Short Resume:

She is talented neither at acting nor at singing and, yet, she tried them both on various occasions and each time with disastrous results. Instead, Carmen is one of the hottest-looking women in all Hollywood and, at the same time, probably the most appreciated and loved celebrity, even if her fame is almost entirely based on her good looks. But, above all, Carmen is a cutie and that's probably the main reason for which the public simply can't fall out of love with her.

Her credits include: glamor model, television personality, actress and singer, but she is none of the last three. Carmen Electra is the epitome of pornish beauty mixed with style and an acute fashion sense, a pleasant personality and a warm human being you can't but love for her many, many mistakes and gaffes. In other words, Carmen's career is often overlooked in the advantage of her stunning physique or, to put it differently, her public persona is way larger than her real self. And, for the first time in Hollywood, that is not a bad thing!

Ohio-born Carmen manifested herself as an artist from an early age. Consequently, her parents sent her to the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati and, later, to the Princeton High School in Sharonville. After graduating, she moved to California where, as luck was written in the stars, she met none other than punk-rock god Prince who signed her at his own recording label. Despite the massive promotion, her music career never kicked off because, they say, anybody could see from ten miles away that she wasn't cut for the music industry. That is to say, she kinda sucked.

Carmen then made the smartest move ever: she posed for a naked pictorial for the popular men's magazine 'Playboy'. From the moment the issue featuring her hit the newsstands, all doors were wide and suddenly open for her: there were television shows that wanted her, directors that sought to cast her in their movies, male celebrities who asked her out for dates and so on and so forth. By doing a bit of all these, Carmen managed to build herself a career that everyone could be envious of: without quite fitting into the glamor girls or porn starlets category, she came to be regarded as the hottest piece of ass in all Hollywood - the only one that could be pardoned for almost everything (from making lousy movies to making even lousier music). She was and still is the image of Hollywoodian celebrity par excellence.

Biography:

Carmen Electra didn't become Carmen Electra until in her twenties, when she met music superstar Prince who suggested to her that, if she really wanted to become a star, Tara Leigh Patrick was not quite the name to single her out. But until she reached this turning point in her life, Tara Leigh (or Linni, as her parents called her) had a long and difficult road to cover, which meant taking up odd jobs as a model for various shops to recording a rappish-sounding album and starring in a myriad of TV commercials.

Born in Sharonville, Tara knew from the start that she wanted to be someone: she literally begged her parents to enroll her for classes at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, where she focused mostly on dance and drama lessons, a thing that made her stand out among her peers. Afterwards, she went to high school in her home town but, for some reason or another, that was the last step in her academic formation.

At 15, Lenni decided that what she really wanted to do was to become a star and, obviously, no amount of study could be of use to her in accomplishing this. So, she did what any other girl her age would have done: she moved out of town, first to Minneapolis and then to the city where all the stardom dreams come true (or not), Los Angeles. While in Minneapolis, she lived with her sister and made a living as a model for the Target store line. When that wasn't enough anymore, Tara left town and headed to LA where she was lucky enough to cross paths with Prince who saw undiscovered potential in the 19-year-old and signed her with his record company.

In 1993, Tara (now Carmen Electra) released her debut album which sported on its cover her brand new name. Prince and Paisley Park Records invested millions in the launching of the future star and the rocker even took her on tour with him as his opening act. However, singing was not for Carmen - her album flopped big time and was almost immediately shelved. Another material never followed the debacle that was the 'Carmen Electra' album.

But the star was by now a relatively well known face so the thought of never making it as a musician did not make her lose too much sleep at night: still young and definitely very attractive, Carmen could already list in her resume tens of television commercials. It wasn't until 1996, however, that she became the household name that she's today, when she gave in to Hugh Hefner's insistence and posed for a 'Playboy' nude pictorial. And that was it. With the photo spread, she had just taken the final step into the glamorous world of Tinseltown and nothing was impossible anymore.

The following years saw Miss Electra become one of the sexiest and hottest women in showbiz. She was suddenly all over the place, doing shows on MTV and starring in the ultimate landmark for feminine beauty, the 'Baywatch' series. Many movies followed afterwards, most of them spoofs or romantic comedies and all enjoying a great deal of success with the public. The critics, on the other hand, never gave Carmen and her acting performances a second glance, since they all considered (more or less with good cause) that her place was somewhere else, not on the big screen.

As I said before, Carmen and her career are at the border of pornography and mainstream entertainment. While she never actually did porn (the Jenna Jameson or Mary Carey-style), she can brag of rather soft core activities, like her striptease aerobic/fitness video, her stint with the controversial act the Pussycat Dolls, her many revealing photo shoots and so on. Despite all that, there are still many who are willing to credit her as an actress, mainly for the fact that she starred in the blockbuster, record-breaking parody 'Scary Movie' and in the less famous 'Starsky & Hutch', the big screen remake of the legendary TV series.

One of the things that always helped with Carmen's career is the fact that she was a victim of what is now being called 'media overexposure', which is also the reason for which she continues (even to this day and despite all odds) to make movies. Her personal life was so turbulent and shocking over the years that, together with her gorgeous physical attributes, Carmen became a superstar without even knowing what was happening to her. From this point of view (of the media exposure, that is), it all reached a climax in 1998, when Carmen began dating shocking basketball star Dennis Rodman. Their relationship lasted less than a year but their marriage was even shorter lived than that: they exchanged vows in Las Vegas and, seven days later, the sportsman asked for an annulment on the grounds that he had been 'out of his mind' that day.

Moving on from the first marital disaster, Carmen sought comfort in the arms of Tommy Lee (in the post-Pamela Anderson phase) but it was another bad boy who would conquer her heart (and the beautiful body to which it belonged): Dave Navarro, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane's Addiction fame. The couple got married in 2003 and their entire romance, for as long as it lasted, was documented by MTV in a reality series called ''Till Death Do Us Part'. Unfortunately, death came earlier than expected, at least for their marriage: in 2006, the two filed for divorce and moved on with their lives - Dave with Jenna Jameson (for a short while) and Carmen with one of her best girlfriends, rocker Joan Jett. Or so the tabloids say.

While anyone in their right mind would wonder how come Carmen Electra is still among us (meaning, there, in line with the rest of the 'real' stars) and generating the same interest in her person as ever, the answer to this 'enigma' is actually quite simple: Carmen is too sweet and good-looking and, even if her movies are as a general rule bad, she is never too presumptuous to claim otherwise. That is exactly why no one ever trashed her (in writing or in public) the way, say, Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan get trashed on a daily basis: if she makes a bad movie which happens to prove (once again!) that she has no talent or skill whatsoever, at least she doesn't say that she did.

Plus, Carmen is never too shy to earn her living the best way she knows how: getting naked, shaking her toosh and using those hypnotizing blue eyes on us, the general public. In fact, her career in recent years has been resumed to this: endorsing slimming pills, cosmetic products and whatever else can cross your mind, posing in various degrees of nakedness for men's magazines and popping up at social events. And, still, people love her because what else is Hollywood about but superficiality and being a loser in the most graceful way possible?

Let's not forget that, no matter what the future might hold in store for this curvy and voluptuous siren, she will probably face it with the same insinuating smile on her face. And that she is more than just a glamor model and definitely less than an actress or singer: she is the woman who managed to do a bit of everything and still establish herself only as 'hot Carmen'. Maybe, for her birthday, the world could show its appreciation by making for her a special place in the hall of fame, unrelated to her 'body of work' and related exclusively to her 'body for work'. Yes, that would be the greatest present! Ever!

Now, it's voting time! So let's hear it from you: is the always hot Carmen Electra IN or OUT?

Filmography:

• 'Last Call at Murray's' (2007)

• 'I Want Candy' (2007)

• 'Epic Movie' (2007)

• 'Hot Tamale' (2006)

• 'Scary Movie 4' (2006)

• 'Date Movie' (2006)

• 'Lolo's Cafe' (2006) (TV) (voice)

• 'Cheaper by the Dozen 2' (2005)

• 'Getting Played' (2005)

• 'Tripping the Rift' (13 episodes, 2005)

• 'Searching for Bobby D' (2005)

• 'Summerland' (5 episodes, 2005)

• 'Lil' Pimp' (2005) (voice)

• 'Dirty Love' (2005)

• 'Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon' (2004)

• 'Monk' (1 episode, 2004)

• 'Starsky & Hutch' (2004)

• 'My Boss's Daughter' (2003)

• 'Uptown Girls' (2003)

• 'The New Tom Green Show' (1 episode, 2003)

• 'Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding' (2003) (TV)

• 'Whacked!' (2002)

• 'Rent Control' (2002)

• 'Get Over It' (2001)

• 'Perfume' (2001)

• 'Sol Goode' (2001)

• 'Scary Movie' (2000)

• 'Won-G' (2000)

• 'Vacanze di Natale 2000' (aka 'Christmas Vacation 2000') (1999)

• 'The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human' (1999)

• 'Hyperion Bay' (8 episodes, 1999)

• 'Soldier of Fortune, Inc.' (2 episodes, 1998)

• 'The Chosen One: Legend of the Raven' (1998)

• 'Baywatch' (21 episodes, 1997-1998)

• 'Starstruck' (1998)

• 'Baywatch: White Thunder at Glacier Bay' (1998)

• 'Pacific Blue' (1 episode, 1997)

• 'Good Burger' (1997) (uncredited)

• 'An American Vampire Story' (1997)

• 'Baywatch Nights' (1 episode, 1996)

• 'Erotic Confessions' (1 episode, 1996)