Vinessa Shaw

Born: 19 July 1976
Where: California

The former model is slowly edging her way up the Hollywood ladder thanks to work with legends such as Woody Allen and the late Stanley Kubrick.

She entered the world of show business aged ten when she made her acting debut in the UCLA graduate film My Day at Camp.

A career in modelling followed when, at 13, she signed up with Elite Models, appearing in magazines like Seventeen, British Vogue and French Elle.

In 1991, she made her TV acting debut in the Long Road Home and hit the big screen the following year with a featured role in the comedy Ladybugs.

She was featured in the supernatural children's comedy Hocus Pocus, had a starring role in the coming-of-age drama Coyote Summer, and then appeared in the period feature Wayward Son.

Vinessa attended the famed Barnard College in New York but dropped out when she landed a role in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut in 1999 alongside Tom Cruise.

She then appeared in Weight of Water, starring Sean Penn, followed by comedies Corky Romano and the rom-com 40 Days and 40 Nights.

In 2004, Allen cast her in his ensemble comedy Melinda and Melinda, a movie regarded as the director's return to form.