Carmen Electra



Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), better known by her stage name Carmen Electra,[1]  is an American glamour model, actress, television personality, singer, and dancer. She gained fame for her appearances in Playboy magazine, on the MTV game show Singled Out, on the TV series Baywatch, and dancing with the Pussycat Dolls, and has since had roles in the parody films Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and Disaster Movie.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Early life 
 * 2 Career
 * 3 Personal life
 * 3.1 Charity work
 * 4 Credits
 * 4.1 Discography
 * 4.2 Filmography
 * 4.3 Videography
 * 5 Trivia
 * 6 References
 * 7 External links

Early life
Carmen Electra was born in Sharonville, Ohio near Cincinnati to Harry Patrick, a guitarist and entertainer, and his wife Patricia (d. 1998), a singer.[2] [3]  The youngest of six children (four brothers and one sister, plus her),[4]  Electra attended Ann Weigel Elementary School and studied dance under Gloria J. Simpson at Dance Artists studio in Western Hills until age nine, when she enrolled in the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA), a magnet arts school in the Cincinnati Public School District.[5]  There, she was an older classmate of Nick Lachey, with whom she appeared in a production of Peter Pan.[6] [7]  Electra, who told People Magazine in 1997 that she'd "wanted to dance on Broadway," graduated from Princeton High School in Sharonville in 1990, having transferred there from SCPA two years prior.[8] [9]

Electra has Irish, German and Cherokee ancestry,[10]  and was incredibly close to her family. She said of her mother, "My mom was my rock," and described her older sister Debbie as being "like a second mother to me." [11]  After Debbie moved to Illinois, Electra said her life "revolved around my mom. She was my best friend, in my life 24/7 whether I wanted her there or not."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Glamour_11-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11]

Career
<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Electra started her professional career in 1990 as a dancer at Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio, in the show "It's Magic", one of the more popular shows in the park's history.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12] In 1991, she moved to California and met Prince. Soon after, Electra signed a recording contract with Prince's Paisley Park Records and began a short-lived singing career. During her time at Paisley Park Records, she officially became known as Carmen Electra. Carmen Electra attending the L.A. Fitness Expo, Los Angeles, CA on January 29, 2011<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">In 1995, Electra started appearing in television shows. In May 1996, she was featured in a nude pictorial in Playboy magazine, the first of several. This exposure led to higher profile television appearances, including Baywatch (cast member in 1997–1998, as Leilani "Lani" McKenzie) and MTV's Singled Out. She returned to Baywatch for the 2003 reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Electra was featured in Playboy four more times: June 1997, December 2000, April 2003, and the January 2009 anniversary issue. She was on the cover of the last three of these issues.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Electra has appeared in films including American Vampire (1997), Good Burger (1997), The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999), the horror spoofScary Movie (2000), Meet the Spartans (2008), Scary Movie 4 (2006), Epic Movie (2007), Date Movie (2006), Disaster Movie (2008), the remake of the 1970s TV show Starsky & Hutch (2004) and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. She won an MTV Movie Award (best kiss) for Starsky & Hutch. She also appeared in an episode ofHouse (series 1, ep. 21), in which she portrayed herself as an injured golfer and an injured farmer, playing out House's fantasy.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">In 1999, she appeared in the Bloodhound Gang's music video of "The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dope". In 2005, she joined the voice cast of the animated series Tripping the Rift, replacing Gina Gershon as the voice of the sexy android "Six". Also in 2005, she began the Naked Women's Wrestling League, acting as the commissioner for the professional wrestling promotion.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  In late 2006, Electra began to be featured in commercials by Taco Bell.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Electra's video game work includes appearing as characters in Def Jam: Fight for New York and is one of the celebrity challenges in the video game ESPN NFL 2K5. Electra has produced exercise videos and equipment. Her Carmen Electra Aerobic Striptease is a five-disc DVD series that combines teaching classic stripping moves with a low impact cardio workout, which also stars Jon Eby. She also endorses the Electra Pole, a pole dancing kit released in January 2008. In 1997, Electra modeled for the covers of the comic books Razor and the Ladies of London Night by London Night Studios.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14] Electra appeared in commercials for Maxim Men's Hair Color products (2004–2005). In 2006, Electra signed on as the spokesmodel for Ritz Camera Centers, appearing in their television and print ads with CEO David Ritz. She is featured in some video spoofs of lonelygirl15 that advertised Epic Movie.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]  That same year she appeared as the face and spokesperson for Max Factor cosmetics in their television and print ads.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16]  In 2007, Electra became a published author with the release of her book, How to Be Sexy.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[17]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Electra appeared as a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 on July 6, 2011. She appeared along with regular series judges Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy and fellow guest judge Travis Wall. In 2012, Electra joinedBritain's Got Talent as a guest judge for the auditions staged in London, she acted as a replacement for Amanda Holden, who was absent due to complications following child birth.

Personal life
<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">In the 1990s, Carmen Electra was romantically linked with musicians Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-bio_18-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18]  In 1998, Electra was dating NBA star Dennis Rodman when in August her mother and sister died within weeks of each other.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-yahoo.21_6-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]  She and Rodman wed in November 1998 at Little Chapel of the Flowers in Las Vegas, Nevada.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[19] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20]  Nine days later, Rodman filed for annulment, claiming he was of "unsound mind" when the pair wed.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[22] Electra explained, "It's easy to get caught up in a moment. You think it's romantic, but then you realize, God, we did it in Vegas? It's like getting a cheeseburger at a fast-food restaurant."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-people_bio_8-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  The couple reconciled and celebrated New Year's Eve together, but four months later they mutually agreed to end their marriage in April 1999 under "amicable circumstances."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-people_bio_8-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Five years later, Electra gave an interview to Glamour in which she admitted that she married Rodman in 1998 in direct response to the numbing emotional pain and personal tragedy she experienced losing her older sister Debbie and mother in rapid succession that August: <p style="line-height:1.5em;">I was just going through the motions. I was completely numb. At the time, I was dating Dennis Rodman. He was such a fun person to be around, and we went out every night. I remember thinking, this is my out. I'm just going to have fun, and I'm not going to worry about anything. Right after my mom and sister died, I flew to Las Vegas and Dennis and I got married. I guess I was trying to cling to whatever I had. I'd lost my mom and my sister; I didn't want to lose anyone else. We were married for about five months. When I started going through some really hard times with Dennis, I became addicted to feeling that pain instead of dealing with my feelings about my mom and sister. But at some point, I realized I had to stop blaming him. So I got out of my marriage and started reading a lot of self-help books and watching Oprah [Winfrey]. And one day Oprah said, In order to heal, you have to feel. At that moment I realized I wasn't letting myself feel what I needed to.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Glamour_11-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11] <p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">On November 22, 2003, Electra married Dave Navarro, lead guitarist for the rock band Jane's Addiction. The couple documented their courtship and marriage in an MTV reality television show called 'Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen and Dave.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[24]  On July 17, 2006, she and Navarro announced their separation, and Electra filed for divorce on August 10, 2006; it was finalized on February 20, 2007.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[25] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[26]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">In April 2008, Electra's representative confirmed that she was engaged to Rob Patterson, a member of the nu metal band Otep and hard rock band Filter.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27]  Despite remaining engaged for several years,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[28]  the couple did not wed and in 2012, she appeared as one of the celebrity bachelorettes on the TV dating show The Choice.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[29]  Electra briefly dated Simon Cowell from December 2012 to February 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[30]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Electra is godmother to Lyrik London, the son of actor Jeremy London and his estranged wife Melissa Cunningham.

Charity work
<p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Carmen Electra organized a fundraiser for Head to Hollywood, a non-profit organization which offers support to brain tumor survivors.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-31" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[31]  Other charities which she supports include Elevate Hope,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-32" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[32]  a charity which supports abused and abandoned children, and the HollyRod Foundation, which provides medical, physical, and emotional support to those suffering from debilitating life circumstances, especially Parkinson's disease.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-33" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[33]

Discography

 * Carmen Electra, 1993

Videography

 * Erotic Confessions (1996) – Manager – 1 episode: "At the tone"
 * Baywatch Nights (1996) – Candy – 1 episode: "Epilogue"
 * Good Burger (1997) – Roxanne
 * All That (1997) – Sue – 1 episode: "Ed gets married"
 * Pacific Blue (1997) – Lani McKenzie – 1 episode: "Heartbeat"
 * Singled Out (host in 1997)
 * Loveline (host in 1997)
 * Baywatch (cast member from 1997–1998)
 * Just Shoot Me! (1997) – Herself – 1 episode: "King Lear Jet"
 * Hyperion Bay (cast member 1998)
 * VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock (host in 2000)
 * Off Centre (guest star as herself in two episodes) (2002)
 * Electra's Guy (2002)
 * Carmen and Dave: An MTV Love Story (2002)
 * The Simpsons – The Frying Game (2002)
 * Cleavage (narrator in 2002)
 * Livin' Large (2002–2004) (frequent host throughout run)
 * BattleBots (host in 2002)
 * Dance Fever (2003) (canceled after 6 episodes)
 * Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003)
 * 'Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen and Dave (2004) (limited run of 7 episodes)
 * Monster Island (2004)
 * Summerland as Mona (2004)
 * Mr. Monk and the Panic Room (2004)
 * Rent Control (filmed in 2003; premiered on ABC Family in 2005) – Audrey
 * Manhunt: The Search for America's Most Gorgeous Male Model (2004–2005)
 * Tripping the Rift (cast member in 2005) (voice)
 * American Dad! as Lisa Silver (1 episode)
 * House M.D. ("Three Stories" (Season 1, Episode 21)) (as herself twice, first being a replacement for Gregory House in the third story then as a farmer from the first story because "If we're gonna look at a leg...")
 * Lolo's Cafe (2006) (voice)
 * Full Frontal Fashion (2007 guest host)
 * Joey (TV series) (guest star as herself in two episodes, one of each season)
 * ChartBlast hosts the chartshow on MTV Live HD and MTV Italy since 2008
 * Perfect Catch host, the reality E! UK TV show 2009

Trivia

 * An extinct species of fly was named Carmenelectra shechisme in honor of Electra's "splendid somal structure" in 2002.