If you grew up in the 1990’s, you likely know the name Carmen Electra. She rose to fame during that decade and became one of the most popular celebrities of the 90’s. She has had many different roles in the entertainment industry, from model and actor to TV host and performer. Did you know that she even sang and danced at one point?
She has made a name for herself in various ways and continues to find innovative ways to stay relevant. Through the ups and downs of her career and personal life, she has always remained consistent and hard working. Carmen has become very versatile in the projects and appearances she will be involved in. She has done things like played herself on an episode of Jane the Virgin. She won an MTV Movie and TV Award for Best Kiss in 2004, after appearing in the movie Starsky and Hutch. She got another best kiss from celeb Paris Hilton, who presented her with that award. She also appeared in Lil Kim’s music video No Matter What They Say. No matter what she has been involved in, she has always had a solid fan base, with the general public truly supporting and adoring her. She has more than one million followers on Instagram and has really solid engagement on her social media platforms. But with such a wonderful career, how has she been able to endure decade after decade? Who is the woman behind the fame? Check out the transformation of Carmen Electra through the years.
Carmen Electra was born with the name Tara Leigh Patrick. She was born in Sharonville, Ohio on April 20, 1972. Her father performed with Bootsy Collins playing guitar and her mother was a backup singer for him too. She was destined for entertainment life from the beginning because of her parent’s professions. “I always wanted to be a star,” she said in 1997. “When I was three years old I sort of decided that this is what I wanted to do.”
She started taking ballet and dancing when she was a child. By age 9, she was enrolled in the School for Creative and Performing Arts located in Cincinnati, Ohio. In her school production of Peter Pan, she played Tiger Lily, while Nick Lacey of 98 Degrees played a lost boy in the same play.
She finished high school in 1990 and unofficially continued her training in performance by working at an amusement park called King’s Island. “It was an amusement park, and I danced there in a magic show. It was a cheesy magic show,” she said. She wanted more though, and decided that she would start saving her money to move to Los Angeles, California to make her dreams come true.
At age 18, she moved to Los Angeles and got one of her first gigs dancing on the show Soul Train. She said that she was “18 and broke, trying to make it.” She got her big break when legendary singer Prince’s protege, Robin Power, saw her at a nightclub and said she was exactly what they were looking for. She told she had the look they wanted for Prince’s newly formed girl group. She did not make the group, but Prince offered her the chance to be a solo artist on his record label. “He wrote me a song called, ‘Carmen on Top,'” she recalled. “I loved it, but I reminded him that my name was Tara. He told me, ‘You look like a Carmen, so, to me, you’re Carmen.'”
From there, she had huge breaks on television, in music, and beyond. She dated some of the most interesting celebrities of that time, from Prince to basketball player Dennis Rodman.
