Leslie Bibb

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Leslie Louise Bibb (born November 17, 1974 in Bismarck, North Dakota) is an American actress and former fashion model.

[edit] Early life

She was raised in Nelson County, Virginia. Her father died when she was 3. Later she and her mother, along with her three older sisters, moved to Richmond, where Bibb attended an all-girls Catholic high school, St. Gertrude.

[edit] Career

In 1990, The Oprah Winfrey Show and the Elite Agency held a nationwide modeling search; Bibb's mother took photos of her then 16-year-old daughter and sent them in. Although Bibb wasn't impressed with the photos, the judges (John Casablancas, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Iman) were, and they picked her as the winner.

After finishing her junior year, Bibb flew to New York City and signed a contract with Elite. She modeled over the summer, and went on a trip to Japan. She returned home for her senior year and graduated in 1991, then decided to forgo a full-time modeling career to attend the University of Virginia. After a single semester, however, she dropped out and moved to New York City. She attended the William Esper acting studio for three years and took nine months off in which she did more modeling in Europe. Her photographs have appeared in such magazine as Maxim and FHM.

Bibb had her first film role in the comedy Private Parts (1997), which was followed by her first television series (where she replaced the departed Susan Walters as the female lead) in the second season of The Big Easy (1996) (based on the 1987 movie of the same name) on USA. The show was cancelled just months later.

In 1999 she appeared as Brooke McQueen, one of the lead characters on the WB Network television series Popular. The show was a success among teenagers, and led Bibb to film roles such as The Skulls (2000) and See Spot Run (2001). In 2002-2003, she played intern Erin Harkins on ER, and then was a star of the short-lived ABC series Line of Fire. She joined the cast of long-running crime drama Crossing Jordan in 2006 as Detective Lu Simmons.

She was married to Rob Born from 2003 to 2004. A natural brunette, Bibb dyed her hair blonde for the role of Brooke McQueen in Popular, but let her hair go back to its natural color for one episode.

In 2006, she played Ricky Bobby's (Will Ferrell) wife Carley, in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."

Bibb is currently set to guest star in the fourth season of Entourage as the fiancée of Ari Gold's college buddy Scott, who is played by Artie Lange.