Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (born January 23, 1974 in Long Beach,
California) is an American television and film actress. After
many years of going by her full name, she is now credited as
simply Tiffani Thiessen.

Career


She was born in Long Beach, California; her father, Frank, was
a park designer and her mother, Robyn, was a homemaker. She is
of German, Greek, Turkish and Welsh descent. She told InStyle,
"I'm a mutt. I have so much of everything in me, and half of it
I don't even know. German on one side; Greek, Turkish and Welsh
on the other. My mom is very olive-skinned; I get my blue eyes
from my dad." Her brother, Todd, was a really big inspiration
to her, and her biggest role models were her mother and
grandmother.

As a child, she competed in many beauty pageants, and she won
the Miss Junior America pageant in 1987. Her first big break
in show business was her role on the television program Saved
By The Bell, as nice girl Kelly Kapowski, a role she continued
playing in the short lived Saved by the Bell: The College
Years. This was very different from her next major role, as a
duplicitous vixen, Valerie, on Beverly Hills 90210.

She later starred in the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl and the
short-lived action show Fastlane, as well as guest-starring on
Just Shoot Me!. Her transition to film has not gone well so
far, as most of her movies, including Love Stinks, have been
critically panned. In 2002, she appeared in the film Hollywood
Ending by Woody Allen. In 2005, she released a short (21 minute)
film she had directed called Just Pray. It placed at several
film festivals and was the first major effort from her new
production company, Tit 4 Tat Productions.

In March of 1999, her then-boyfriend, actor David Strickland,
committed suicide and from October 2001 to April 2003, she was
engaged to actor Richard Ruccolo, whom she had met during the
Two Guys and a Girl run. On July 9, 2005, she married the actor
Brady Smith in Montecito, California.

Filmography


* Good Morning, Miami (2003) (TV series)
* Fastlane (2002) (TV series)
* Hollywood Ending (2002)
* Two Guys and a Girl (1998) (TV series) (2000)
* The Ladies Man (2000 film) (2000)
* Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday The 13th (2000)
* Love Stinks (1999)
* Beverly Hills 90210 (1990) (TV series) (1994?1998)
* Son in Law (1993)
* Saved by the Bell (1989) (TV series)