Vanessa Ferlito

Ferlito grew up hanging out in her mother's Brooklyn hair salon and dreaming of stardom. A brief modeling stint with the Wilhelmina agency in the mid-'90s brought her into the glamorous downtown New York City club scene, where she quickly began hosting parties and attracting attention. Encouraged to get an agent after she appeared in a cover story in New York Magazine, Ferlito transitioned to acting and in 2001 landed her debut role on "The Sopranos;" it would turn out to be the one of her few roles that drew upon her native Italian-American heritage. Her sultry looks next found her playing an Internet adult film star in "On_Line," and a drug czar's trophy girlfriend on the third season of "24." After leaving Jack Bauer and Co. in 2004, Ferlito was cast as hotheaded investigator Aiden Burn on the popular "CSI: NY," where she stayed for nearly two years before moving on to portray a cheerleader under witness protection in 2005's "Man of the House." In a lucky break, Quentin Tarantino paid a visit to the set one day and became so enamored of the freewheeling actress that he cast her as the brazen Arlene in "Death Proof," whose iconic lap dance with Kurt Russell was cut from the original theatrical release but later restored on DVD. In 2008, a year after giving birth to son Vince, Ferlito was featured in the ensemble family drama "Nothing Like the Holidays," and later appeared in the critically-acclaimed "Julie & Julia" (2009). After a supporting role opposite Shia LaBeouf in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," Ferlito joined the cast of USA's edgy "Graceland" (2013-15) as Catherine "Charlie" DeMarco, an FBI agent who goes deep undercover.