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Holly Valance extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Holly Valance
Valance at the premiere for Speed Racer in 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Holly Rachel Vukadinović
Born	11 May 1983 (1983-05-11) (age 26)
Origin	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genre(s)	Pop Dance Contemporary R&B
Occupation(s)	Singer Actress Model
Years active	2002-2004 (recording artist) 1999-present (actress)
Label(s)	London Records (2002-2003)
Website	HollyValance.com

Holly Valance (born Holly Rachel Vukadinović; Serbian Cyrillic: Холи Рејчел Вукадиновић 11 May 1983) is an Australian model, actress and ARIA nominated singer.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Music career 3 Film and television career 4 Legal action 5 Personal life 6 Discography 6.1 Albums 6.2 Singles 7 Awards and nominations 8 Filmography 9 References 10 External links

Early life

Valance was born in New Zealand, to a Serbian father Rajko and a British mother, Rachel. She is related to the late British comedian Benny Hill — Hill's cousin was her grandfather. Valance was educated at the Star of the Sea College, a Roman Catholic high school in Melbourne.¹ While modeling as a teen, she was discovered and cast in the long-running Australian soap Neighbours. Cast as Felicity "Flick" Scully in 1999, Valance left the series in 2002 to pursue a music career.²

Music career

Valance's first single as a recording artist was a cover of Turkish singer Tarkan's "Kiss Kiss" (composed by Turkish "Diva" Sezen Aksu), released in 2002. The song debuted at #1 in both the Australian Recording Industry Association and UK Singles Charts charts in April/May 2002. The director's cut version of the music video was notable in that Valance appeared to be dancing naked, but in fact she was wearing flesh-colored panties but no top. The footage was then digitally retouched adding strategically placed lighting effects. The song was nominated for four ARIA Music Awards.³

Valance's next single, "Down Boy" peaked at #2 in the UK and at #3 in Australia. Her début album, Footprints, was released on 14 October 2002. It debuted and peaked at #9 in the UK and #15 in Australia. The album's third and final single "Naughty Girl" peaked at #3 in Australia and at #16 in the UK. In 2003, the first single "State of Mind" from Valance's second album of the same name debuted and peaked at #8 in the UK and at #14 in Australia, but the album didn't get into the top 50 of either country.

Following legal problems with her manager/boyfriend, and poor sales from the album State of Mind, Valance was reportedly dropped from her recording company. She denied this stating, "I asked to be released, but Warner refused, so I hung out for a year until the contract expired. We parted on good terms".⁴ Valance later confirmed she is no longer interested in recording music, telling Men's Style magazine:

"No one can make any money. It was a really tough slog and I had a good go at it, but it was difficult. You put in so much effort and put in so many long hours for not much return. I was making all my money from endorsements and appearances, but I didn't make that much from the actual record sales. I think everyone is suffering in the music industry. It wasn't just me. I do something until it's not fun any more and then move on. Music wasn't fun any more."⁵

In 2005, Valance returned to music, albeit briefly, when she appeared on Har Mar Superstar's album The Handler singing on the tracks "Back the Camel Up" and "Body Request".⁶

In 2009, Holly Valance appeares in the band, Franzmisik's music video, as one of the band member's girlfriend.

Film and television career

In 2004, Valance returned to acting, this time in the United States, appearing in episodes of the television series CSI: Miami, Entourage. In 2005, she appeared in an episode of CSI: NY. She then guest-starred in Prison Break, in 2006, as Nika Volek, a role which she continued to portray in the show's second season.

In 2006, Valance appeared in the National Lampoon comedy Pledge This!, alongside American socialite Paris Hilton. The same year, she was in DOA: Dead or Alive, an adaptation of the popular video game Dead or Alive, where she played Christie. In 2007, she appeared in the TV series Shark and Moonlight. In 2008, she had a role in the film Taken alongside Liam Neeson and Famke Janssen, and appeared in an episode of the The CW series Valentine. In 2009, Valance provided the voice of Brenda Snow for the video game Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising. She is also set to appear as Sally in the upcoming thriller titled Luster.

In addition to film and television roles, Valance has also appeared in ads for Schwarzkopf hair care products and 1800 Reverse.⁷

Legal action

In 2003, Valance fired her then-manager Scott Michaelson (who owns Biscayne Partners Pty Ltd) by phone, 15 months before his contract was due to expire. Biscayne Partners Pty. Ltd. sued Valance Corp., won their case and were awarded damages by the Supreme Court of New South Wales.⁸⁹

During the trial, Valance's mother claimed that Michaelson was negligent in his duties as a manager, which forced her to take over from his role as manager.¹⁰ Former Neighbours co-star Kym Valentine also gave evidence that Valance "said she was feeling bad, a bit stressed out, because she was leaving Scott" and that "she said the solicitors for her record company would get her out of the contract and would be faxing him the paper work (from the UK) to do so."¹¹ Valance denied that she told Valentine this conversation in court, even though she had signed an affidavit where she stated she had no recollection of the conversation.¹²¹³

Justice Clifford Einstein said, "I have given close consideration to the question of whether or not the circumstances presently before the Court which do, it seems to me, show a calculated disregard of the rights of Biscayne as well as a cynical pursuit of benefit".⁸ The court subsequently ordered Valance Corp. pay $350,000 to Biscayne Partners Pty. Ltd. Of this amount, $47,264.56 was "from shares Ms Valance and Mr Michaelson had bought together on the London Stock Exchange",¹⁴ though the court did not award in favour of Biscayne getting a percentage of sales of her album, State of Mind.⁸¹⁵

Personal life

Valance, who lives in Los Angeles, is known to have dated Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin, they split up in February 2009 according to tabloids.¹⁶

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	Chart positions1718				Sales and certifications
		AUS	IRE	JPN	UK
2002	Footprints First studio album Released: 14 October 2002	15	39	19	9	ARIA certification: Gold (35,000+).17 BPI certification: Gold (100,000+).19
2003	State of Mind Second studio album Released: 6 November 2003	57	—	12	60	RIAJ certification: Gold (100,000+).

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart positions20														Certifications	Album
		AUS	AUT	BEL	DK	FIN	FR	GER	IRL	ITA	NL	NZ	SWE	SWI	UK
2002	"Kiss Kiss"	1	11	28	20	11	50	14	2	3	23	17	12	19	1	Platinum (ARIA)	Footprints
	"Down Boy"	3	—	34	—	—	—	61	8	11	36	37	—	70	2	Gold (ARIA)
	"Naughty Girl"	3	56	47	—	—	—	52	25	27	39	—	50	—	16	Gold (ARIA)
2003	"State of Mind"	14	—	—	—	16	—	—	27	41	—	—	—	—	8		State of Mind

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Work
2000	Logie Award	Nominated	Most Popular New Talent - Female	Neighbours
2002	ARIA Award		Highest Selling Single	"Kiss Kiss"
			Best Female Artist	"Kiss Kiss"
			Breakthrough Artist - Single	"Kiss Kiss"
			Best Pop Release	"Kiss Kiss"
2003	Disney Channel Kids Awards	Won	Breakthrough Artist	-
			Best Single	"Kiss Kiss"

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2006	DOA: Dead or Alive	Christie Allen
	National Lampoon's Pledge This!	Jessica
2008	Taken	Sheerah (Diva)
2009	Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising	Brenda Snow (Voice)	Video game
	Luster	Sally
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999-2005	Neighbours	Felicity Scully	250 episodes
2004	CSI: Miami	Kay Coleman	Episode: "Addiction"
2005	Entourage	Leanna	Episode: "My Maserati Does 185"
	CSI: NY	Lydia	Episode: "Youngblood"
2005-2006	Prison Break	Nika Volek	5 episodes
2007	Moonlight	Lola	Episode: "B.C.
	Shark	Christina Shaw	"Every Breath You Take"
2008	Valentine	Vivi Langdon	Episode: "Act Naturally"

References

External links

• HollyValance.com
• Holly Valance at the Internet Movie Database
• Holly Valance at TV.com
• Holly Valance at Discogs
• Holly Valance in 1800Reverse TV commercials
• Holly Valance interview with CNN, December 2006
• Holly Valance interview By Gilles Nuytens - The Scifi World

v â€¢ d â€¢ e Holly Valance Studio albums Footprints (2002) • State of Mind (2003) Singles "Kiss Kiss" • "Down Boy" • "Naughty Girl" • "State of Mind"

v â€¢ d â€¢ e Pop singer Neighbours actors Kylie Minogue Â· Jason Donovan Â· Craig McLachlan Â· Natalie Imbruglia Â· Holly Valance Â· Delta Goodrem Â· Stephanie McIntosh Â· Natalie Bassingthwaighte

Persondata
NAME	Valance, Holly
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Vukadinović, Holly Rachel
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Singer, Actress, Model
DATE OF BIRTH	11 May 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH	Melbourne, Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH