Vanna White

  Vanna White (born Vanna Marie RosichFebruary 18, 1957) is an American television personality, known as the hostess of Wheel of Fortune since 1982. Vanna Marie Rosich was born on February 18, 1957, near North Myrtle Beach in Horry County, South Carolina, the daughter of Joan Marie (Nicholas) and Miguel Angel Rosich. Her parents divorced when she was an infant and she was raised by her mother, Joan, and stepfather, Herbert White Jr. (1925-2022), in North Myrtle Beach. White took the name of her stepfather, a former real estate broker. (On April 1, 2022, White announced, to an outpouring of support, that he had died peacefully that morning). After graduating from high school, White moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she attended The Atlanta School of Fashion and Design and worked as a model. She headed to Los Angeles in 1979 to pursue an acting career. She spent the summer of 1980 back in South Carolina with her mother, who was dying of ovarian cancer. Before her appearance on TV in 1980, White was a contestant in the Miss Georgia USA 1978 pageant.White's first appearance in a game show was on the June 20, 1980, episode of The Price Is Right, in which she was among the first four contestants. She did not make it on stage, but the clip of her running to Contestants' Row was rebroadcast as part of The Price Is Right 25th Anniversary Special in August 1996, The Price Is Right Celebrates 50 Years in September 2021 (in which she also appeared as a Guest Model during the show), and also was featured on the special broadcast Game Show Moments Gone Bananas. In 1980, White acted in a film that was not completed; the film was subsequently edited and released in June 1990 as Gypsy Angels. In 1981, she got a bit part in the film Looker and also appeared as Doris in the horror movie Graduation Day, an American slasher film directed by Herb Freed and produced by Troma Entertainment.