Tiffani Thiessen

Tiffani Amber Thiessen (born January 23, 1974) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Kapowski on NBC's Saved by the Bell (1989–93) and as Valerie Malone on Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210 (1994–98). Thiessen has also starred in other TV series such as Fox's Fastlane (2002–03), ABC's What About Brian (2007), and USA Network's White Collar (2009–14), as well as in a number of TV movies, and she has also appeared in several films like Son in Law (1993), Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000), Hollywood Ending (2002), and Cyborg Soldier (2008).
== Early life ==
Thiessen was born in Long Beach, California, the daughter of Robyn (née Ernest), a homemaker, and Frank Thiessen, a park designer and landscape architect.[1] She has credited her brother, Todd, as one of her most important sources of inspiration, and her mother and grandmother as role models.[2] Her mother has Greek, Turkish and Welsh heritage.[3] She attended Cubberley Elementary and Marshall Junior High School in Long Beach. In 1992, Thiessen graduated as valedictorian at Valley Professional High School in Studio City, Los Angeles.
== Career ==
Thiessen participated in beauty pageants during her childhood and was crowned Miss Junior America in 1987. The following year, she appeared on the cover of Teen magazine, having won the magazine's "Great Model Search". In 1989, she was named Cover Girl magazine's "Model of the Year", and landed her first role of Kelly Kapowski on NBC's television sitcom Saved by the Bell, starring until its end in 1993. The success of the show gave her career a boost and Thiessen received Young Artist Award nominations for Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in 1990 and Best Young Actress in an Off-Primetime Series in 1992 and 1993. Simultaneously, Thiessen guest starred on series such as Married... with Children, Charles in Charge and Step by Step. In 1992, she starred in her first television movies Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style and A Killer Among Friends, making her film debut in Son in Law in 1993. She then continued with starring in spin-off Saved by the Bell: The College Years in its single season (1993–94) and in television movie Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas(1994), which marked the end of the original Saved by the Bell series.
In 1994, after her tenure on Saved by the Bell had ended, Thiessen landed the role of Valerie Malone in Fox's Aaron Spelling-produced hit teen-drama Beverly Hills, 90210, to fill the void after Shannen Doherty's departure. She was the first actress to join directly the main cast of the show and portrayed Valerie until 1998, when she left in the early episodes of the ninth season of the show. While starring in 90210, Thiessen began to take on continuous dramatic leading roles in television films: The Stranger Beside Me and She Fought Alone in 1995, Sweet Dreams and Buried Secrets in 1996. After her departure from the show, she appeared in a number of films, including Speedway Junky (1999), From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999), Love Stinks (1999) and The Ladies Man(2000); she also guest-starred on NewsRadio (1999), Two Guys and a Girl (2000), Just Shoot Me! (2001) and Good Morning, Miami (2003–04). In 2000, she was featured in the music video for "You're a God" by Vertical Horizon, portraying a beauty pageant contestant, in her first music video appearance. That year she also dropped her middle name which she had been including professionally for many years and is now credited as simply Tiffani Thiessen.[4] Thiessen was Spelling's first choice to replace Doherty in the popular series Charmed in 2001, but she refused his offer because she was hoping the NBC pilot for Everything But the Girl would be picked up.[5] The role eventually went to Rose McGowan.
Meanwhile, Thiessen starred in direct-to-video parody film Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000) and in television movie Everything But the Girl (2001), before appearing in the Woody Allen-directed film Hollywood Ending (2002) and starring in action drama series Fastlane (2002–03) as Wilhelmina 'Billie' Chambers, for which she received a Teen Choice Awardnomination for Choice TV Actress in Drama/Action Adventure. In 2003, she launched her production company Tit 4 Tat Productions, producing and directing the short film Just Pray in 2005, which earned distinctions at several film festivals.[6] Later on, she starred in television movies Stroller Wars (2006) and Pandemic (2007), she joined the cast of ABC's drama What About Brian(2007) for its last five episodes and starred in the science fiction film Cyborg Soldier (2008). In 2008, she made her second music video appearance, this time for Ben Lee's "American Television". Thiessen appeared with her husband Brady Smith on the September 6, 2009 episode of season four of the reality show HGTV Design Star. Interior designer Lonni Paul, one of the final three contestants of the season, was given the task of redesigning Thiessen's guest bedroom with an eco-friendly theme; Thiessen and Paul now have a nursery furniture line called PetitNest.[7] From 2009 through 2014 Thiessen appeared in the USA Network crime series White Collar as Elizabeth Burke.
On February 4, 2015, Thiessen reunited with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Elizabeth Berkley, Dennis Haskins and Mario Lopez on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where they appeared in a Saved by the Bell sketch with Fallon.[8][9][10]
Also in 2015, Thiessen started hosting her own show on Cooking Channel called Dinner at Tiffani's.
== Personal life ==
In early 1992, Thiessen started dating Brian Austin Green, introduced by mutual friend David Faustino;[11] they moved in together in July 1994, but they broke up the next year.[12] In 1999, she went through a difficult period in her personal life, when David Strickland, also an actor, whom she had begun dating, died by suicide.[13] From 2001 to the spring of 2003, she was engaged to actor Richard Ruccolo, whom she had met during the Two Guys and a Girl run.[14] She married actor Brady Smith on July 9, 2005,[14] and they have two children: daughter Harper (born 2010)[15] and son Holt (born 2015).[16]
Thiessen served as maid of honor at 90210 co-star and best friend Jennie Garth's 2001 wedding to actor Peter Facinelli, with whom she co-starred on Fastlane. Garth and Thiessen's friendship has since come to an end.[17] Her friendship with fellow 90210 star Tori Spelling also broke up, after Spelling's split from her first husband.[18]
In 2013, she participated in the One Bag party for April for Earth Month, in which the Glad company promoted "clean, green living".[19]
== Public image ==
Thiessen was a teen idol during the 1990s, starting from her role as cheerleader Kelly Kapowski on Saved by the Bell and then playing bad girl Valerie Malone on Beverly Hills, 90210. In a much-discussed moment, Justin Bieber appeared wearing a T-shirt with a photo of Thiessen in her Saved by the Bell days at the 2011 MuchMusic Video Awards,[20] admitting his admiration for her. Basketball player Chris Paul also revealed publicly that he was a fan of Thiessen back then, when she sent him an autographed photograph of her Saved by the Bell-era for his 29th birthday in 2014.[21]
== Filmography ==
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1989 	Live-In 	 	Episode: "Mommy and Me and Au Pair Make Three"
1989–93 	Saved by the Bell 	Kelly Kapowski 	Main role (75 episodes)
1990 	Charles in Charge 	Jennifer 	Episode: "There's a Girl in My Ficus"
1990 	Married... with Children 	Heather McCoy 	Episode: "What Goes Around Came Around"
1990 	The Hogan Family 	Brooke 	Episode: "California Dreamin': Parts 1 & 2"
1992 	Step by Step 	Tina Gordon 	Episode: "Daddy's Girl"
1992 	Blossom 	Ricki 	Episode: "Driver's Education"
1992 	Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style 	Kelly Kapowski 	Movie
1992 	The Powers That Be 	Barbara 	Episode: "The Intern"
1992 	A Killer Among Friends 	Jenny Monroe 	Movie
1993–94 	Saved by the Bell: The College Years 	Kelly Kapowski 	Series
1994 	Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas	Kelly Kapowski 	Movie
1994–98, 2000	Beverly Hills, 90210 	Valerie Malone 	Main role (136 episodes)
1995 	The Stranger Beside Me 	Jennifer Gallagher 	Movie
1995 	She Fought Alone 	Caitlin Rose 	Movie
1996 	Sweet Dreams 	Alison Sullivan 	Movie
1996 	Buried Secrets 	Annalisse Vellum 	Movie; also co-producer
1999 	Cupid 	Stephanie MacGregor 	Episode: "Children's Hour"
1999 	NewsRadio 	Foxy Jackson 	Episode: "Assistant"
2000 	Two Guys and a Girl 	Marti 	8 episodes
2001 	Everything But the Girl 	Denise 	Pilot movie
2001 	Just Shoot Me! 	Amy Watson 	3 episodes
2002–03 	Fastlane 	Wilhelmina 'Billie' Chambers 	22 episodes
2003–04 	Good Morning, Miami 	Victoria Hill 	11 episodes
2006 	Stroller Wars 	Lainey 	Pilot movie
2007 	Pandemic 	Kayla Martin 	Movie
2007 	What About Brian 	Natasha Drew 	5 episodes
2009–14 	White Collar 	Elizabeth Burke 	Main role (76 episodes)
2012–16 	Jake and the Never Land Pirates 	Misty the Wonderful Witch / Mermaid	Recurring voice role
2014 	Northpole 	Chelsea Hastings 	Movie
2015 	Hell's Kitchen 	Herself 	Episode: "Winner Chosen"; Chef's table guest in T's kitchen
2015 	The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon 	Kelly Kapowski 	Episode 205 Saved by the Bell sketch
2015–17 	Dinner at Tiffani's 	Herself / Hostess 	Cooking Channel series
Also executive producer
2017 	American Housewife 	Celeste 	Episode: "Dude, Where's My Napkin"
2017 	Food Network Star 	Herself 	Episode: "Summer Party Playoffs"
2018–present 	Alexa & Katie 	Lori Mendoza 	Main role
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1993	Son in Law 	Tracy 	
1995	She Fought Alone 	Caitlin Rose 	TV Film
1999	Speedway Junky 	Wilma Price 	
1999	From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money 	Pam 	Direct-to-video
1999	Love Stinks 	Rebecca Melini / Juliette	
2000	Ivans XTC 	Marie Stein 	
2000	The Ladies Man 	Honey DeLune 	
2000	Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth 	Hagitha Utslay 	Direct-to-video
2001	A Christmas Adventure ...from a Book Called Wisely's Tales	Vixen (voice) 	Direct-to-video
2002	Hollywood Ending 	Sharon Bates 	
2005	Just Pray 	 	Short film; director
2008	Cyborg Soldier 	Lindsey Reardon 	
Music videos
Year	Artist 	Song
2000	Vertical Horizon	"You're a God"
2008	Ben Lee 	"American Television"
== Accolades ==
Year	Association 	Category 	Work 	Result
1990	Young Artist Awards	Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast 	Saved by the Bell	Nominated
1992	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actress Starring in an Off-Prime-time or Cable Series	Saved by the Bell	Nominated
1993	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actress in an Off-Prime-time Series 	Saved by the Bell	Nominated
2003	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice TV Actress – Drama/Action Adventure 	Fastlane 	Nominated