Jessica Cauffiel Biography

Jessica Cauffiel (born March 30, 1976) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Tori in the 2004 film White Chicks.

Early life

Cauffiel was born in Detroit, Michigan; her mother is a social worker and her father is Lowell Cauffiel, a true crime author, screenwriter and television documentary producer. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre and Vocal Jazz at the University of Michigan School of Music. She performed in several bands, including Jazodity and Tribe of Zoe. Before graduating college, she sang on a cruise ship and in jazz and blues clubs.

Acting career

She was born and raised in the theater and began her career in New York. Off-Broadway and regional theater productions include: Tony Award winner Robert Lopez's (Avenue Q) 1001 Nights, City of Angels, Antigone, Assassins, Cowboy Mouth, Cabaret, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Company, Baby, Music Man, Shoppers Carried by Escalators and Grand Hotel, amongst others. She attended the University of Michigan where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre.

Cauffiel's debut film role was playing Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn's daughter in the 1999 remake of the The Out-of-Towners, and her debut TV role in Law & Order. That same year Cauffiel played Kit, Niles Cranes' girlfiend, in the sitcom Frasier. In 2000, she appeared in the hit comedy Road Trip and Urban Legends: Final Cut with Eva Mendes, and was a lead in the 2001 film, Valentine, which co-starred Katherine Heigl. That year, Maxim magazine featured her in the publication and their online Girls of Maxim gallery. Cauffiel subsequently appeared in several more films aimed at a young audience, including box-office hits such as both Legally Blonde films and the 2004 comedy, White Chicks. She also co-starred in the independent romantic comedy You Stupid Man alongside Milla Jovovich, directed by Brian Burns.

She followed a two-year recurring role on The Drew Carey Show with featured roles in several studio films, like the Farrelly Brothers' Stuck on You and Guess Who, and in 2005, co-starred in the Burt Munro biopic period drama The World's Fastest Indian with Anthony Hopkins. She followed that with a lead role playing both a young actress and an elderly pancake maven (Mother Paula) in the 2006 feature film adaptation of the award-winning novel Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen, and a 2006"2007 recurring role on the hit NBC series My Name Is Earl.

After a nearly two year break from acting, she landed the lead role in the Hallmark Channel TV movie drama Ice Dreams, in which she plays Amy Clayton, a former Olympic figure skater who begrudgingly agrees to coach a teenage girl, and must confront her demons in the process.

In 2009, Jessica made the comedic film short "Bed Ridden", which she produced as well as starred in alongside Joel David Moore, Alan Tudyk, and Garrett Morris. It was written and also produced by her father, Lowell Cauffiel, and director Jonathan Heap, who was nominated for an Oscar for his short "12:01 PM". All proceeds went to The Clare Foundation in order to raise awareness for drug and alcohol recovery for the homeless and those in need of treatment.

As of 2012 it seems she is on another break from acting but is producing the documentary The Original Mind.

Cauffiel can speak with a Russian accent and has played a Russian in the movie D.E.B.S. (as an assassin) and in episodes of My Name Is Earl (as a mail-order bride called Tatiana with a large mole).

Music career

Cauffiel is a trained singer, and has studied and performed for over 20 years in the Western classical, musical theatre, jazz, pop, blues, and Eastern devotional vocal mediums. She also plays piano, guitar and percussion. She and renowned Bollywood percussionist and composer Sivamani, with whom she is currently writing an album, performed live in Dharamsala, India for the 14th Dalai Lama and approximately 20,000 other monks and visitors from around the world, on the occasion of the March 10, 2004 anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day. She also sang on the world music Grammy finalist album Shanti by Snatam Kaur and "Grateful Ganesh" by Guruganesh Singh Khalsa.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Ice Dreams	Amy Clayton	TV movie
	Bed Ridden	Kai	Short film
2006"2007	My Name Is Earl	Tatiana	3 episodes
2006	Hoot	Kimberly
2005	The World's Fastest Indian	Wendy
	Guess Who	Polly
	Cuts	Missy Drubman	1 episode
2004	D.E.B.S.	Ninotchka Kaprova	limited release
	White Chicks	Tori
2003	Stuck on You	Bar Hottie
	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	Margot
2002"2003	The Drew Carey Show	Milan	6 episodes
2002	You Stupid Man	Diane
2001	Legally Blonde	Margot
	Valentine	Lily Voight
2000	Urban Legends: Final Cut	Sandra Petruzzi
	Road Trip	The Wrong Tiffany
1999	Stark Raving Mad	Maddie Keller	Unaired pilot; replaced by Heather Paige Kent in the show
	Frasier	Kit	2 episodes
	The Out-of-Towners	Susan Clark	Debut film role
1998	Law & Order	Kelly	1 episode
	Guiding Light	Unknown role	Debut TV role
1992	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	Choir Singer