Vanessa Minnillo

Vanessa Minnillo Biography

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The beginnings
Vanessa Joy Minnillo, nicknamed "Nessa", was born on November 9th, 1980 at Clark Air Force Base in Pampanga, Philippines. Her father, an air force crew member of Irish and Italian extraction met her mother, a Filipina, while based in the Philippines. As a child, her family moved a lot, causing Vanessa to attend 7 different schools, where she participated in cheer leading and volunteer work for numerous different local charities. Vanessa is fluent in English and has passive knowledge of two Philippine languages, namely Tagalog and Kapampangan.

Her Career
V. Minnillo was the winner of Miss South Carolina Teen USA in 1996 where she swept all categories with her unaffected style and natural ebullience. Minnillo went on to win the 1998 Miss Teen USA Pageant and named Miss Congeniality, receiving the highest score in the Interview, Swimsuit, and Evening Gown categories. Minnillo also served as co-host for "Miss Teen USA” in 2004, a judge in 2003 and was a backstage correspondent for "The 50th Annual Miss USA Pageant" in 2001.

Vanessa Minnillo was a co host on MTV for TRL from 2003 to 2005 playing videos from the likes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. In addition to being a MTV VJ, Minnillo has hosted a variety of MTV specials such as "MTV Prom Date" (2004) & "Spring Break Celebrity Fantasies" (2004). While at MTV, she interviewed several high profile celebrities like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, The Rock, Kayne West, Jeff Probst, Good Charlotte, Anthony Anderson and Michael Clarke Duncan.

Among other jobs Vanessa was host to other shows as well as the UK crossover hit "Top of the Pops" for The WB , the live finale of UPN's "The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott.", "The Greatest Commercials: Super Bowl vs the World", and many many other.

For the past years, she has served a New York based reported and correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. She reports on the hottest news regarding music, film, television and fashion while covering and interviewing the hottest stars such as Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

Did you know that Minnillo has appeared on a lot of television sitcoms such as WB's "Maybe it's Me" (2002), "The Break" (2003), CBS's "That's Life" (2001) and NBC's "City Guys" (2001). Minnillo was one of the last participants in a competition to find a replacement for Brooke Burke.

She was the cover girl of Maxim magazine in their October 2005 and 2006 issues and was listed at #15 in their Hot 100 issue (#62 in 2005). She has just signed onto a supporting role in the upcoming sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer, staring Jessica Alba, where she'll play the love interest of the Human Torch.

Personal Life
Vanessa currently lives in the beautiful New York City where her interest includes playing flag football, volleyball and tennis. Vanessa has been romantically linked to Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (Nov 2003 to Jan 2006) and is currently dating singer Nick Lachey where she is featured in the music video of his song "What's Left of Me".