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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.

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 5 feet (1.5 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.

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 50-foot (15 m) 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.^[1]

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 of 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.^[2]

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 Brothers' 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.

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).^{citation needed}

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,^[3] and although she initially decided to continue dancing, she soon withdrew from the competition.^[4]

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 Dirty Dancing:The time of your life,^[5] expected to be broadcast in the later summer.

Personal life

After ending a long term relationship with Jason Statham, Brook met American actor Billy Zane while filming thriller Three in Greece in 2003. Proposing to wed in Summer 2008 and having bought a farmhouse in Kent, after the death of her father in November 2007 Brook kept putting the date back, until the couple split in April 2008, but got back together shortly after. In August 2008 they split again.^[6]

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
• Romy and Michele: In the Beginning (2005) as Linda Fashiobella
• Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (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 (2009) as "Kelly Brook", a fictional version of herself

References

External links

• Official Website
• Kelly Brook at the Internet Movie Database
• Latest News And Gossip On Kelly Brook At Unreality TV
• Kelly Brook video