Model-turned-actress Leslie Bibb grew up in Virginia, well outside the realm of showbusiness, with plans to tackle a legal career. She embarked on the road to celebrity, however (and achieved an incredible break), in 1990, when the then-16-year-old's mother submitted Leslie's photograph to a nationwide model search that Oprah Winfrey mounted; the judges ferreted Bibb out of more than 6,000 candidates and handed her a succession of print and runway assignments around the globe. After extensive dramatic training, the young woman moved to Los Angeles and ascended to stardom via a regular role as high-school princess Brooke McQueen on the WB series Popular. She doubled it up with movie roles in such feature outings as See Spot Run (2001), Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006, as Will Ferrell's gold-digging wife), as well as a recurring parts on ER (2002-2003), as Erin Harkins, and Crossing Jordan, as Tallulah "Lu" Simmons (2005-2007). In 2007, Bibb signed on to play the female lead in Ryuhei Kitamura's serial killer-themed horror saga The Midnight Meat Train (2008).
In 2008 she landed one of her most high-profile parts opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, and she would return for that film's sequel two years later. She also landed parts in the comedy Confessions of a Shopaholic and the thriller Law Abiding Citizen.
She returned to comedy in 2011 with parts in the Kevin James vehicle Zookeeper, and the low-budget indie laugher A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.