Piper Perabo

Born: 31 October 1977
Where: Tom's River, New Jersey, USA

The actress made her big breakthrough as a singer-songwriter working in a sleazy New York bar to make ends meet in Jerry Bruckheimer's Coyote Ugly.

Other notable roles include the French student in the underrated Slap Her, She's French and opposite Steve Martin in the comedy Cheaper By The Dozen.

The daughter of a Norwegian father and Portuguese mother, she regularly appeared in musicals at her local high school.

Perabo's first professional TV job was a part in an advert for skittles, but she soon expanded her repertoire after graduating from LaMama Theatre in NYC and then Ohio University.

In 1999 she debuted in the feature Whiteboyz, a spoof of white homeboy culture, directed by Marc Levin, in which she played a girlfriend of a hip-hop obsessed farmboy.

She had learned the rules of Hollywood early and had told a blatant lie to secure the role.

In the audition she pretended that she could rap, even though she was completely clueless about the musical style.

As soon as she left the audition hall she took a two week crash course in rapping and convinced the producers that she'd been doing it all her life.

In 2000, on the heels of Whiteboyz, Perabo portrayed FBI agent Karen Symphony in the live action animation The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Bruckheimer cast her in the lead of Coyote Ugly and she also appeared in the sci-fil thriller The I Inside with Ryan Phillippe.

In 2003, she starred with Steve Martin in the remake of Cheaper By The Dozen and alongside Martin Henderson in the romantic drama Perfect Opposites.

The following year she landed a role in the historial action drama George & The Dragon and played a scientist in the horror-thriller The Cave.

Recent work includes the thriller Edison and the British rom-com Imagine Me & You alongside Lena Headey.