Vanessa Minnillo - Wolfgang's Steakhouse

Vanessa Joy Minnillo (born November 9, 1980) is an American television personality, television host, model, and actress. A former Miss Teen USA, she has been a New York-based correspondent for Entertainment Tonight and a host of Total Request Live on MTV.

Minnillo was born November 9, 1980 at Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Pampanga, Philippines. At the time, her father, Vince Minnillo, was a member of the U.S. Air Force, stationed in the Philippine Her father is an American of Italian and Irish descent, and her mother, the former Helen Bercero, is a Filipina from the province of Pampanga on the island of Luzon. Minnillo has an adopted brother, Vincent, who is two years older than she.

As a child, Minnillo's family moved frequently, because of her father's service in the Air Force. She lived in Washington, California, Nevada, Florida, Germany and Japan and attended eight different schools in nine years. Minillo's parents separated in 1983 and divorced in 1986.

After her mother's remarriage, Minnillo and her brother moved to Turkey with their mother and new stepfather. By 1990, in the wake of Operation Desert Shield, Minnillo and her brother returned to their father's home, eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina, where Vanessa Minnillo attended Bishop England High School and was a cheerleader. From then on, she lived with her father and his second wife, Donna.

She also attended Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School, located in San Bernardino, California, for one year.

Minnillo's first fame came in 1998. She was first crowned Miss South Carolina Teen USA and went on to win the title Miss Teen USA 1998. She was the first Miss Teen USA from South Carolina and the first from the state to be named the pageant's Miss Congeniality.

Hosting

The pageants served as a springboard to wider fame. She was a host on MTV's Total Request Live (TRL), from 2003 to 2007) and became a New York City correspondent for Entertainment Tonight in 2005.

She hosted Miss Teen USA (2004) and co-hosted Miss Universe (2007).

Minnillo was a finalist in E!'s competition to replace Brooke Burke as host of Wild On.

She hosts True Beauty, a competition in which 10 contestants vie for $100,000 and inclusion in People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People issue. The series premiered on ABC on January 5, 2009, with a first season that ran through February 23, 2009. ABC renewed the series for a second season which ran from May 31, 2010 through July 19, 2010.

Advertising

After leaving MTV and Entertainment Tonight, Minnillo was been featured in print and web-based advertising for BONGO Jeans' Spring/Summer 2007 collection.

She has been spokeswoman for Flirt! Cosmetics, a line she helped create. Flirt! debuted in August 2007, in Kohl's department stores.

In May 2006, Maxim magazine ranked Minnillo #15 in its annual Hot 100 issue.

She has been featured on the covers of Maxim (October 2005, October 2006), Shape (March 2007), and Lucky (July 2007).

Acting

Minnillo has appeared in episodes of television series such as That's Life, City Girls, The Bold and The Beautiful and Maybe It's Me. In 2008, she played Ashlee in an episode of How I Met Your Mother.

She later co-starred in the 2008 comedy Disaster Movie, a spoof of big-budget, Hollywood disaster movies. Released on August 29, 2008, the film had moderate box office success, earning $34,624,652 worldwide. The film received extremely negative reviews, earning it six Razzie Award nominations. In December 2009, it currently stands at number nineteen on the IMDb Bottom 100 as of December 2009.

Minnillo was to appear in the 2009 romantic comedy Redefining Love but it was announced[by whom?] she was no longer attached.

In November 2009, Vanessa was announced to guest-star alongside Disaster Movie Star Kim Kardashian on CBS's CSI:NY confirmed by TVGuide.com. "The ladies (Vanessa and Kim) portray two women who've managed to concoct a very interesting scheme that ends in murder," confirmed executive producer Pam Veasey who told People Magazine. They will also star alongside Minilla's former MTV colleague and close friend, La La Vasquez as well as the band Train.