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Yasmine Amanda Bleeth (born June 14, 1968
in New York City) is an American TV and film actress. Yasmine, which is
pronounced yes-MEEN, is the Persian version of Jasmine, the name of a
flower. Her nickname is Yaz or Yazmania.
Bleeth is most famous for her role as
Caroline Holden on the worldwide-syndicated TV series Baywatch, where
she played an always red-swimsuit-clad lifeguard on the Los Angeles
County beaches, along with David Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson, and
Alexandra Paul.
****
Biography
Family
Bleeth's American father, Philip, is Jewish
of Russian and German ancestry, while her mother, Carina, was a
Pied-noir [1].
Her mother was an unsuccessful fashion
model, while her father was a successful photographer. They both ran a
business that rented vans to fashion photographers for on-location
shoots. Her father became Yasmine's business manager [2].
Bleeth's parents separated, and she was
raised by her mother. Her parents divorced when she was 18 years old,
and her father remarried. He then fathered two sons, Tristan Bleeth
(born in 1986) and Miles Bleeth (born in 1988).
Childhood
Bleeth's earliest known acting role was in
a Johnson & Johnson's No More Tears baby shampoo television commercial
at age ten months at the end of 1968 or the beginning of 1969. She once
said: "I did my first commercial when I was 10 months old, and I've been
in the business ever since." [3]
At age six, she appeared in a Max Factor
cosmetic campaign, along with the model, Cristina Ferrare. Her work in
this campaign caught the eye of fashion photographer, Francesco
Scavullo, who subsequently included her and her mother, Carina, in his
book entitled Scavullo's Women. [4]
Total Film magazine, issue number 21, dated
(October 1998), contains a two-page interview with Bleeth. In the
article she said, "When I was a girl I used to have to force boys to
kiss me. My toughest friend had to hold them down."
Bleeth attended the United Nations
International School in Manhattan, New York, and she received a
bilingual (French-English) education [5]. Although she was very popular
with boys, girls frequently beat her up. At one time when she was 14
years old, she had to be away from school for a few months for her
acting career. When she returned to school, she was devastated to learn
that the students had been gossiping about her, and how they suggested
that she was pregnant, and that was why she was away from school for so
long.
On-screen beginnings
Bleeth starred in her first movie at the
age of 12. She was cast opposite Buddy Hackett in the feature film Hey
Babe! in 1980. The movie was also known as Babe! and Rise and Shine.
When Bleeth graduated from high school, she
had already been working on the soap opera Ryan's Hope since the age of
16. She won the role of Ryan Fenelli on the ABC soap opera. In 1991,
staying in the ABC family, she created the role as Lee Anne Demerest on
the highly acclaimed soap opera One Life To Live.
Mother's death
At the age of 20, Bleeth lost her mother,
Carina, who suffered from inflammatory breast cancer, the deadliest type
of breast cancer. According to Bleeth, her mother had always been very
healthy and conscientious about not smoking or drinking, and eating
right and exercising, etc. Carina even traveled up the Amazon River all
by herself, spending nights under the stars. [6].
Bleeth said that she never accepted the
fact that her mother was dying until Carina took her very last breath.
Just two months after Carina's 47th birthday, her fight with cancer was
over [7].
After Carina died, Bleeth sank into
depression, and she turned down offers for acting or modeling work for
about eight months.
Fiancée
After she met Ricky Paull Goldin, a soap
actor who helped her with her depression, and she decided to work on
another soap opera, One Life to Live. The two lived in Manhattan, but
after she was cast for Baywatch, she moved to Los Angeles. The couple
were planning to get married, but shortly after the wedding invitations
were made out, the marriage was called off.
Breast cancer advocate
She was the 1998 spokesperson for the Lee
National Denim Day fundraising campaign, which raises millions of
dollars for breast cancer research and education. Her primary message to
women was to pay attention to their bodies; Her mother was initially
misdiagnosed by a doctor who thought that she was going through early
menopause.
Bleeth donated the proceeds of her $10,000
win on Celebrity Jeopardy to breast cancer research. She hoped to use
her celebrity status to expand breast cancer awareness - particularly to
young women who might overlook what an older woman would not ignore [8].
Bleeth has been a spokesperson for the
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation who, along with corporate
sponsor Ford, put together the nationally run Race for the Cure.
Drug addiction and arrest
In December 2000, Bleeth voluntarily
entered the Malibu-based Promises rehabilitation clinic to overcome a
cocaine addiction.
On September 12, 2001, Bleeth was arrested
in Michigan after her car pulled off the highway and wound up on a
median. The car accident occurred on Interstate 94 near Detroit as she
and her future husband, Paul Cerrito, were heading to Detroit
Metropolitan Airport [9].
Police found four syringes with an
injectible form of cocaine in them and a small plastic bag with cocaine
residue on it. The next day police conducted a search of her hotel room,
and they found more cocaine and drug paraphernalia. In November 2001,
through a plea bargain, Bleeth pleaded guilty to possessing less than 25
grams of cocaine and to driving while impaired. She was sentenced in
January 2002 to two years of probation and 100 hours of community
service.[10]
Bleeth's lawyer, Jerry Sabbota, stated that
the actress was satisfied with the plea bargain, noting that her record
will be cleared of any felonies after she fulfills the terms of her
probation. "When all is said and done she'll have a traffic ticket on
her record. She wasn't treated any better than anyone else, and she
wasn't treated any worse," Sabbota said. Bleeth completely fulfilled the
terms of her probation as of January 2004, and her record was cleared as
previously determined by the plea bargain.
Rehabilitation
Attorney Sabbota stated that Bleeth
underwent psychotherapy from the founder of the Malibu-based Promises
rehabilitation facility, where she and stars such as Ben Affleck,
Charlie Sheen, Paula Poundstone and Tim Allen have all sought treatment.
In an issue of Glamour from April 2003,
Bleeth wrote a three page article entitled "Back From my Drugs Hell"
about her rocky path to recovery, her drug addiction, and her struggle
to remain sober. She wrote that she had a cocaine habit that was so
severe that she collapsed at a photo shoot for Glamour magazine, and she
went without sleep for five days at a time. She wrote that "consciously
trying to stay off drugs is now part of my life and always will be."
[11]
Commenting on her cocaine addiction, Bleeth
said, "It was almost like falling in love... It became my boyfriend, my
best friend, my family." [12]
Marriage
Bleeth married former bar owner Paul
Cerrito, on August 25, 2002. They met each other at the Promises clinic.
They married in Santa Barbara, California and now live in Los Angeles,
California.
In the (April 2003) edition of Glamour,
Bleeth stated, "They say you shouldn't get into any relationship in the
first year of sobriety — especially with someone in the program, but
Paul and I fell in love immediately."
Filmography
The Last Guy on Earth (2006) ... in
production
Knight Rider (2006) ... Laura Palmer
Game Over (2003) ... Jo
Maximum Surge (2003) ... Jo
Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003) ..
Caroline Holden
Goodbye Casanova (2000) ... Lavinia
Hidden War (2000) ... Alexia Forman
Road Rage (1999) ... Ellen Carson
Coming Soon (1999) ... Mimi
Heaven or Vegas (1999) ... Rachel
Undercover Angel aka "Un vrai petit ange"
(1999) ... Holly Anderson - (Canada: French title)
Ultimate Deception aka "Ultimate Betrayal"
(1999) ... Terry Cuff
It Came From the Sky aka "Visiteurs
impromtus, Les" (1999) ... Pepper Upper - (Canada: French title)
BASEketball (1998) ... Jenna Reed
The Lake (1998) ... Jackie Ivers
Crowned and Dangerous (1997) ... Danielle
Stevens
Talk To Me (1996) ... Diane Shepherd
The Face aka "A Face to Die For" (1996) ...
Emily Gilmore
Baywatch the Movie: Forbidden Paradise
(1995) ... Caroline Holden
The Force (1994) ... Coral Wilson
Hey Babe! aka "Babe" aka "Rise and Shine"
(1980) ... Theresa O'Brien
Television
Titans (2000) ... television series as
Heather Lane Williams
Nash Bridges (1998-2000) ... television
series as Caitlin Cross
Baywatch (1994-1997) ... television series
as Caroline Holden
One Life to Live (1991-1993) ... soap opera
as Lee Ann Demerest Buchanan
Ryan's Hope (1985-1989) ... soap opera as
Ryan Maeve Fenelli Hyde #3
Notable TV guest appearances
Baywatch (October 25, 1993) as Caroline
Holden
Baywatch Nights (March 9, 1996) as Caroline
Holden
Before They Were Stars (1996) episodes 4
and 7
Boy Meets World (May 5, 1995)
Candid Camera: 5 Decades of Smiles - The
Best of the 1990s - Yasmine Bleeth's Candid Experience
Celebrity Dish aka TV Guide's Celebrity
Dish (2000)
Celebrity Jeopardy! (1990)s
The Daily Show (January 27, 1999)
Daytime's Greatest Weddings (2004)
E! True Hollywood Story (July 1, 2001)
Herman's Head (December 2, 1993)
Howard Stern (September 21, 1994; June 16,
1995; February 3, 1999 and February 20, 1999)
I Love the 90s (2004)
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (September
18, 1997 and October 7, 1998)
Late Show with David Letterman (July 29,
1998 and January 25, 1999)
Margarita Bowl (1997)
The Naked Truth (February 20, 1997)
One Life to Live (June 3, 2005)
Punk'd – Season 1
Revealed with Jules Asner (April 2, 2003)
The Rosie O'Donnell Show (September 2,
1996; September 16, 1997 and January 26, 1999)
Saturday Night Special (May 11, 1996)
episode 5
The Simpsons episode entitled Treehouse of
Horror X (October 31, 1999)
The Tonight Show (November 19, 1998)
V.I.P. (April 20, 2002)
Veronica's Closet (February 26, 1998)
Plays
Welcome to My Life (late 1980s) ...
off-broadway play
Looking for It (late 1980s) ...
off-broadway play
TV Roles
Due to her role as Caroline Holden on
Baywatch, Yasmine was offered many more roles, and it gave her the
opportunity to work in films. She continued to work as a model,
frequently appearing in swimwear or lingerie, but she refused to ever
pose nude even though she had many offers.
Yasmine turned down roles in Aaron
Spelling's Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) and Pacific Palisades (1997) but
accepted the starring role in the short-lived series Titans (2000)[13].
Aaron Spelling was so eager to cast Yasmine in the role of vixen on
Titans that his company convinced CBS to grant her an early release from
her Nash Bridges contract.
Video game
Yasmine was asked by a fan: "How did it
feel to be in the video game Maximum Surge?"
Yasmine responded: "Maximum Surge was a
completely new experience for me. It was great to get tough and gritty.
The whole concept of CD-ROM is still mind-blowing to me." [14]
Trivia
Bleeth was one of the top 45 poker players
when she joined the competition at The United States Poker Championship
in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
She was one of People magazine's 50 Most
Beautiful People in 1995. She was also one of FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in
the World every year from 1996 - 2001, and FHM's U.S. 100 Sexiest Women
every year from 2000 - 2003.
On the sitcom Friends, Chandler Bing and
Joey Tribbiani purchase a chick and a duck, and Chandler names the chick
"Yasmine", presumably after Yasmine Bleeth, when she appeared on
Baywatch, a television program Chandler and Joey frequently watched.
(See "The Chick and The Duck".) Also, Chandler admitted to being in love
with Bleeth in many an episode. He also has a human sized cardboard
display of her, which Rachel and Monica use to trick Ross into thinking
that they are watching him perform some of his tricks in his apartment.
Interestingly, Bleeth once dated Matthew
Perry, who played Chandler Bing in the sitcom.
Bleeth was asked by a fan: "On Friends,
what do you think of Joey and Chandler's obsession with Baywatch?
Chandler even put you on his "five celebrities I can sleep with and my
mate can't get mad" list. Is this weird for you, or are you flattered?"
Yasmine responded: "I'm flattered — and it sure doesn't hurt our show,
either." [15]
Bleeth was asked by a fan: "Why have you
turned down repeated offers to pose for Playboy?" Yasmine responded:
"I'm not interested in Playboy. I'm a fashion maven, and I love people
to see me with my clothes on." [16]
Her given name Yasmine is Persian for a
fragrant flower. Bleeth is Yiddish in origin, and was once spelled as
blut, which is German for blood.
Bleeth appeared on Candid Camera in 1974 at
the age of 6 from her Kindergarten class in school.
****
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