Kelly Brook

Brook was born Kelly Anne Parsons in Rochester, Kent, the daughter of Sandra Kelly, a cook, and Kenneth Parsons, a scaffolder. She has a younger brother, Damian, and an older half-sister, Sasha. Kenneth Parsons died, aged 57, in Rochester from lung cancer, on 26 November 2007, during Brook's time on Strictly Come Dancing. Brook attended the Thomas Aveling School in Warren Wood, Rochester. In 1996, at the age of seventeen, she appeared in the second series of Fist of Fun, the BBC comedy show from Stewart Lee and Richard Herring as a schoolgirl in a series of sketches entitled 'Teachers' (one of her co-stars was the young Daniel Mays). She studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts for three years, before becoming a professional model at the age of 16. Brook's modelling career began at 16 after she won a beauty competition, into which her mother had entered her. She later worked on a range of advertising campaigns, including Foster's Lager, Renault Mégane, Walker's crisps, Piz Buin and Bravissimo, a company that specialises in bras and lingerie for large-breasted women. Soon after, she caught the eye of the editorial team of the Daily Star tabloid, which began featuring her as a Page Three girl. Brook's picture soon began appearing in other lads' mags such as GQ, Loaded and FHM. A poll of over 5,000 women for Grazia magazine considered her to have the best British female body. She also topped the "FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World" list in 2005, which was said to have polled 15 million people. Appearing in this list every year since 1998, she ranked No. 34 in 2008, No. 67 in 2009, and No. 7 in 2010. She was the cover star of FHM's World Cup 2010 special issue, and was on the cover of the magazine in April 2011.

In February 2007, it was announced that Brook had signed a contract, reported to be worth around £1m, to represent Unilever's Lynx body spray, known as "Axe" in the US and in continental Europe. She has appeared on billboards, in newspapers and on-line as part of their advertising campaign. She also appeared in commercials for Sky+ and T-Mobile and modelled for Reebok. In 2010, she was chosen as the "new face and body" of lingerie maker Ultimo's advertising campaign. In September 2010, Brook appeared in the American edition of Playboy magazine. In October 2010, Brook appeared live at Clapham Picture House to surprise cinemagoers as part of a promotion for Carlsberg and Sky 3D. In November 2010, Brook presented an award at MTV's EMA's in Madrid. Brook produced a line of swimwear with New Look, for which she has modelled. In September 2014, Brook launched a clothing line for Simply Be. The following year, she became a brand ambassador for Skechers.

In 2000, Brook made her full-screen debut with a minor role in the film Sorted. Shortly after that, she appeared in the film Ripper. She played the girlfriend of Clark Kent/Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor in four episodes of the American science fiction drama Smallville during the show's first season (2001–02). She has also completed assignments as a film actress in Canada and made a short appearance as Lyle's girlfriend in the 2003 film The Italian Job. Her first starring role was in the 2004 film School for Seduction, for which she received positive reviews. In 2004, she played character Nikki Morris in the video game Need for Speed Underground 2, alongside Brooke Burke. In 2005, she appeared in the Philippe Vidal thriller House of 9, and starred opposite Billy Zane in the survival thriller Survival Island, also known as Three.

In 2006, she starred in an Agatha Christie's Marple drama on ITV and appeared as herself throughout the second series of Moving Wallpaper, also for ITV, in 2009. She acted in the science fiction thriller Shadow Play, directed by Nick Simon. Brook had a leading role in the horror comedy remake Piranha 3D. The film received a worldwide theatrical release on 20 August 2010. Piranha 3D opened to generally positive reviews and commercial success, grossing $83.2 million on a budget of $24 million. Kelly also played as herself in the 2012 British comedy film Keith Lemon: The Film. In 2013, Brook appeared in the video to Lawson's song "Juliet". In 2014 she was cast as Prudence in an NBC sitcom pilot called One Big Happy, which was subsequently picked up on 9 May.