Early life

Smith was born in Tampa, Florida. She is the daughter of professional American football player Russ Smith and Carol Smith.

Career

Modeling

Smith started modeling by age 16. As a teenager she traveled to Paris, France, where she worked as a model throughout Europe for four years. Her breakthrough came when her naturally blonde hair was dyed red, giving her a strong resemblance to 1940s and '50s movie star Rita Hayworth. Smith appeared in back-to-back issues of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and became Esquire magazine's first Vargas Girl of the 1990s. She also became the first model of the Wonderbra campaign. She later posed for photographer Helmut Newton for a Wolford advertising campaign, and was the model for the 2002 lingerie campaign for Venus Victoria, the European sister company to Victoria's Secret.

Smith has appeared on the covers of the fashion magazines and women's magazines Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, among others, and was the cover girl for the March 1995 issue of Playboy. She has appeared in advertising for L'Oréal makeup, Buffalo Jeans, Camel cigarettes, Kahlúa liqueur, Volkswagen automobiles, and Panama Jack, among others, and has walked the runway for such fashion designers as Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Acting

Smith was cast in her first film role in Paul Mazursky's Faithful, on a referral from Robert De Niro that stemmed from her Casino auditions. She also appeared in The Funeral, directed by Abel Ferrara, and Barbra Streisand's The Mirror Has Two Faces. She played Susan Lefferts, a Rita Hayworth lookalike, in Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential. Smith's resemblance to Hayworth came into play again with a role in HBO's cable telefilm The Rat Pack. She also had a role in American Beauty. Her biggest role to date has been as the star of the Cinemax TV series Sin City Diaries, which debuted in 2007. She played Angelica, a Las Vegas entertainment consultant who plans activities for casinos' high-roller guests. Overall, she has played various roles in several 1990s feature films and television series. Since 2000, she has appeared primarily in films.

Reality television appearances

Smith appeared as a cast member during the second season of the VH1 television show Celebrity Rehab, which depicted her 16-year struggle with opiate and alcohol addiction. She subsequently appeared in the 2009 series Sober House, a Celebrity Rehab spin-off focusing on a sober living environment. She subsequently appeared in the 2009 VH1 series Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew. During these appearances, she recounted hers and her mother's histories with addiction and co-dependency, which began when Smith was a teenager, and how her experiences with date rape and prostitution played a part in those addictions.

That same year, Smith and other alumni of Celebrity Rehab appeared as panel speakers to a new group of addicts at the Pasadena Recovery Center. Her appearance, which marked a year and a half of sobriety for her, was aired in the third season episode "Triggers".

Personal life

In a January 2010 TV Guide story on Celebrity Rehab, Dr. Drew Pinsky stated she was living with her mother in Los Angeles, and "doing stupendous work...She's someone who reaches out and is an inspiration and of service to other patients."

Legal matters

Smith's name surfaced in connection with the January 2008 bankruptcy of the entertainment payroll firm Axium. A lawsuit alleged the company's partners misused funds by renting a Los Angeles, California apartment for Smith, paying for her car and issuing "numerous large payments" to Smith, which they explained by calling her a "consultant" to the company.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1996	Faithful	Debbie
	The Funeral	Bridgette
	The Mirror Has Two Faces	Felicia on video
1997	Laws of Deception	Elise Talbot
	Lowball	Paula
	Sleeping Together	Cathy
	Red Shoe Diaries 7: Burning Up	Alia	Segment: "Runway"
	Private Parts	Julie
	L.A. Confidential	Susan Lefferts
	Def Jam's How to Be a Player	Amber
1998	Mars	Sheila
1999	American Beauty	Christy Kane
2000	Deception	Vanessa Rio
	The Midnight Hour	Alex	Alternative titles: In the Midnight Hour & Tell Me No Lies
	Dirk and Betty	Beautiful Canyon Girl
2001	Reasonable Doubt	Charlie	Alternative titles: Crime Scene & The Baptist
	Tomcats	Gorgeous Redhead
	How High	Professor Garr
2002	New Suit	Jennifer
2003	Dead End	Lady in White
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Inferno		Television movie
1993-1995	Red Shoe Diaries	The Model	2 episodes
1997	Head Over Heels	Rachel	1 episode
	Friends	Maria the Gym Lady	Episode: "The One with the Ballroom Dancing"
1998	The Rat Pack	Broad at casino	Television movie
	V.I.P.	Davina	Episode: "Beats Working at a Hot Dog Stand"
	Pacific Blue	Diane Verne	1 episode
1999	Silk Stalkings	Virginia	2 episodes
2007	Sin City Diaries	Angelica	13 episodes
2010	Lingerie	Giovanna	13 episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]