul Haggis thriller "The Next Three Days" (2010), Wilde played a denizen of an Old West town beset by a surprising alien invasion in the sci-fi/Western hybrid "Cowboys & Aliens" (2011).
Kirstie Alley was born on 12th January 1951, in Wichita, KS. She lived a typical Middle American childhood. Her father Robert owned a lumber company and her mother Lillian was a homemaker to her and her two siblings.
She tried college, dropping out of both Kansas State University and the University of Kansas before deciding what she really wanted to do was act. She moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, working as an interior decorator, while at the same time, going out on auditions, albeit with little success.
She auditioned for game shows. She appeared on "Match Game" (CBS, 1973-1982) in 1979 and "Password Plus" (NBC, 1979-1982) in 1980, impressing producers and the audience with her quick wit and dark girl-next-door good looks.
Jerry Seinfeld-produced matrimonial reality/game show "The Marriage Ref" (NBC, 2009- ). In a move that was sure to endear her to even more fans, as well as burn many a calorie, in February 2011 Alley joined the celebrity cast as a contestant on the 12th season of Dancing with the Stars.
