Vanna White

Vanna White

Active - 1981 - 2017  |   Born - Feb 18, 1957 in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States  |   Genres - Comedy, Mystery, Action

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Biography by AllMovie

A native of Myrtle Beach, SC, longtime Wheel of Fortune hostess and letter-turner Vanna White attended the Atlanta School of Fashion Design and worked as a print model in the Atlanta area, then moved to Hollywood and landed bit roles in B-grade productions including Michael Crichton's Looker and the slasher outing Graduation Day (both 1981). In 1982, she was selected by Merv Griffin to co-host Wheel with Chuck Woolery successor Pat Sajak and remained with the program for decades, as did Sajak. Meanwhile, on the side, White became something of a national phenomenon and a pop-culture icon -- authoring and publishing a best-selling autobiography, emceeing her own exercise video in 1987, and landing cameo roles (often as herself) in outings including NBC's action adventure series The A-Team (in 1986) and the big-screen features Double Dragon and The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (both 1994).

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Factsheet

  • Was the fourth runner-up in the 1978 Miss Georgia Universe Beauty Pageant.
  • Was a leading model in Atlanta before moving to L.A. in 1980.
  • Replaced Susan Stafford in 1982 as cohost on Wheel of Fortune.
  • Published her autobiography, Vanna Speaks, in 1987.
  • Listed in the 1992 Guiness Book of World Records as TV's most frequent clapper.
  • Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006.
  • Crochets in her spare time and has her own line of yarns called Vanna's Choice.