Tiffani Thiessen

Tiffani Amber Thiessen (born January 23, 1974) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Kapowski on NBC\'s Saved by the Bell (1989–93) and as Valerie Malone on Fox\'s Beverly Hills, 90210 (1994–98), two TV series that met with great success. Thiessen has also starred in other TV series such as Fox\'s Fastlane (2002–03), ABC\'s What About Brian (2007), and USA Network\'s White Collar (2009–14), as well as in a number of TV movies, and she has also appeared in several films like Son in Law (1993), Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000), Hollywood Ending (2002), and Cyborg Soldier (2008).\n', ' Thiessen was born in Long Beach, California, the daughter of Robyn (née Ernest), a homemaker, and Frank Thiessen, a park designer and landscape architect. She has credited her brother, Todd, as one of her most important sources of inspiration, and her mother and grandmother as role models. Her mother has Greek, Turkish and Welsh heritage. She attended Cubberley Elementary and Marshall Junior High School in Long Beach. In 1992, Thiessen graduated as valedictorian at Valley Professional High School in Studio City, Los Angeles.\n', ' Thiessen participated in beauty pageants during her childhood and was crowned Miss Junior America in 1987. The following year, she appeared on the cover of Teen magazine, having won the magazine\'s "Great Model Search". In 1989, she was named Cover Girl magazine\'s "Model of the Year", and landed her first role of Kelly Kapowski on NBC\'s television sitcom Saved by the Bell, starring until its end in 1993. The success of the show gave her career a boost and Thiessen received Young Artist Award nominations for Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in 1990 and Best Young Actress in an Off-Primetime Series in 1992 and 1993. Simultaneously, Thiessen guest starred on series such as Married... with Children, Charles in Charge and Step by Step. In 1992, she starred in her first television movies Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style and A Killer Among Friends, making her film debut in Son in Law in 1993. She then continued with starring in spin-off Saved by the Bell: The College Years in its single season (1993–94) and in television movie Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas (1994), which marked the end of the original Saved by the Bell series.\n', '