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Carmen Electra Biography

Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, television personality, singer and actress.

Early life: Tara was born in Sharonville, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, to Patricia, a vocalist, and Harry Patrick, an entertainer and guitarist; her mother died of a brain tumor in 1998. She had an older sister, Debbie, who died from a heart attack, also in 1998. Tara attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Princeton High School in Sharonville and also attended, very briefly, Forest Park High School.

Career: After moving to California, she met singer Prince (a Minneapolis native), who persuaded her to change her name to Carmen Electra. Soon after, she signed a recording contract with Paisley Park Records, Prince's company, marking the start of a short-lived rap career, which included one album.

In 1995, Electra started appearing in various television programs. Then, in May of 1996 she was featured in a nude pictorial in Playboy magazine, the first of several. This exposure led to higher profile television appearances, including Baywatch (cast member from 1997-1998) and MTV's Singled Out. She returned to Baywatch for the 2003 reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

Perhaps more famous for her physical attributes than for her talent, Carmen Electra managed to parlay a stint as an MTV game show hostess into a career as a TV and movie actress. Born Tara Leigh Patrick and raised in Ohio, Electra left her performing arts high school with plans to become a singer. After a failed album for Prince's Paisley Park label in the early '90s, however, Electra shifted direction. 

Along with her first Playboy spread, the aspiring entertainer scored her career breakthrough when she replaced Jenny McCarthy as the co-host of MTV's highly-rated dating game Singled Out in 1996. After the show went off the air, Electra successfully stepped in for another buxom TV blonde when she took over lifeguarding duties from Pamela Anderson on the syndicated hit Baywatch from 1997 to 1998. 

At age five she entered in and won her first dance contest. She went on to be in over 100 tap and ballet contests. She attended the School for Creativity and Performing Arts at age 9. She also went to Princeton High School in Sharonville. Later on in her life she signed with Prince's music company Paisley Park Label and became one of his Protege's. Her first album was self-titled and she released a single Go-Go Dancer after many delays. The album never took off because of problems with executives. It was remixed and new tracks were added and finally released in July of 1992. Her video had came out in March 1992.

After that she occasionally appeared as a dancer in Prince's Glam Slam Clubs and also performed in front of the October 28 1996 MTV Rock N' Jock B-Ball Jam audience.Then she appeared in the May 1996 Playboy issue. She made a video called Cheerleaders for Playboy also. 

Then she got her big break when just three weeks after auditioning for Singled Out she was offered the job. On February 10 1997 she became Co-Host of Singled Out. Since then she has been in many TV and Movie appearances including Good Burger, Loveline, Baywatch, All That, Baywatch Nights and of course Singled Out. 

Elektra moved to features with a bit part in the comedy Good Burger (1997) and larger roles in indie movies Starfucker (1998), The Chosen One: The Legend of the Raven (1998), and Starstruck (1999). It was Electra's infamous several-day marriage to flamboyant basketball star Dennis Rodman in 1998, though, that further augmented her celebrity. 

Keeping her assets and tabloid fame in humorous perspective, Electra followed her role as what else, The Female, in the mockumentary The Mating Habits of Earthbound Humans (1999) with a self-parodic turn as the bodacious first victim in the hit horror send-up Scary Movie (2000).

While Elektra failed to land any big successes in the ensuing handful of years, 2004 saw her emerge again, gaining notice on both the large and small screens. In the wake of such hit shows as The Osbournes, The Anna Nicole Show, and, most notably, Newlyweds, Elektra and husband-to-be Dave Navarro agreed to let an MTV camera crew record their lives for the reality show Til Death Do Us Part. Meanwhile, she also showed up to steal a few scenes in the tongue-in-cheek feature-film version of Starsky and Hutch.

Electra has appeared in several films, such as Good Burger (1997), The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999), the horror spoof Scary Movie (2000) and also appeared in Scary Movie 4 (2006), Epic Movie (2007), and the remake of the 1970s TV show Starsky & Hutch (2004). Her acting work is generally panned by critics.

In 2005, she joined the voice cast of the animated series Tripping the Rift, replacing Gina Gershon as the voice of the sexy android "Six". In late 2006, Carmen began to be featured in commercials by Taco Bell.

Electra is the current spokesmodel for Ritz Camera Centers, appearing in their television and print ads with CEO David Ritz. She is featured in some video spoofs of Lonelygirl15 that are advertising Epic Movie.

She is a playable character in the video game Def Jam: Fight for New York and is one of the celebrity challenges in the video game, ESPN NFL 2K5, along with Steve-O, Jamie Kennedy, and others.

Personal life: Electra was previously romantically involved with rap star B Real of Cypress Hill from 1995 to 1998. It was revealed when B Real and Electra were both on The Howard Stern Show that B Real had purchased breast implants for her.

Electra achieved publicity during her on-again, off-again marriage to basketball star Dennis Rodman from 1998 to 1999. The wedding to Rodman took place at Little Chapel of the Flowers in Las Vegas, Nevada. Later, she had a brief affair with Tommy Lee, the ex-husband of Pamela Anderson.

On November 22, 2003, Electra married Dave Navarro, former lead guitarist for the rock bands Jane's Addiction and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The couple documented their courtship and marriage in an MTV celebreality show called 'Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave. On 17 July 2006, she and Navarro announced their separation. Their rep confirmed their separation to Star Magazine. Electra filed for divorce on 10 August. It was finalized on February 20, 2007.

In 2006, Electra stated that when she was eight years old she had a "little girl crush" on Joan Jett. In 2007, tabloid sources linked the two of them together romantically. However, Electra's spokeswoman has insisted "They are just friends."

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