Traci Bingham
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Traci Bingham | |
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| Born | Traci Bingham |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
Traci Bingham (born on January 13, 1968 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an American actress, model and television personality best known for playing the role of Jordan Tate on the television series Baywatch between 1996 and 1998.
Biography
Bingham was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Although she is of mixed African-American, Italian, and Native American heritage, she self-identifies as African-American. Her mother is African-American and Italian and her father is Native American. She went to Harvard Extension School to study psychology.
She was married to Finnian Lozada for 5 years, but they are now divorced. Bingham is well known for her preference for interracial dating. In an interview with Howard Stern she admitted that she prefers white men.[citation needed]
She is a vegetarian. She has appeared in advertisements for and is a member of PETA. [1]
Career
Bingham began her career with minor acting roles. In 1991, she appeared in the video for "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
Aside from Baywatch, Bingham's appearances include the television series D.R.E.A.M. Team and Beverly Hills 90210, and the film Demon Knight. She also played minor roles in the popular American sitcoms The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Married with Children.
In addition to her acting work, Bingham has posed for Playboy Magazine on a number of occasions. In June 1998, she posed for a "Babes of Baywatch" issue along with Donna D'Errico, Marliece Andrada, Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra, Gena Lee Nolin, and Erika Eleniak.
Bingham appeared as a house-guest in the second season of the reality series The Surreal Life in 2004. Her castmates included Ron Jeremy, Vanilla Ice, Erik Estrada,Tammy Faye Bakker and Trishelle Cannatella. During her stay, she playfully tried to get porn star Ron Jeremy to undress.
In June 2004, Bingham lost two court cases (04w00379 and 04w00380) in Los Angeles Superior Court to R.D. Dobson for failure to pay back loans. The judgments, in excess of $12,000.00, are still outstanding.
In 2005, Bingham was hired as a spokesmodel by Empire Poker, an online gambling site. For publicity purposes, she was sent to various media events (usually uninvited) wearing a skimpy, low-cut t-shirt with the company's logo on it.
In 2006, she appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in the United Kingdom, where she made it to the final six contestants and was evicted on the final night of the show. During her time on the show, Bingham was on the receiving end of a much publicized scathing attack from Pete Burns. Also publicized was speculation over her involvement with fellow housemate Dennis Rodman. She selected Families of SMA as the charity to receive a donation from her participation in the show because her niece had died from Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
In 2007, Bingham appeared on VH1's The Surreal Life: Fame Games and won the $100,000 Goldenpalace.net Grand Prize.
Filmography
- Demon Knight (1995)
- Beach Movie (1998)
- Foolish (1999)
- The Private Public (2000)
- Longshot (2000)
- More Mercy (2003)
- Four Fingers of the Dragon (2003) (short subject)
- Malibooty! (2003)
- Hanging in Hedo (2007)
Television Work
- Baywatch (cast member from 1996-1998)
- The Dream Team (1999) (canceled after 4 episodes)
- Strip Mall (cast member in 2000)
- To Tell The Truth (occasional panelist 2000-01)
- BattleBots (host in 2001)
- Celebrity Boot Camp (2002)
- The Surreal Life (cast member in 2004)
- Celebrity Big Brother (cast member in 2006)
- The Surreal Life: Fame Games (2007)
- The Tyra Banks Show (2 episodes) (2007)