Carmen Electra

Carmen Electra

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Birth name: Tara Leigh Patrick
Date of birth: 20 April 1972
Place of birth: Sharonville, Ohio, USA
Nickname: Carmen
Height: 5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
Spouse: David M. Navarro (22 November 2003 – 20 February 2007) (divorced), Dennis Rodman (14 November 1998 – 6 April 1999) (divorced)

Famous Quote: “I’m more attracted to a stronger man rather than a feminine man. Someone who would just throw me down and take control. I love feeling helpless. I definitely like a man who is aggressive and confident.”

Contact Address and Autograph: Addresses and fan mail information

Carmen Electra
United Talent Agency
9560 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 500. Beverly Hills, CA 90212-2401, USA 

Biography:  Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, television personality, dancer, singer, actress and sex symbol. She gained fame for her appearances in Playboy magazine, on the MTV game show Singled Out, and on the TV series Baywatch, and has since become recognizable for her roles in the films Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans.

A stunning, sexy star with an enviable array of dance moves who has built an increasingly high-profile career primarily on her considerable erotic appeal while maintaining a nice-girl-next-door persona, Carmen Electra effectively transformed herself from pop star protégé and Playboy model into a pop culture phenomenon.

The petite brunette with the arresting eyes was born Tara Patrick in the suburbs of Cincinnati and began preparing for show biz early, taking dance classes as early as age five and dreaming of hoofing on Broadway. He parents supported her by enrolling her in a performing arts school, and immediately upon her graduation in 1990 she relocated to Los Angeles. Dancing in an L.A. nightclub she caught the eye of a talent scout and landed an audition with the hugely successful pop singer Prince (actually, at that point, the Artist Formally Known as Prince), who was looking to assemble an all-girl rap group for his record label. Although he didn’t tap her for the group, Prince later wrote a song for her demo album and rechristened her as Carmen Electra (“You look like a Carmen,” he told her, reportedly thinking of the Bizet opera and adding the heroine of the Greek tragedy as her new surname). Although she flopped with her eponymous 1992 debut album (produced by her purple-minded mentor) but later scored in 1996 by baring it all for the pages of Playboy and racking up guest spots on several TV series, including a stint on “Baywatch Nights.”

Patrick was born in Sharonville, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), the daughter of Patricia, a singer, and Harry Patrick, an entertainer and guitarist. Her mother died of a brain tumor in 1998. Her older sister Debbie died from a heart attack, also in 1998. Tara graduated from Princeton High School in Sharonville. She has Irish, German, and Cherokee ancestry.

After succeeding raucous former Playmate Jenny McCarthy as co-host of MTV’s popular dating game show “Singled Out” in the spring of 1997 (she also had a brief stint co-hosting the video network’s late night sex and dating advice show “Loveline” that same year, she was tapped to fill the void left by a departing Pamela Anderson on the syndicated “Baywatch” that fall, sizzling in her red bathing suit for one season as Lani McKensie, despite some swimming difficulties. While “Baywatch” prompted Electra’s pop cultural “babe quotient” go through the roof, the overcrowded cast left little room for Electra the actress to hone her performing skills. After leaving the series, she would go on to guest star—often as herself—in several popular TV series, including “The Simpsons,” “Just Shoot Me,” “The Drew Carey Show” and “Mad TV.” She also starred in her first film, the C-grade thriller “The Chosen One: Legend of the Raven” (1998) as a Native American (Electra is of Irish, German, and Cherokee descent) whose is possessed by a supernatural force of good, unleashing powers and an unquenchable sexual energy–Despite its many flaws, the film made the most of Electra’s gift for gyration and her decided lack of inhibition when it came to nudity.

Patrick moved to California in 1991, where she met Prince while auditioning for an all-girl rap group. Prince persuaded her to change her name to Carmen Electra and instead record a solo album. Soon after, she signed a recording contract with Prince’s company Paisley Park Records, marking the start of a short-lived singing career.

In 1995, Electra started appearing in various television programs. Then, in May of 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 from 1997-1998) and MTV’s Singled Out. She returned to Baywatch for the 2003 reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

Electra became so popular among readers of Playboy that she was featured in the magazine three more times, with her second appearance in June 1997. She subsequently graced the cover twice, in December 2000 and April 2003. In the Playboy Cyber Club, she was the first woman invited to be a celebrity guest photographer; she chose Playmate Jennifer Walcott as her subject model.

Electra has appeared in several films, such as Good Burger (1997), The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999), the horror spoof Scary Movie (2000) and also appeared in Scary Movie 4 (2006), Epic Movie (2007), Date Movie (2006), 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. Her acting work is generally panned by critics.

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. In late 2006, Carmen began to be featured in commercials by Taco Bell.

By 1998, Electra had veered into Zsa Zsa Gabor territory as a Hollywood persona that was known less for her body of work than her body, becoming a regular fixture on the covers and in photo layouts of the then-fresh wave of “laddie” magazines such as Maxim, Stuff and FHM. When her clothes were kept on, her outlandish wardrobe and heavy makeup frequently landed her on many publications’ worst-dressed lists. However, that year her erratic, on-again, off-again relationship with the outlandish and eccentric NBA star Dennis Rodman would earn her the most notoriety: the couple was married in a spur-of-the-moment Las Vegas ceremony, but days later Rodman announced he was intoxicated at the time and filed for an annulment. The couple subsequently reconciled but then had a very public physical altercation that resulted in their arrests in Miami and the ultimate dissolution of their five-month union, which had been a staple of many a late night talk show monologue.

As her personal life turned into a media circus, her professional life was gaining momentum: In an attempt to save the struggling “Hyperion Bay” series, The WB brought Electra aboard in January 1999 as a cutthroat, eager-to-claw-her-way-to-the-top vixen, moving away from the earnest exploration of thorny relationship issues in favor of lots of lingerie (and an occasional plot). Her efforts, however, were in vain as the network ceased production on the series after the producers fulfilled the initial order. She also appeared opposite Mackenzie Astin in the little seen but surprisingly entertaining indie comedy “The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human” (1999) as part of a couple whose relationship is studied by alien observers. The actress would be cast in her most high-profile role–one which showcased her willingness to tweak her own image–when she played a lingerie-clad slasher victim Drew Decker (a satire of Drew Barrymore’s “Scream” role) in the comedy “Scary Movie” (2000). She also appeared in a trimmed-down cameo as the whip-wielding dominatrix Mistress Moira in the teen-skewing comedy “Get Over It” (2001).

Roles in a slate of lesser films—”Sol Goode” (2001), “Whacked!” (2002), “Rent Control” (2002) and the long-delayed bomb “My Boss’ Daughter” (2003), which was released solely because of Ashton Kutcher’s burgeoning popularity—followed before the actress spent a season as a sideline correspondent on Comedy Central’s robot vs. robot competition “Battlebots” in 2002. She again donned her red swimsuit for the reunion telepic “Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding” (NBC, 2003), posed for a second top-selling Playboy shoot and had a cameo as a Hollywood celebrity in “Uptown Girls” (2003). Meanwhile, she continued to generate interest in her personal life, with a lengthy and public engagement to Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chilli Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro (the couple married in November 2003, with the entire wedding process and ceremony filmed for broadcast by MTV on the 2004 series “Till Death Do Us Part”), a glamorous makeover, her own strip aerobics DVD and a headlining association with the hot Hollywood dance troupe the Pussycat Dolls, a retro-burlesque-style collection of the music industry’s top dancers, choreographers and celebrity guest performers (including Christina Applegate, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Charlize Theron, Jaime Pressly and Pamela Anderson).

Next for the actress was a turn opposite Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in the 2004 big-screen comedy version of the 1970s cop drama “Starsky & Hutch.” After voicing Honeysack in the cheapie animated comedy, “Lil’ Pimp” (2005), and appearing in the little known romantic comedy “Dirty Love” (2005), Electra joined the original cast for the sequel, “Cheaper By the Dozen” (2005), starring Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt as the overburdened parents of a family of twelve. Meanwhile, she spent 2005 working on more projects, including “Nothing But the Truth” (lensed 2005), a teenage comedy about a 17-year-old habitual liar who wakes up one day to suddenly discover all his lies have come true, and, of course, “Scary Movie 4” (2006), the latest installment to the inexplicably successful horror-comedy franchise, supplying a bit of toilet humor in a spoof on M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village” (2004). 

Electra is the current 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 are advertising Epic Movie. She is a playable character in the video game Def Jam: Fight for New York and is one of the celebrity challenges in the video game ESPN NFL 2K5, along with Steve-O, Jamie Kennedy and others.

Electra portrayed Velvita, a.k.a. lonelygirl362436, as a spoof of lonelygirl15 as an Epic Movie teaser. Carmen Electra Aerobic Striptease is a five-disc DVD exercise series that combines teaching classic stripping moves with a low impact cardio workout also starring Jon Eby.

Released in January 2008, the Electra-Pole is a pole dancing kit inspired and endorsed by Carmen Electra that users can assemble in their home in 5-minutes. Suitable for all levels of dancer from beginners to professionals, it is stable enough to support any pole dancing move, including flips and inverts.

Embrace is a comic book putatively written by Electra for London Night Studios. “Glam Slam Ulysses” Interactive Musical Theatrical Production,” conceived by Prince, choreographed by Jamie King. Debuted at Prince’s legendary Glam Slam L.A. nightclub.

Electra also appeared in commercials for Maxim Men’s Hair Color products (2004-2005) and Taco Bell (2006-2007). She also appeared in an episode of “House” where she portrayed an injured golfer and an injured farmer, playing out House’s fantasy.

Electra’s first rock and pop star relationship was with Prince, though the relationship was short lived. Electra was previously romantically involved with rap star B-Real of Cypress Hill from 1995 to 1998. It was revealed when B-Real and Electra were both on The Howard Stern Show that B-Real had bought her breast implants.

Electra achieved publicity during her on-again, off-again marriage to basketball star Dennis Rodman from 1998 to 1999. The wedding to Rodman took place at Little Chapel of the Flowers in Las Vegas, Nevada. Later, she had a brief affair with Tommy Lee, the ex-husband of Pamela Anderson.

On November 22, 2003, Electra married Dave Navarro, former lead guitarist for the rock bands Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers. The couple documented their courtship and marriage in an MTV celebreality show called ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave. On 17 July 2006, she and Navarro announced their separation. Their rep confirmed their separation to Star Magazine. Electra filed for divorce on 10 August. It was finalized on February 20, 2007.

In 2006, Electra stated that when she was eight years old she had a “little girl crush” on Joan Jett. In 2007, tabloid sources linked the two of them together romantically. However, Electra’s spokeswoman has insisted “They are just friends.” In June 2007, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel asked Electra if her relationship with Jett was romantic. Electra stated, “We’re just friends”. She went on to say that she collects tabloid articles that suggest she and Jett are dating because she is a fan of Jett and finds them amusing as well. Carmen is currently dating Rob Patterson current live guitarist for KoRn. She recently got a “R” tattoo behind her ear.

Carmen Electra organized a fundraiser for Head to Hollywood, a non-profit organization which offers support to brain tumor survivors. Other charities which she supports include Elevate Hope, 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.

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