Vanessa Lachey

Vanessa Joy Lachey (née Minnillo; born November 9, 1980) is an American actress, beauty pageant titleholder, fashion model, and television host. She was named Miss Teen USA in 1998. She has been a New York–based correspondent for ''Entertainment Tonight'' and hosted ''Total Request Live'' on MTV. She has starred in two network sitcoms, and has hosted various competition and reality shows through the 2010s and 2020s. Lachey holds the lead role in the CBS spinoff '' NCIS: Hawaiʻi'' which premiered in September 2021.

Early life

Vanessa Joy Minnillo was born at the 13th Air Force Regional Medical Center at Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Philippines. Her father, Vincent Charles Minnillo, is an American citizen from Cleveland, Ohio, of Italian and Irish descent, while her mother, Helen Ramos Bercero, is from Manila, Philippines. Minnillo has an adopted brother who is two years older. Her father moved the family frequently because of his service in the Air Force. She lived in Washington, California, Nevada, Florida, Germany and Japan and attended eight schools in nine years. Minnillo's parents separated in 1983 and were divorced in 1986. Her mother left the family when she was nine years old.

Minnillo's parents both remarried. She and her brother Vincent Jr. relocated to Turkey with their mother and new stepfather. By 1991, in the wake of Operation Desert Shield, they returned to their father's home, eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina, where Minnillo attended the Roman Catholic Bishop England High School and was a cheerleader. From then on, she lived with her father and stepmother, Donna. She has described having "a very rocky, tumultuous childhood." She also attended Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School, in San Bernardino, California, for one year.

Career

1998–2020: Beauty pageants and television hosting

Minnillo was crowned Miss South Carolina Teen USA and went on to win the title Miss Teen USA in 1998, the first Miss Teen USA from South Carolina and also the first from South Carolina to be named the pageant's Miss Congeniality. She was a host on MTV's ''The Morning After'' (2003) and ''Total Request Live'' (2003–2007) and became a New York City Correspondent for ''Entertainment Tonight'' in 2005. She hosted '' Miss Teen USA 2004'' and ''Miss Universe 2007'' beauty pageants.

After leaving MTV and ''Entertainment Tonight'', Minnillo was featured in print and web-based advertising for Bongo Jeans' Spring/Summer 2007 collection. She launched a makeup line with Flirt! Cosmetics, which debuted in August 2007 at Kohl's department stores. In May 2006, ''Maxim'' magazine ranked Minnillo at #15 in its annual Hot 100 issue. She has been featured on the covers of numerous magazines such as ''Maxim'', ''Vegas'', ''Shape'', ''Parents'', ''People'', and '' Lucky''.

Minillo was a finalist in E!'s competition to replace Brooke Burke as host of ''Wild On!''. She also hosted ABC's television series '' True Beauty'', which premiered on January 5, 2009.The series followed 10 contestants who competed for $100,000 and to be featured in ''People'' magazine's 100 most beautiful people issue. The series was produced by Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher. ABC renewed the series for a second season, which ran from May 31, 2010, through July 19, 2010. Lachey became a co-host of ABC's game show ''Wipeout'' in December 2011.

Early in her career, she had small acting roles in numerous television shows, including '' That's Life'', ''City Girls'', ''30 Rock'', ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', ''Psych'', '' Hawaii Five-O'' and '' Maybe It's Me''. In 2008, she portrayed Ashlee in the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'', in the episode " No Tomorrow". She portrayed Amy in the parody film ''Disaster Movie'' (2008) alongside Matt Lanter, Kim Kardashian and Carmen Electra. The film was panned by critics, but it was a moderate box office success as it grossed nearly $35 million against a budget of $20 million. In 2009, Minillo and Kim Kardashian shared scenes again, this time on CBS's police procedural television series '' CSI: NY''. "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.

In 2011, Lachey had a guest role as Carmen Chao in NBC's sitcom ''30 Rock.'' She played Tracy in NBC's sitcom '' Truth Be Told'' (2015), which revolved around two diverse couples, who are best friends and neighbors. The series ended after one season on December 25, 2015. On September 6, 2017, Lachey was announced as one of the celebrities who will take part in the 25th season of ''Dancing with the Stars'', competing against her husband, Nick. She was paired with professional dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Chmerkovskiy's wife, Peta Murgatroyd, was paired with Nick. On October 30, Lachey and Chmerkovskiy became the seventh couple to be eliminated from the competition, finishing in joint seventh place.

2021–present: ''NCIS: Hawaii'' and book

On April 30, 2021, it was announced that Lachey was the first to be cast as a series regular in CBS' police procedural television series '' NCIS: Hawaii.'' Lachey joined the cast in her first leading series role as Jane Tennant, the first female Special Agent in charge of the NCIS: Pearl. It is a spin-off of the long-running series '' NCIS'', and will be the fourth series in the ''NCIS'' franchise. Filming for the series began on the North Shore of Oahu on June 16, 2021. The series debuted on September 20, 2021.

On July 14, 2021, Lachey announced that her first book entitled ''Life from Scratch: Family Traditions That Start with You'' would be released on November 16, 2021 by HarperCollins. The cookbook was written by Lachey and Dina Gachman and it includes cooking recipes, parenting tips, birthday and date night ideas and personal stories. Lachey also shared in the book how not having a relationship with her mother has impacted her approach on certain things and she had to use her own imagination to create celebrations and milestone markers that would become annual rituals for the family. "Instead of constantly saying, 'I don't have a mom to show me how to do my makeup, what not to wear, how to be a good wife or a good mom,' I said, 'You know what? I can start that for my daughter and be that positive influence," she said in an interview with ''People'' magazine in July 2021.

Personal life

In 2006, she began dating singer Nick Lachey after she appeared in the music video for his song " What's Left of Me". The couple became engaged in November 2010, and married on July 15, 2011 at Sir Richard Branson's private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands. Coincidentally, Nick and Vanessa were both born on November 9. Nick and Vanessa Lachey have three children: Camden John, Brooklyn Elisabeth, and Phoenix Robert.Multiple sources:
*Michaud, Sarah and Garcia, Jennifer
"Nick and Vanessa Lachey Welcome Son Camden John"
''People''. September 13, 2012
*
*
*
*

Filmography

As an actress

As a television personality or host

Awards and nominations

Published works

* Lachey, Vanessa: ''Life from Scratch: Family Traditions That Start with You'', HarperCollins, 2021.

See also

* Filipinos in the New York metropolitan area

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lachey, Vanessa
Nick Lachey
1980 births
Actresses from Charleston, South Carolina
American actresses of Filipino descent
American beauty pageant winners
American female models
American film actresses
American infotainers
American models of Filipino descent
American people of Irish descent
American people of Italian descent
American people of Kapampangan descent
American television hosts
American expatriates in Germany
American expatriates in Japan
Living people
1998 beauty pageant contestants
20th-century Miss Teen USA delegates
Miss Teen USA winners
People from Angeles City
VJs (media personalities)
American women television presenters