Leeann Tweeden Biography

Sexy, sporty model and announcer Leeann Tweeden was born on June 13, 1973, in Manassas, Virginia; and is of Spanish, Filipino and Norwegian descent. Tweeden was a tomboy growing up, and developed an early interest in car racing, often accompanying her father and older brother to drag races and racing in go-karts herself. An athletic and academic teen, Tweeden graduated from high school a year early, and was accepted into Harvard. However, she opted to pursue a career in modeling instead, and two years after high school, while working as a waitress at Hooters, Tweeden won first place at the 1992 Venus International Model Search.Following her big break as a Venus model winner, Tweeden headed for Hollywood, where she landed a spot on television with Tony Little, the Venus Model Search fitness trainer. This led to modeling for lingerie line, Frederick's of Hollywood in 1993, and then a long-running stint at hosting the Venus Model search which made her famous from 1993 to 1997.Tweeden first landed on the newsstands gracing the cover of Swimwear USA Magazine, followed by an appearance in Playboy's Book of Lingerie in November/December 1994 and then the cover of Playboy in 1996. Tweeden continued to model for Playboy into the late 90s, and she also modeled for the lead character in the comic book Coven 13; the Personal Watercraft Illustrated Swimsuit Issue; and the Frederick's of Hollywood 1997 and 1998 calendars.On the small-screen, Tweeden has appeared on EdenQuest with Pamela Anderson, Star Search, Jimmy Kimmel, Howard Stern, Entertainment Tonight, and Jerry Springer. Tweeden's love of sports and high-energy personality have led her to hosting gigs on ESPN2's Fitness Beach; as well as a half-hour motor cross show on Fox Sport Net channel, High Octane; and extreme sports show, Bluetorch. Since 2001, Tweeden has also been a correspondent on the television series The Best Damn Sports Show Period. Tweeden is sometimes referred to as the First Lady of Supercross, being the first female to announce and interview supercross athletes.Each January and May find Tweeden doing announcing duty at Motocross events for Pace Motorsports. An avid dirt bike racer, Tweeden has her own column for the motorcycle newspaper Racer X Illustrated, and has been romantically linked to road racer Ben Bostrom.Tweeden is highly-involved with the USO, having toured seven times, including a December, 2004 trip to Camp Liberty in Iraq. Her official website, www.leeanntweeden.com, also includes a Support our Troops banner.In 2006, Tweeden was ranked #70 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 of 2006 list.

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