Carol Alt

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Carol Alt
Born	December 1, 1960 (1960-12-01) (age 47) East Williston, Long Island, New York

Carol Ann Alt (born December 1, 1960) is an American model and actress.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Carol Alt, the third of four children,^[1] was born in Flushing, Queens, New York, to Muriel Alt, who had worked as a print and runway model before her marriage, and Anthony Alt, a New York City Fire Chief. She has two sisters, Christine, a model, and Karen; and a brother, Anthony Alt, deceased, for whom a charitable foundation is named^[2]. She was raised in East Williston, New York, and she attended The Wheatley School and Hofstra University. ^[3]

[edit] Career

Alt's first big break in modeling in 1980, when she was featured on the cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine, but she gained real fame in 1982 when she was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. During the 1980's she appeared on over 500 magazine covers, becoming one the most famous models of her era. Alt was referred to as "The Face" by Life Magazine. During the height of her popularity, she was the face of ad campaigns for Diet Pepsi, General Motors, Cover Girl Cosmetics, Noxema, Hanes and numerous others. She was the first model to produce her own posters and calendars. As the eighties were winding down, Alt very publically abandoned the fashion industry in favor of acting, which she said was her passion.

Since 1986 she has been in a variety of movies. Most were Italian, but one of her recent starring roles was in the Canadian movie Snakehead Terror. She played "Karen Oldham" in the TV adaptation of Peter Benchley's "Amazon" (1999). Her TV guest appearances include a 1996 episode of Wings were she plays a stripper and a voice role in the "Peggy's Pageant Fever" episode of King of the Hill, first broadcast November 10, 1998.

She has returned to her roots and taken on a number of model/spokesperson projects of late, including becoming a consultant with the "Le Mirador" skin-care line and appearing on late night TV infomercials. Alt has written two best-selling books, promoting her own raw food diet plans. She has been the cover girl for travelgirl Magazine both in 2004 and 2008. She placed #5 on askmen.com's list of "Top 10 Models Of All Time", behind only Kathy Ireland, Christie Brinkley, Gisele Bündchen and Cindy Crawford.

Alt was a contestant on NBC's 2008 The Celebrity Apprentice, with Donald Trump, competing for her charity, the Tony Alt Memorial Foundation, which raises funds for scholarships that will allow young adults to continue their studies. She ended up in third place before being fired, but was brought back for the final task of the show and was chosen by finalist Piers Morgan to help him to become the Celebrity Apprentice.

[edit] Personal life

In 1983, she married Ron Greschner, a professional ice hockey player for the New York Rangers. They divorced in 1996, and she is currently in a relationship with Russian ice hockey player Alexei Yashin, a man thirteen years her junior who played previously with the Ottawa Senators and the New York Islanders. He is currently playing for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in Russia. Contrary to popular belief, they are not married; in an interview with ESPN in 2006, Yashin denied that he is married to Alt and instead said they are in a committed relationship.^[4]

[edit] Films

• I miei primi quarant'anni (English-language title -My First Forty Years) (1987, by Carlo Vanzina), about the life of countess Marina Punturieri, with Elliott Gould and Jean Rochefort.
• Bye Bye Baby (1988)
• Via Montenapoleone (1986)
• I miei primi quarant'anni (1987)
• La più bella del reame (1989)
• Mortacci (1989)
• Donna d'onore (1990)
• Un piede in paradiso (1991)
• Miliardi (1991)
• Anni 90 - Parte II (1993)
• Piper (2007)
• Caterina e le sue figlie 2 (2007)

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Ragan, David (1992). Who's Who in Hollywood. New York, NY: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-2011-6. 

[edit] External links

• Carol Alt at the Internet Movie Database
• Carol Alt at Allmovie
• Carol Alt's official website
• Carol Alt's profile in the FMD-database