The Face

Background:

"I never thought I was the most beautiful model out there or the most sexy woman, but I was a hard worker." Carol Alt.

Supermodel turned actress Carol Alt first gained recognition while posing for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover in 1982. Carol, who stands 5' 9½ inches tall and has a 34B-25-34 measurement, was widely recognized as Playboy's The Most Beautiful Woman in the World and Life Magazine's The Next Million Dollar Face. The brown-haired, blue-eyed model has been embraced on hundreds of magazine covers and advertisements. As an actress, she gained more fame in Europe acting in films after her breakout film, the Italian hit Via Montenapoleone (1986).

Recently Carol was reported to join Deborah Gibson, Janice Dickinson, Meredith Vieria and Ereka Vetrini in the off-Broadway production of Pieces (of Ass). She will also return to the runway at New York's Four Seasons hotel promoting a J.C. Penney's line together with fellow veteran model, Pat Cleveland.

NHL Girl

Childhood and Family:

In Long Island, New York, Carol Alt was born on December 1, 1960 to parents Anthony Alt (former fireman, died in 1984) and Muriel Alt (former model). Together with her three siblings (one sister is model Christine Alt), Carol was raised between College Point, New York and East Williston on Long Island.

After graduating from High School, Carol got an ROTC scholarship to study law at Hofstra University. However, she decided to leave college and moved to Manhattan to try her hand in modeling.

On November 21, 1983, Carol tied the knot with former NHL's New York Rangers' player Ron Greschner (born on December 22, 1954) in St. Aidan's Roman Catholic Church, Williston Park, Long Island, New York. The couple filed for divorce in 1996. Carol then exchanged vows with NHL's New York Islanders' player Alexei Yashin in 2002.

Between her hectic schedule, Carol, a big fan of actor Harrison Ford and singers Barbra Streisand and Crowded House, loves to spend her free time riding horses, playing golf, basketball, singing and driving race cars.

"I have taken a Ferrari up to 185 mph." Carol Alt.

European Fame

Career:

"When I start to sweat and get all red, they say, 'Carol, we're ready to shoot.'" Carol Alt.

Spotted by an agent while working as a waitress, 16-year-old Carol Alt decided to drop her studies and fly to Manhattan to give modeling a try. In the new destination Carol landed a contract with the
prestigious Elite Agency and got her first job as the cover of Bazaar's Italian edition as well as inked a deal with cosmetics company Lancome as the face of their printed advertisements. Soon, she was to embellish such fashion and women's magazines as Vogue and Cosmopolitan.

With her rising status, Life magazine named her The Next Million Dollar Face (nicknamed The Face). Afterwards, Carol gained more recognition posing for the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in a
1982 edition. She also inked a deal with another cosmetic company, Cover Girl, to be featured on their TV commercials and printed ads. During the next years, Carol embraced the glitzy modeling world by also appearing in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit videos and her own aerobic videos. She added to her modeling by posing for various product advertisements including Hanes, Virginia Slims, Pepsi, and General Motors. Like many other supermodels, Carol has also launched best-selling calendar and poster collections.

In the peak of her modeling career, Carol made a shocking statement insinuating that she would quit modeling. She said, "I just got bored of doing the same thing as all the other girls. Creating new things is what I get excited about."

Initiating her acting career on the big screen with a bit part in the documentary Portfolio (1983), Carol did not appear again in films until 1986, when Italian director Carlo Vanzina cast her as Margherita
in his movie Monte Napoleone. The rest of the 1980s saw her in a string of European films like My First Forty Years (1987), Cream Train (1988), Most Beautiful In the Kingdom (1989), Death to You (1989), and Speaking of the Devil (1991) as well as Miliardi/Millions (1991). She also acted in numerous TV movies and series, including Houston Knights (1987), Capitol (1982), Love for Life (1988), and Desert Law (1989). Additionally, Carol once performed on stage in a production of Sweet Charity (starring Debbie Allen) in L.A.

Carol's breakout role was a controversial woman who marries her father's murderer, Nancy Pertinace in Stuart Margolin's TV movie, Vendetta: Secrets of a Mafia Bride (1991), a role that she reprised on its sequel, Vendetta II: The New Mafia (1993). Carol then was seen in more syndicated series, notably playing Kelly LaRue in the adventure Thunder in Paradise (starring former wrestler Hulk Hogan), as Karen Oldham in Peter Benchley's Amazon, and as Monica Marini in Thinking of Africa (the latter two in 1999). Adding to her work on the small screen, Carol guest starred in several TV shows, most remembered in Howard Stern's Private Parts (1996) and Amazon (1999). She also re-wrote, co-produced and co-directed the miniseries Under the African Sun (1999, a.k.a. Thinking about Africa).

In the 2000s, Carol played roles in such films as My Best Friend's Wife (2001), Hitters (2002), The Look (2003), Snakehead Terror (2004), and The Signs of the Cross (2005). Her upcoming film projects included the TV movie Swarmed and Phil Gallo's fantasy-comedy Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe (starring Orson Bean).

Carol has also branched out her talent in singing and writing. She recently released a taped music video called As One In This World in Italy and published a self-story book about health and raw food titled Eating in the Raw in 2004.

"Just because you're beautiful, they think you can't act. It makes me work harder. I've got a lot to prove." Carol Alt.

Awards:

- European Telegattos
-  European Oscar Moda
-  The Golden Ticket Box-Office Award
-  The Mont Blanc Award
-  European Film Commission: the Certificate del Arte