B&B

Background:

Former beauty queen turned actress Jennifer Gareis is perhaps best known to soap opera fans for portraying Grace Turner on “The Young and the Restless” from 1997 to 1999, in 2000 and 2002 and from January to August 2004, and as Donna Logan in “The Bold and the Beautiful” from July 2006 to present. She has acted in several films, including “Miss Congeniality” (2000), “The 6th Day” (2000), “Gangland” (2001), “Boat Trip” (2002), “What Boys Like” (2003) and “Venus on the Halfshell” (2005).

Gareis has a young son named Gavin Blaze Gareis Ghassemieh (born in 2010). On rumors she dated Ronn Moss, she commented, “They are not true. I do specifically remember the whole rumour because my mother called me. Everyone was asking her. Mum would say, 'I hope she would tell me before it's in a magazine'. We had a good laugh.”

Swimming

Childhood and Family:

Jennifer Lynne Gareis was born on August 1, 1970, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After graduating from McCaskey High School, she majored in accounting at Franklin and Marshall College, in which she was an NCAA All-American swimmer in the butterfly stroke. Later, she returned to school to pursue her MBA at Pepperdine University. Jennifer has trained as a competitive swimmer since age 5.

On June 11, 2010, Jennifer gave birth to her first child, son Gavin Blaze Gareis Ghassemieh.

Y&R

Career:

Jennifer Gareis entered the beauty pageant arena in 1992 when she competed at the Miss Pennsylvania USA. She finished 2nd runner up at the contest. Two years later, she crowned the Miss New York 1994 title, and then represented New York in the Miss USA 1994 pageant held in South Padre Island, Texas on February 11, 1994. She placed the top 6 finalist in the nationally televised pageant. Gareis also won the Miss Hawaiian Tropic, among other titles.

Gareis began acting in 1996 when she landed an uncredited part in “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” a romance film produced and directed by and starring Barbra Streisand. The following year, she appeared in the biopic “Private Parts,” which is adapted from the 1993 best selling book of the same name by radio personality Howard Stern, and “Lifebreath,” a drama/thriller movie directed by P.J. Posner and starring Luke Perry, Francie Swift and Gia Carides.

Gareis' big break arrived when she was recruited to play Grace Turner on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless,” following the departure of original actress Josie Davis in 1997. Gareis began playing the role on February 26, 1997 and remained until November 22, 1999. She later returned briefly in 2000 and 2002, and on a recurring basis from January to August 2004.

In 1998, Gareis returned to features with a role on the Tom Keenan comedy “Enough Already,” starring Alanna Ubach, David Wheir and Rick Gomez. She then appeared in “Luckytown” (2000), a drama film starring Kirsten Dunst, James Caan and Vincent Kartheiser, the Arnold Schwarzenegger box office hit science fiction movie, “The 6th Day” (2000) and the Sandra Bullock successful vehicle “Miss Congeniality” (2000), in which she played the role of Tina. In 2001, Gareis starred with Michael Yurchak in the independent film “College Try,” was featured in the thriller movie “Downward Angel,” which was directed and helmed by Kevin Lewis, worked with Costas Mandylor, Sasha Mitchell, Kathleen Kinmonta nd Ice-T in the action film “Gangland” and co-starred with Peter D. Aston and Kimberley Davies in the short “ Feather Pimento.” The same year, she also made a guest appearance in “Diagnosis Murder.” Gareis portrayed Sheri in “Boat Trip,” a 2002 romantic comedy film helmed by Mort Nathan and starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Horatio Sanz, Vivica A. Fox, Roselyn Sanchez and Roger Moore, “What Boys Like” (2003), Brooke in the comedy film “What Boys Like” (2003), starring Christopher Wiehl, Lisa Brenner and Alex Nesic, and Charlie in the direct to video “Air Strike” (2004), opposite Robert Rusler and Fredric Lehne.

After leaving “Y&R” in 2004, Gareis landed the recurring role of Cheyenne on “Veronica Mars” (2005). The same year, she also played the role of Honey O'Hara on the film “Venus on the Halfshell.”

In July 2006, Gareis began her famed recurring role as Donna Logan on the CBS soap “The Bold and the Beautiful.” She keeps the role to this day.

In the meantime, Gareis was cast as Ecstatic Blonde in the 2006 short “Escape.” In 2007, she played Susan in the made for TV film “Point of Entry.”

Awards:
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