Ricki Noel Lander (born December 14, 1979) is an American actress, model, designer, and entrepreneur.
Early life and education
Lander grew up in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, and trained with the Los Angeles Classical Ballet and later toured Japan as a dancer. She graduated '' cum laude'' while attending on Academic and Artistic scholarships from
Florida International University
Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...
in Miami with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in Dance and a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
in Mass Communications. She later studied at
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and for his aptitude fo ...
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and at
Uta Hagen
Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a German-American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' by Edward Albee, who called her "a ...
’s
HB Studio
The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency progra ...
also in New York City.
Career
Television and film
She has appeared in the television shows ''
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...
'', ''
Ugly Betty
''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which was originally broadcast on ABC. It premiered on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombi ...
'', ''
Dirt
Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty.
Common types of dirt include:
* Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains
* Dust: a gener ...
'', ''The Class'' and '' Prison Break''. In 2011, she played a goblin disguised as a fairy in the fourth season opener of the HBO series ''
True Blood
''True Blood'' is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on '' The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. A reboot is currently in development.
The ser ...
'' alongside
Anna Paquin
Anna Hélène Paquin ( ; born 24 July 1982) is a New Zealand actress. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Wellington, Paquin made her acting debut portraying Flora McGrath in the romantic drama film '' The Piano'' (1993), for which she won the ...
. She completed an episode of CBS series '' Unforgettable'' and guest starred on the season 5 opener of '' Blue Bloods''. In 2008, she played a flight attendant in the blockbuster movie '' Iron Man''. Later in 2008, she starred as the lead character in ''The Harsh Life of Veronica Lambert'' (also known as ''5 Nights in Hollywood'') with
Ed O'Ross
Ed O'Ross (born Edward Orss; July 5, 1949) is an American actor. Some of his prominent roles are as Itchy in '' Dick Tracy'', Colonel Perry in '' Universal Soldier'', Lt. Touchdown in '' Full Metal Jacket'', ruthless Georgian mobster Viktor Ros ...
Elena Satine
Elena Satine (born November 24, 1987) is a Georgian-American actress and singer. On television, she has been featured as a series regular on the Starz period drama '' Magic City'' (2012–2013), the ABC drama ''Revenge'' (2014–2015), and the ...
. In 2013, she appeared in the Farrelly Brothers Comedy ''
Movie 43
''Movie 43'' is a 2013 American anthology comedy film conceived by producer Charles B. Wessler. The film features fourteen different storylines, each one by a different director, including Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, Steve Carr, Rusty Cundie ...
''; where she was cast in the segment 'Truth or Dare' playing the nurse to Halle Berry's character. Her most recent role was in 2015 in ''
Ant-Man
Ant-Man is the name of several superheroes appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, Ant-Man's first appearance was in ''Tales to Astonish'' #27 (January 1962) but first appeared in cost ...
'' with
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame i ...
.
She works as correspondent for the exploration series ''The Travel Detective'' alongside travel guru
Peter Greenberg
Peter S. Greenberg (born January 20) is an American journalist. He is the CBS News Travel Editor, reporting regularly on ''The Early Show'', its replacement ''CBS This Morning'', and the ''CBS Evening News''. He may be best known as the Travel ...
. In 2014 she served as a correspondent and producer on the PBS documentary ''Israel: The Royal Tour'', filming and narrating behind-the-scenes footage with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
and First Lady
Sara Netanyahu
Sara Netanyahu ( he, שרה נתניהו; ''née'' Ben-Artzi; born 5 November 1958) is the wife of former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. By profession, she is an educational and career psychologist.
Fashion
While pursuing her acting career, Lander spent several years under contract with
Ford Models
Ford Models, originally the Ford Modeling Agency, is an American international modeling agency based in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford.
Company
Ford Models was started in 1946 by Eileen ...
, shooting for a variety of brands and publications.
Starting in January 2014, sports e-commerce conglomerate
Fanatics
Fanaticism (from the Latin adverb ''fānāticē'' ren-''fānāticus''; enthusiastic, ecstatic; raging, fanatical, furious is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal or an obsessive enthusiasm.
Definitions
Philosopher George Santayana ...
and FansEdge began retailing a collection of women's fangear for College, MLB, NHL, NBA, and NFL designed by Lander called ''Let Loose By RNL.''
Philanthropy
Lander formerly served on the Board of Directors for the
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...
and the Board of Trustees for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. In 2016 she co-chaired the New York City Ballet Fall Fashion Gala along with fellow hosts Sarah Jessica Parker and Daisy Maeda.
Personal life
In 2012, Lander began dating the American billionaire and business magnate
Robert Kraft
Robert Kenneth Kraft (born June 5, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment ...
, the chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group. In July 2012, Kraft assisted Lander in creating an audition video for a role in ''
The Internship
''The Internship'' is a 2013 American comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, written by Vince Vaughn and Jared Stern, and produced by Vaughn and Levy. The film stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as recently laid-off salesmen who attempt to compete ...
'', a film with
Vince Vaughn
Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor.
Vaughn began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 comedy-drama film '' Swingers''. He has appeared in ...
and
Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and '' The Royal ...
, and the video was posted on the internet. Kraft said, "I never intended that it would be made public and I regret that it has."
Lander gave birth to a child in the fall of 2017. While there was speculation that Kraft was the father, he denied paternity of the child when the birth was announced in March 2018. Lander and Kraft broke up in 2018.