Kelly Brook

Infobox actor


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name = Kelly Brook
birthname = Kelly Ann Parsons
birthdate = birth date and age|1979|11|23|29|df=yes
location = Rochester, Kent, England
deathdate =
deathplace =
othername =
yearsactive =
spouse =
website = http://www.officialkellybrook.com/

Kelly Brook (born Kelly Ann Parsons on 23 November 1979) is an English model, actress, and occasional swimwear designer and television presenter.

Biography

After leaving school in Rochester, Brook studied at the Italia Conti stage school in London for three years before becoming a professional model. Kelly attended The Thomas Aveling School in Warren Wood, Rochester, Kent. Her mother is cousin to well known Lady Margeret [?spelling, citation needed, who is she?] .

Model

Brook's modeling career began at 16 after winning a beauty competition, her early work was in a range of advertising campaigns, including for the new "Bravissimo" company that specializes in bras and lingerie for big-breasted women, and for Foster's beer. Brook is convert|5|ft|m, 8 inches (172.7 cm) tall, and her voluptuous figure caught the eye of the editorial team of the "Daily Star" tabloid, which began featuring her as a Page Three girl. Her vital statistics is 36DD-26-36.

She then appeared in a Pulp video "Help the Aged" with Huck Whitney of the cult band The Flaming Stars, in a slow dance sequence.

Brook's picture soon began appearing in other lad mags such as "FHM" (repeatedly landing in its list of the "100 Sexiest Women of the Year") and "Loaded". She topped the 'FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005' list, which was said to have polled 15 million people. In a poll over 5,000 women in April 2005 for "Grazia" magazine she was considered to have the best British female body. She ranked 5th at 'FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006' list.

Brook has also done a large amount of commercial swimwear, sportswear, and hosiery modeling, and a limited amount of nude & semi-nude modeling. Some modeling work for Triumph Bras caused quite a stir because of specially-commissioned convert|50|ft|m|sing=on high billboards of Brook's bust.

In 2005, Brook posed for a ten-page, partially-nude black-and-white photo spread with the photographer David Bailey. The results were featured in the British design magazine Arena, the November 2005 issue.

In 2006, she introduced a range of her self-designed swimwear and lingerie at the New Look stores of the United Kingdom.

Also in 2006 she signed a contract, reported to be worth around £1m, to be the presenter of Unilever's Lynx body spray, known as Axe in the US and on continental Europe. She has appeared on billboards, in newspapers, and on-line as part of an advertising campaign. [cite web|url=http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Article.aspx?id=1502|publisher=UTalkMarketing.com|title=Lynx 6-sheet Kelly Brook ad|accessdate=2008-04-08]

Presenter

In 1997, still barely 18, Brook started getting work presenting youth television programmes on MTV, Granada Television, and the Trouble TV channel.

Brook had a breakthrough into mainstream hostessing in January 1999 when she was chosen to replace Denise van Outen as the female half of "The Big Breakfast" hosting team, alongside Johnny Vaughan. She decided to leave the show in July, 1999. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/408073.stm|title=Kelly quits Big Breakfast|publisher=BBC News|date=1999-07-30|accessdate=2008-04-08]

She picked up roles presenting for MTV again. In 2005, she hosted the reality television programme Celebrity Love Island for ITV.

Actress

Kelly Brook has appeared in minor roles in a string of movies including "Sorted" and "Ripper". She played the girlfriend of Clark Kent/Superman's best friend Lex Luthor in four episodes of Warner Bros.' "Smallville" during the show's first season (2001 - 2002). She has also completed assignments as a movie actress in Canada and made a short appearance as Lyle's girlfriend in the 2003 movie "The Italian Job". In 2004 she played character Nikki Morris in the video game "Need for Speed Underground 2", alongside Brooke Burke. Her first starring role was in "School for Seduction", a 2004 film.

In 2005 she appeared in the Philippe Vidal film "House of 9", a thriller about nine seemingly unconnected strangers captured and locked in a house together. The people are forced to compete against one another, in order to survive.

She recently starred in a "Marple" drama on ITV. She caused a minor controversy over her most recent film "Survival Island" (previously known as "Three"), in which she co-starred with then fiancé Billy Zane, when Brook and Zane requested her nude scenes be excised from the final cut, which the producers refused to do.

She will appear in the second series of "Moving Wallpaper" for ITV1.

Theatrical work

In December 2000 she played the exotic dancer Anya in the play "Eye Contact" at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, a role that gathered some tabloid publicity since the finale of the show involved her removing her upper garments (topless).Fact|date=February 2007

Strictly Come Dancing

In 2007 Brook participated in the celebrity dancing competition "Strictly Come Dancing" on BBC1, for which her professional ballroom dance partner was Brendan Cole. During the TV series, her father Kenneth Parsons died from cancer, [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7118453.stm|publisher=BBC News|title=Grieving Brook to keep on dancing|date=2007-11-29|accessdate=2008-04-08] and although she initially decided to continue dancing, she soon withdrew from the competition. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7121185.stm|title=Brook quits Strictly Come Dancing|publisher=BBC News|date=2007-11-30|accessdate=2008-04-08]

Reality TV judge

In 2008, Brook took Jennifer Ellison's place as one of the three judges on the second series of the reality TV programme "", [ [http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/entertainment/2008/05/14/dancing_judge_kelly Kelly Brook searches for Baby] , Virgin Media, 2008-05-15] broadcasting September 2008.

Personal life

During her long term relationship with Jason Statham, Brook met American actor Billy Zane while filming thriller "Three" in Greece in 2003, followed by her break up with Statham. Proposing to wed in Summer 2008 and having bought a farmhouse in Kent, Brook kept putting the date back after the death of her father in November 2007. The couple split in April 2008 but briefly got back together, before ending their relationship for good in August 2008. [citeweb|url=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1077280.ece|title=A pain called Zane is firmly out of the frame|publisher=The Sun|date=23rd , 2008|accessdate=2008-04-23] She has since been pictured enjoying a string of dates with rugby player Danny Cipriani.

Filmography

* "Sorted" (2000) as Sarah
* "The (Mis)Adventures of Fiona Plum" (2001) as Fiona Plum
* "Ripper" (2001) as Marisa Tavares
* "Smallville" (2002, 4 episodes) as Victoria Hardwick
* "Absolon" (2003) as Claire
* "The Italian Job" (2003) as Lyle's Girlfriend
* "School for Seduction" (2004) as Sophia Rosselini
* "House of 9" (2005) as Lea
* "" (2005) as Linda Fashiobella
* "" (2005) as Beautiful Woman in Painting
* "Marple": "The Moving Finger" (2006) as Elsie Holland
* "Three" (2006) as Jennifer
* "In the Mood" (2006) as Eva
* "Hotel Babylon": "Episode #2.3" (2007) as Lady Catherine Stanwood
* "Fishtales" (2007) as Neried
* "Moving Wallpaper" (2008) as "Kelly Brook", a fictional version of herself

References

External links

* [http://www.officialkellybrook.com/ Official Website]
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* [http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/tag/kelly-brook/ Latest News And Gossip On Kelly Brook At Unreality TV]
* [http://funhouse.bubble.ro/1182/Sexiest_Moments_with_Kelly_Brook/ Kelly Brook video]