Early Life
Vanessa Joy Minnillo, nicknamed "Nessa", was born on November 9th, 1980 at Clark Air Force Base in Pampanga, Philippines. Her father, an air force crew member of Irish and Italian extraction met her mother, a Filipina, while based in the Philippines. As a child, her family moved a lot, causing Vanessa to attend 7 different schools, where she participated in cheer leading and volunteer work for numerous different local charities. Vanessa is fluent in English and has passive knowledge of two Philippine languages, namely Kapampangan and Tagalog.

Career
Minnillo was the winner of Miss South Carolina Teen USA in 1996 where she swept all categories with her unaffected style and natural ebullience. Minnillo went on to win the 1998 Miss Teen USA Pageant and named Miss Congeniality, receiving the highest score in the Interview, Swimsuit, and Evening Gown categories. Minnillo also served as co-host for "Miss Teen USA” in 2004, a judge in 2003 and was a backstage correspondent for "The 50th Annual Miss USA Pageant" in 2001.

Vanessa Minnillo also served as a co-host for “Total Request Live" (TRL) on MTV from 2003 to 2005 playing videos from the likes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. In addition to being a MTV VJ, Minnillo has hosted a variety of MTV specials including "MTV Prom Date" (2004), "2 Punk Rock 4 This: The Real World San Diego Reunion" (2004), and "Spring Break Celebrity Fantasies" (2004). While at MTV, she interviewed several high profile celebrities like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, The Rock, Kayne West, Jeff Probst, Good Charlotte, Michael Clarke Duncan and Anthony Anderson.

Minnillo has also served as host for other shows including the UK crossover hit "Top of the Pops" for The WB , the live finale of UPN's "The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott.", "The Greatest Commercials: Super Bowl vs the World", and many more.

For the past two years, she has served a New York based reported and correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. Minnillo reports on the latest news regarding music, film, television and fashion while covering and interviewing the hottest stars such as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

In addition, Minnillo has appeared on numerous television sitcoms such as "The Break" (2003), WB's "Maybe it's Me" (2002), CBS's "That's Life" (2001) and NBC's "City Guys" (2001). Minnillo was one of the finalists in E!'s competition to find a replacement for Brooke Burke, previous hostess for "Wild On."

Minnillo was the cover girl of Maxim magazine in their October 2005 and 2006 issues and was listed at #15 in their Hot 100 issue (#62 in 2005). She has just signed onto a supporting role in the upcoming sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer, staring Jessica Alba, where she'll play the love interest of the Human Torch (Chris Evans' character).

Personal Life
Minnillo currently resides in New York City where her interest includes playing flag football, volleyball and tennis. Vanessa has been romantically linked to Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (Nov 2003 to Jan 2006) and is currently dating singer Nick Lachey where she is featured in the music video of his song "What's Left of Me".