VANESSA MINNILLO BIOGRAPHY

VANESSA MINNILLO PROFILE

Name : Vanessa Minnillo
Date of Birth : 9 November 1980, Clark Air Force Base, Philippines
Birth Name : Vanessa Joy Minnillo
Nickname : Nessa
Height : 5' 7" (1.70 m)

Vanessa Minnillo Biography

Vanessa Minnillo (full name Vanessa Joy Minnillo) was born on November 9, 1980 in Clark Air Base, Angeles City, Philippines. By winning titles at Miss Teen South Carolina and Miss Teen USA she became a television personality.

Career :
Her father was an Air Force Aircrew Member when he met his future wife, a Polynesian. When she was born the family already had an adopted son, two years older than her.In 1986 her parents divorced and the children remained with her mother.

Soon they moved to Turkey because their mother remarried and the new husband was Turkish. In 1990 they came back to the United States and Helen, her mother, said she was leaving only for a short period of time, but she never came back.In 1996 she participated at Miss South Carolina beauty pageant and won the competition. This wasn't the only beauty contest won. Another was the title at Miss Teen USA in 1998.She participated at the competition for the job of host of 'Wild On' and was one of the finalists, but unfortunately didn't win. She was also the judge at Miss Teen USA pageant in 2003.
"The Bold and the Beautiful", "City Guys", "That's Life" and "Maybe It's Me" are movies in which she was seen before the contract with MTV. Being the host of MTV's TRL brought her a lot of fame.BONGO Jeans chose her to represent them in the Spring/Summer 2007 advertising campaign.

Trivia :
- Height: 170 cm
- In the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list she was placed on the 62nd place and in Maxim's Hot 100 list of 2006 on the 15th place.
- Her parents' names are Vincent Minnillo and Helen Berecero and beside her, they have an adopted son, Vincent.
- She has Polynesian, Irish and Italian origins.

Filmography :
- The Greatest Commercials: Super Bowl vs the World (2005) (TV)
- MTV Prom Date (2004) TV Series (2004)
- The Miss Teen USA Pageant (2004) (TV)
- 2 Punk Rock 4 This: The Real World San Diego Reunion (2004) (TV)
- The Break (2003) (TV)
- Beat Seekers (2002) TV Series (unknown episodes)
- Maybe It's Me (1 episode, 2002)
- That's Life (1 episode, 2001)
- City Guys (1 episode, 2001).

Self Filmography :
- Entertainment Tonight (15 episodes, 2005-2007)
- MTV Goes Gold: New Year's Eve 2007 (2007) (TV)
- MTV Video Music Awards 2006 (2006) (TV)
- Howard Stern on Demand (1 episode, 2006)
- High School Stories (1 episode, 2006)
- Live with Regis and Kathie Lee (1 episode, 2005)
- Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out (1 episode)
- Live 8 (2005) (TV)
- The Andy Milonakis Show (1 episode, 2005)
- The View (1 episode, 2005)
- The Tony Danza Show (1 episode, 2005)
- The Shady National Convention (2004) (TV)
- Good Day Live (1 episode, 2004)
- Never Before Scene (1 episode, 2004)
- Spring Break Celebrity Fantasies (2004) (TV)
- Total Request Live (1998) TV Series (unknown episodes, 2003)
- Miss Teen USA (2003) (TV)
- Morning After (2003) TV Series
- The 50th Annual Miss USA Pageant (2001) (TV).

Vanessa Minnillo was born on November 9, 1980, at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. Her father, Vince Minnillo, was an Air Force Aircrew Member (now retired) of Irish and Italian extraction, and her mother, Helen Berecero, a Filipina he met while based in the Philippines. She and her family, which includes a two-years older brother, Vincent, lived in California, Nevada, Florida, Germany, and Japan before settling down in Charleston, South Carolina. Vanessa attended seven different schools during this time, and participated in cheer leading and volunteer work for numerous different local charities.

After her parents divorce in 1986, Helen was awarded custody of both children and Vanessa only saw her father on weekends. When her mother remarried, the family moved to Turkey, where her new stepfather, a U.S. Air Force Serviceman, was assigned. They were forced to evacuate when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to the Gulf War of 1991, and Helen brought the kids back to the United States, leaving them with their father until she could get back on her feet. That would be the last Vanessa would see of her mother, who never returned. Instead, she began a new life, along with her brother, living with her father Vince and his new wife, Donna, whom she now calls her "best friend".

With her life more settled, Vanessa began to turn her attention to the Miss South Carolina beauty pageant in 1996. She had loved cheer leading since she was a young child, and was very keen on performing in front of an audience. With her unaffected style and natural ebullience, she easily won over the judges, sweeping all the categories before winning the crown. Two years later, on August 17, 1998, she competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant. Though it was preempted by CBS's live coverage of a speech by President Bill Clinton regarding the Monica Lewinsky ordeal, in the end, she wooed the Miss Teen USA judges just like she had the Miss South Carolina judges two years earlier. It was her second pageant, and her second victory. In the three years since handing over her Miss Teen USA crown, Miss Minnillo has concentrated on college, acting, and modeling. She has a promising future, and was recently one of the finalists in E!'s competition to find a replacement for Brooke Burke as hostess for the show "Wild On..." (1997). Though the job ultimately went to Cindy Taylor, Vanessa made a big impression with "Wild On..." (1997) fans across the world, and hopes to continue working in television for some time to come.|source|