Amber Valletta Biography

Amber Evangeline Valletta (born February 9, 1974) is an American fashion model and actress. She began her career as a fashion model, landing her first of sixteen American Vogue covers at age eighteen. During the 1990s, Valletta reached the status of supermodel, working as the face of Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Valentino, Gucci and Versace, and signing multimillion-dollar cosmetics contracts with Calvin Klein and Elizabeth Arden. From 1995 to 1996, Valletta and her friend and fellow model Shalom Harlow hosted the MTV show, House of Style.

In the 2000s, Valletta began to focus on her career as an actress. She had her first major film role as a poltergeist in Robert Zemeckis's supernatural thriller What Lies Beneath (2000). She has since appeared in films such as Hitch (2005), Transporter 2 (2005), Man About Town (2006), Dead Silence (2007), Gamer (2009), and The Spy Next Door (2010). In 2011, she moved to television, appearing in a recurring role as the fallen socialite Lydia Davis on the ABC prime time soap opera Revenge. In 2015, Valletta starred as villainous Carla Briggs in another ABC soap opera, Blood & Oil.

Biography

Valletta was born in Phoenix and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her mother, Theresa Malaby, worked at the post office. Her father is of Italian and Portuguese descent, and her mother is of part Cherokee ancestry. She attended Booker T. Washington High School. She got her start in the fashion industry when her mother enrolled her in modeling school at the age of fifteen at the Linda Layman Agency. Valletta, along with Kate Moss, Eva Herzigov, Carolyn Murphy and Shalom Harlow, was one of the most recognizable faces of the generation immediately subsequent to the original supermodels. During the 1990s she appeared 13 times on the cover of American Vogue, second only to Claudia Schiffer's sixteen. She was presented on the November 1999 Millennium cover of American Vogue as one of the "Modern Muses".

Valletta continues to work as a fashion model, most recently closing the Versace Autumn/Winter 2017 fashion show. She is now a model for Marks and Spencer.

Acting career

Valletta's first role was in the comedy film Drop Back Ten (2000). Later that year, she played a supporting role in the thriller film What Lies Beneath, starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer and directed by Robert Zemeckis. She appeared alongside Nicolas Cage in The Family Man. In 2003, she played Celine in Danny DeVito's Duplex, starring Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore, and in 2004, she played Martina in Raising Helen, opposite Kate Hudson, Hayden Panettiere, Abigail Breslin, and Helen Mirren.

Valletta's first major film role was as Allegra Cole in Andy Tennant's romantic comedy Hitch. The film was released on February 11, 2005 and was a box office and critical success. She also had a role in Transporter 2, playing the mother of the kidnapped child. She played the female lead in the 2006 independent film The Last Time, co-starring alongside Michael Keaton and Brendan Fraser. In 2007, she had supporting roles in the horror film Dead Silence, as Ella Ashen, and as Claire in Premonition, starring Sandra Bullock. Also in 2007, Valletta played the leading role in the independent coming-of-age film, My Sexiest Year.

In 2009, Valletta starred alongside Gerard Butler in the science fiction action film, Gamer. The film was released in North America on September 4, 2009 with negative reviews from critics. In 2010, she starred in The Spy Next Door, alongside Jackie Chan, George Lopez, and Billy Ray Cyrus; she played Chan's character's love interest, Gillian. In 2011, she appeared in the ensemble comedy film, Girl Walks into a Bar.

In 2011, Valletta was cast in the recurring role as the socialite Lydia Davis on the ABC television prime time soap opera, Revenge. In 2014, she was regular cast member in the TNT crime drama series, Legends, playing Sean Bean's character's ex-wife. In 2015, Valletta starred in the short-lived ABC prime time soap opera, Blood & Oil. She plays the role of Carla Briggs, the glamorous business partner and new wife of oil tycoon Hap Briggs (Don Johnson).

Other projects

Valletta also serves as the spokesperson for Oceana's Seafood Contamination Campaign, where she brings awareness of the dangers of mercury poisoning in various kinds of seafood. The decision to join Oceana's campaign was prompted by the mercury-poisoning experience of a friend and the fact that she is a mother of one.

Personal life

Valletta married Olympic volleyball player Chip McCaw in September 2003. Together they had a son Auden born three years prior. They divorced in early 2015.

Valletta endorsed Democrat President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012.

In July 2014, Valletta spoke out about her battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Unzipped	Herself	Documentary
2000	Drop Back Ten	Mindy Deal
2000	What Lies Beneath	Madison Elizabeth Frank
2000	The Family Man	Paula
2001	Perfume	Blair
2001	Hysteria - The Def Leppard Story	Lorelei Shellist	Television film
2001	Max Keeble's Big Move	Ms. Dingman
2003	Duplex	Celine
2004	Raising Helen	Martina
2005	Hitch	Allegra Cole
2005	Transporter 2	Audrey Billings
2006	Man About Town	Brynn Lilly
2006	The Last Time	Belisa
2007	Dead Silence	Ella
2007	Premonition	Claire
2007	My Sexiest Year	Marina
2008	Days of Wrath	Jane Summers
2009	Gamer	Angie
2010	The Spy Next Door	Gillian
2011	Girl Walks into a Bar	Camilla

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995-1996	House of Style	Herself	Host
2004	Lucky	Sarah	Episode: "Something for Everyone"
2005	Punk'd	Herself	Episode 6, Season 4
2011-2014	Revenge	Lydia Davis	Recurring role, 14 episodes
2014	Legends	Sonya Odum	Series regular, 10 episodes
2015	Hot in Cleveland	Ashley	Episode: "Scandalous"
2015	Blood & Oil	Carla Briggs	Series regular, 10 episodes