Bio
Carmen Electra is an American glamour model, television personality, singer and actress best known for her role as Leilani "Lani" McKenzie on the final season of the television series Baywatch.
Electra was born Tara Leigh Patrick in Sharonville, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, to Patricia, a vocalist, and Harry Patrick, an entertainer and guitarist. Her mother died of a brain tumour in 1998. She had an older sister, Debbie, who died from a heart attack, also in 1998.
She attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Princeton High School in Sharonville and also attended, very briefly, Forest Park High School.
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.
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).
She has also made cameo appearances as herself in the comedy American Dreamz and regularly performed with the exotic dance troupe The Pussycat Dolls.
Electra also created the highly successful Carmen Electra Aerobic Striptease series of DVDs which combines classic stripping moves with a low impact workout.
Her most recent movie appearance is a leading role in the British film I Want Candy.
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, she 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.
Electra was previously romantically involved with rap star B Real of Cypress Hill from 1995 to 1998.
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 celeb reality show called 'Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave.
On 17 July 2006, she and Navarro announced their separation and Electra filed for divorce on 10 August. It was finalised on February 20, 2007.
In 2007 she was linked with Joan Jett romantically, but Electra's publicist has insisted they are "just friends".