Amber Valletta first came to international attention as a fashion model within the pages of Elle and Vogue and for advertising campaigns for DKNY and Versace. Her ease in front of the camera led to television hosting duties on MTV, which would later pave the way for roles in several prominent movies, most notably “What Lies Beneath” (2000) and “Premonition” (2007).
Born on Feb. 9, 1974 in Tucson, AZ, Amber Evangelina Valletta decided on social work as her career path while still a teenager. But her mother noticed her striking Portuguese looks and 5’9” height, enrolling her in a modeling school in Tulsa, OK, where the family had relocated early in her childhood. Her earliest experience came at a local mall, where she did runway work, but not long after cutting her long blond locks, her modeling career took off like a rocket when she – the unknown model, succeeded supermodel Cindy Crawford as the face of Carpezio handbags in 1993. Smelling a killing, her Tulsa-based agency sent her to Milan, Italy, where she landed a job with Vogue. This was quickly followed by a cover shoot for French Elle in 1996, which ensured her status as a model on the rise.
Soon afterwards, Valletta attained supermodel status thanks to countless magazine shoots and advertising campaigns for the likes of Calvin Klein, Gucci, and Valentino, circa 1999-2002. She also frequented the runways of Europe and America for designers like Chanel, Gaultier, Christian Dior, and Dolce and Gabbana. During this period, Valletta also took a swing at the married life in a brief union with writer Herve Le Bihan in 1994; the couple was divorced two years later.
Valletta’s film and television career was launched in 1995 when, like Cindy Crawford before her, she and close friend and fellow model Shalom Harlow co-hosted MTV’s “House of Style” (1995-2000) during the 1995-96 season. She made her acting debut four years later as the abused wife of a charismatic young actor in the independent drama “Drop Back Ten” (2000), which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000. She also made her sole excursion behind the camera as executive producer of an enigmatic short film titled “Ticks” in 1999. This was followed by a key role as a young woman whose disappearance leads Michelle Pfeiffer to question the innocence of her husband (Harrison Ford) in Robert Zemeckis’ supernatural thriller “What Lies Beneath” (2000).
Subsequent movie roles required Valletta to do little more than look attractive and give her leading men a chance to act out Tex Avery-style reactions of lust – she was Nicolas Cage’s fantasy girlfriend in the dreary “Family Man” (2000), and the sole teacher on the side of Alex Linz’s new kid in school in “Max Keeble’s Big Move” (2001). Knowing she was lucky she was being taken seriously at all as a supermodel-turned-actress, Valletta took smaller roles opposite Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore in the woeful Danny DeVito comedy “Duplex” and alongside Kate Hudson in Garry Marshall’s comedy “Raising Helen” (2004) – if for nothing more than continuing to fine tune her acting skills.
Despite the steady on-screen roles, Valletta was still best known as a model, and for having dated Leonardo DiCaprio in the late 1990s, though she earned a reputation in philanthropy circles for her charity work, starting as far back as 1995 with a fashion show to benefit the Tulsa Community Food Bank. She also lent her name and celebrity to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – where she was a member of the advisory board – and has participated in events for and contributed to the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research and the Oceana Seafood Contamination Campaign, among others.
In 2003, Valletta put her modeling and acting careers on hold to marry Olympic volleyball player Christian “Chip” McCaw, with whom she had a son, named Auden, in 2000. She returned to the movies the following year with her best role to date – as the beautiful celebrity and love object of nebbish Kevin James in the charming comedy, “Hitch” (2005). This was followed by the supporting role of a mother of a kidnapped child in the action film “Transporter 2” (2005).
Valletta dropped out of public view again in 2006 to spend time at The Meadows, a rehabilitation facility in Arizona. According to the actress, her stay was not caused by alcohol or drug-related causes, but instead due to stress. She emerged from treatment that year and returned to movie work in two supernatural thrillers – “Dead Silence” (2007) from “Saw” (2004) director James Wan, and the Sandra Bullock picture “Premonition” (2007). In both films, Valletta impressed audiences with her fragile characterizations, but neither feature performed well at the box office.