Yasmine Bleeth
Yasmine Amanda Bleeth (born
June 14,
1968 in
New York City) is an
American TV and
film actress.
Yasmine, which is pronounced
yes-MEEN, is the
Persian version of
Jasmine, the name of a flower. As a child, Yasmine was frequently ridiculed for having this unusual name. Her nickname is Yaz or Yazmania.
Yasmine is most famous for her acting role as
Caroline Holden on the worldwide-syndicated TV series
Baywatch, where she played an always red-swimsuit-clad
lifeguard on the
Los Angeles County beaches, along with
David Hasselhoff,
Pamela Anderson, and
Alexandra Paul.
Family
Yasmine's
American father, Philip Bleeth, is
Jewish of
Russian and
German ancestry, while her mother, Carina Bleeth (who died of
inflammatory breast cancer on
November 7,
1989 at the age of 47) was a
Pied-noir [
1].
Her mother was a successful
fashion model, while her father was a successful
photographer. They both ran a business that rented vans to fashion photographers for on-location shoots. Her father became Yasmine's business manager [
2].
Yasmine's parents separated, and Yasmine was raised by her mother although she continued seeing both of her parents. Her parents divorced when Yasmine was 18 years old, and her father remarried. He then fathered two sons, Tristan Bleeth (born in 1986) and Miles Bleeth (born in 1988), who are Yasmine's two half-brothers.
Childhood
Yasmine's earliest known acting role was in a
Johnson & Johnson's No More Tears baby
shampoo television commercial at age ten months at the end of 1968 or the beginning of 1969. Yasmine stated: "I did my first commercial when I was 10 months old, and I've been in the business ever since." [
3]
At age six, she appeared in a
Max Factor cosmetic campaign, along with the model,
Cristina Ferrare. Her work in this campaign caught the eye of fashion photographer,
Francesco Scavullo, who subsequently included her and her mother, Carina, in his book entitled
Scavullo's Women. [
4]
Total Film magazine, issue number 21, dated (October
1998), contains a two-page interview with Yasmine Bleeth. In the article Yasmine stated, "When I was a girl I used to have to force boys to kiss me. My toughest friend had to hold them down."
|
Yasmine Bleeth in Hey Babe!, her 1st film at 12-years-old |
Yasmine attended the
United Nations International School in
Manhattan, New York, and she received a bilingual (French-English) education since her mother was a French/North African[
5]. Although she was very popular among the boys, the girls were frequently beating her up due to jealousy. At one time when Yasmine was 14 years old, she had to be away from school for a few months for her acting career. When she returned to school, she was devastated to learn that the students had been gossiping about her, and how they suggested that she was pregnant, and that was why she was away from school for so long.
On-screen beginnings
Yasmine starred in her first movie at the age of 12. She was cast opposite
Buddy Hackett in the feature film
Hey Babe! in
1980. The movie was also known as
Babe! and
Rise and Shine. While other children were learning musical instruments or were going to ballet lessons, Yasmine was working as a model and actress.
When Yasmine graduated from high school, she had already been working on the soap opera
Ryan's Hope since the age of 16. She won the role of Ryan Fenelli and won the hearts of millions on the
ABC soap opera. In 1991, staying in the
ABC family, she created the role as the sultry, misunderstood Lee Anne Demerest on the highly acclaimed soap opera
One Life To Live.
Mother's death
At the age of 20, Yasmine lost her mother, Carina, who suffered from
inflammatory breast cancer, the deadliest type of breast cancer. According to Yasmine, her mother had always been very healthy and conscientious about not smoking or drinking, and eating right and exercising, etc. Yasmine stated that her mother was the strongest and bravest woman that she ever knew. Carina even traveled up the
Amazon River all by herself, spending nights under the stars. She was Yasmine's hero [
6].
Yasmine said that she never accepted the fact that her mother was dying until her mother, Carina, took her very last breath. Just two months after Carina's 47th birthday, her fight with cancer was over [
7].
After Carina died, Yasmine became depressed, and she turned down offers for acting or modeling work for about eight months.
Fiancée
Then she met
Ricky Paull Goldin, a soap actor who helped Yasmine with her feelings of depression, and she decided to work on another soap opera,
One Life to Live. The two lived in
Manhattan, but after Yasmine was cast for
Baywatch, she moved to
Los Angeles. Yasmine and Ricky Goldin were planning to get married, and the wedding invitations were all made out, but the marriage was called off.
Breast cancer advocate
Due to her mother's death from
inflammatory breast cancer, Yasmine made a decision to become an outspoken advocate of
breast cancer research and early detection.
She was the
1998 spokesperson for the
Lee National Denim Day fundraising campaign, which raises millions of dollars for breast cancer research and education. Her primary message to women was to pay attention to their bodies. Her mother was initially misdiagnosed by a doctor who thought that her mother was going through early menopause.
Yasmine donated the proceeds of her $10,000.00 win on
Celebrity Jeopardy to breast cancer research. She hoped to use her celebrity status to expand breast cancer awareness - particularly to young women who might overlook what an older woman would not ignore [
8].
Yasmine has been a spokesperson for the
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation who, along with corporate sponsor
Ford, put together the nationally run
Race for the Cure. Yasmine is dedicated to educating others in both detecting the deadly disease and coping with its devastating results. [
9]
Drug addiction and arrest
In December 2000, Yasmine voluntarily entered the Malibu-based Promises
rehabilitation clinic to overcome a cocaine addiction.
On September 12 2001, Bleeth was arrested in
Michigan after her car pulled off the highway and wound up on a median. The car accident occurred on
Interstate 94 near
Detroit as Yasmine and her future husband, Paul Cerrito, were heading to
Detroit Metropolitan Airport [
10].
|
Bleeth at the time of her 2001 drug-related arrest |
Police found four syringes with an injectible form of cocaine in them and a small plastic bag with cocaine residue on it. The next day police conducted a search of her hotel room, and they found more cocaine and drug paraphernalia. In November 2001, through a
plea bargain, Yasmine pleaded guilty to possessing less than 25 grams of cocaine and to driving while impaired. She was sentenced in January 2002 to two years of
probation and 100 hours of
community service.[
11]
Yasmine's lawyer, Jerry Sabbota, stated that the actress was satisfied with the plea bargain, noting that her record will be cleared of any felonies after she fulfills the terms of her probation. "When all is said and done she'll have a
traffic ticket on her record. She wasn't treated any better than anyone else, and she wasn't treated any worse," Sabbota said. Yasmine completely fulfilled the terms of her probation as of January, 2004, and her record was cleared as previously determined by the plea bargain.
Rehabilitation
Attorney Sabbota stated that Yasmine underwent
psychotherapy from the founder of the Malibu-based Promises
rehabilitation facility, where Yasmine and stars such as
Ben Affleck,
Charlie Sheen,
Paula Poundstone and
Tim Allen have all sought treatment. She was treated for a cocaine addiction beginning a few years ago, and she is apparently in remission from cocaine, but her career has suffered from her former unfortunate chemical-abuse behavior.
In an issue of
Glamour from April
2003, Yasmine wrote a three page article entitled "Back From my Drugs Hell" about her rocky path to recovery, her drug addiction, and her struggle to stay straight. She wrote that she had a cocaine habit that was so severe that she collapsed at a photo shoot for
Glamour magazine, and she went without sleep for five days at a time. She wrote that "consciously trying to stay off drugs is now part of my life and always will be." [
12]
Commenting on her cocaine addiction, Yasmine said, "It was almost like falling in love... It became my boyfriend, my best friend, my family." [
13]
Marriage
Yasmine married former bar owner, Paul Cerrito, on
August 25,
2002. They met each other at
Malibu, California's rehabilitation facility called Promises. They married in
Santa Barbara, California and now live in
Los Angeles, California.
In the (April
2003) edition of
Glamour, Yasmine stated, "They say you shouldn't get into any relationship in the first year of sobrietyâ€"especially with someone in the program, but Paul and I fell in love immediately."
*
The Last Guy on Earth (2006) ... movie in production
*
Knight Rider (2006) ... movie in production as Laura Palmer
*
Game Over (2003) ... movie as Jo
*
Maximum Surge (2003) ... video game as Jo
*
Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003) ... TV movie as
Caroline Holden*
Goodbye Casanova (2000) ... TV movie as Lavinia
*
Hidden War (2000) ... TV movie as Alexia Forman
*
Road Rage (1999) ... TV movie as Ellen Carson
*
Coming Soon (1999) ... movie as Mimi
*
Heaven or Vegas (1999) ... movie as Rachel
*
Undercover Angel aka "Un vrai petit ange" (1999) ... movie as Holly Anderson - (Canada: French title)
*
Ultimate Deception aka "Ultimate Betrayal" (1999) ... TV movie as Terry Cuff
*
It Came From the Sky aka "Visiteurs impromtus, Les" (1999) ... TV movie as Pepper Upper - (Canada: French title)
*
BASEketball (1998) ... movie as Jenna Reed
*
The Lake (1998) ... TV movie as Jackie Ivers
*
Crowned and Dangerous (1997) ... TV movie as Danielle Stevens
*
Talk To Me (1996) ... TV movie as Diane Shepherd
*
The Face aka "A Face to Die For" (1996) ... TV movie as Emily Gilmore
*
Baywatch the Movie: Forbidden Paradise (1995) ... movie as
Caroline Holden*
The Force (1994) ... movie as Coral Wilson
*
Hey Babe! aka "Babe" aka "Rise and Shine" (1980) ... movie as Theresa O'Brien
*
Titans (2000) ... television series as Heather Lane Williams
*
Nash Bridges (1998-2000) ... television series as Caitlin Cross
*
Baywatch (1994-1997) ... television series as
Caroline Holden*
One Life to Live (1991-1993) ... soap opera as Lee Ann Demerest Buchanan
*
Ryan's Hope (1985-1989) ... soap opera as Ryan Maeve Fenelli Hyde #3
*
Baywatch (
October 25,
1993) as
Caroline Holden*
Baywatch Nights (
March 9,
1996) as
Caroline Holden*
Before They Were Stars (
1996) episodes 4 and 7
*
Boy Meets World (
May 5,
1995)
*
Candid Camera: 5 Decades of Smiles -
The Best of the 1990s - Yasmine Bleeth's Candid Experience*
Celebrity Dish aka
TV Guide's Celebrity Dish (
2000)
*
Celebrity Jeopardy! (
1990)s
*
The Daily Show (
January 27,
1999)
*
Daytime's Greatest Weddings (
2004)
*
E! True Hollywood Story (
July 1,
2001)
*
Herman's Head (
December 2,
1993)
*
Howard Stern (
September 21,
1994;
June 16,
1995;
February 3,
1999 and
February 20,
1999)
*
I Love the 90s (
2004)
*
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (
September 18,
1997 and
October 7,
1998)
*
Late Show with David Letterman (
July 29,
1998 and
January 25,
1999)
*
Margarita Bowl (
1997)
*
The Naked Truth (
February 20,
1997)
*
One Life to Live (
June 3,
2005)
*
Punk'd â€" Season 1
* Revealed with Jules Asner (April 2, 2003)
* The Rosie O'Donnell Show (September 2, 1996; September 16, 1997 and January 26, 1999)
* Saturday Night Special (May 11, 1996) episode 5
* The Simpsons episode entitled Treehouse of Horror X (October 31, 1999)
* The Tonight Show (November 19, 1998)
* V.I.P. (April 20, 2002)
* Veronica's Closet'' (
February 26,
1998)
*
Welcome to My Life (late 1980s) ... off-broadway play
*
Looking for It (late 1980s) ... off-broadway play
Due to her role as
Caroline Holden on
Baywatch, Yasmine was offered many more roles, and it gave her the opportunity to work in films. She continued to work as a model, frequently appearing in swimwear or lingerie, but she refused to ever pose nude even though she had many offers.
Yasmine turned down roles in
Aaron Spelling's
Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) and
Pacific Palisades (1997) but accepted the starring role in the short-lived series
Titans (2000)[
14]. Aaron Spelling was so eager to cast Yasmine in the role of vixen on
Titans that his company convinced
CBS to grant her an early release from her
Nash Bridges contract.
Yasmine was asked by a fan: "How did it feel to be in the video game
Maximum Surge?"
Yasmine responded: "
Maximum Surge was a completely new experience for me. It was great to get tough and gritty. The whole concept of CD-ROM is still mind-blowing to me." [
15]
*Yasmine was one of the top 45
poker players when she joined the competition at
The United States Poker Championship in
Atlantic City,
New Jersey.
*Yasmine was one of
People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1995. She was also one of
FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World every year from 1996 - 2001, and
FHM's U.S. 100 Sexiest Women every year from 2000 - 2003.
*On the sitcom
Friends,
Chandler Bing and
Joey Tribbiani purchase a chick and a duck, and Chandler names the chick "Yasmine", presumably after Yasmine Bleeth, when she appeared on
Baywatch, a television program Chandler and Joey frequently watched. See "
The Chick and The Duck".
*Also, Chandler admitted to being in love with Yasmine in many an episode. He also has a human sized cardboard display of her, which Rachel and Monica use to trick Ross into thinking that they are watching him perform some of his tricks in his apartment.
*Interestingly, Yasmine once dated
Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing in the sitcom.
*Yasmine was asked by a fan: "On
Friends, what do you think of Joey and Chandler's obsession with
Baywatch? Chandler even put you on his "five celebrities I can sleep with and my mate can't get mad" list. Is this weird for you, or are you flattered?" Yasmine responded: "I'm flattered--and it sure doesn't hurt our show, either." [
16]
*Yasmine was asked by a fan: "Why have you turned down repeated offers to pose for
Playboy?" Yasmine responded: "I'm not interested in
Playboy. I'm a fashion maven, and I love people to see me with my clothes on." [
17]
*Her
given name Yasmine is
Persian for
a fragrant flower.
Bleeth is Yiddish in origin, and was once spelled as
blut, which is
German for
blood.
*Yasmine appeared on
Candid Camera in
1974 at the age of 6 from her
Kindergarten class in school.
*
Carina's Memorial Site - Yasmine's mother*
Yasmine's description of her mother*
Yasmine Bleeth Interview
