Whether it was a sexy role in “Summer School” (1987), a smart role on “Ally McBeal” (Fox,1997-2000) or a troubled role on “Melrose Place” (Fox 1992-97), earthy blonde beauty Courtney Thorne-Smith delighted fans for almost twenty years, providing her own wit, depth and charm to “good girl” parts, which in lesser hands, could have come across as thankless and bland.

Thorne-Smith was born on Nov. 8, 1967 in San Francisco, CA and later graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, CA. She realized her love of acting while performing in a kindergarten production of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Her father, a computer market researcher, and her mother, a therapist, divorced when she was seven years old, leaving her to live with one or both of them at different stages of her childhood and teenage years. She began her career with the Ensemble Theatre Company in Mill Valley, CA while still a student in high school.

No one before or since had made a facial mole such a beautiful feature, and Cindy Crawford and her famous mole graced more magazines than anyone else in the world, boasting over 600 covers during her supermodel peak years throughout the 1990s. With her unique All-American look in a sea of exotic-looking Naomi Campbell’s, Linda Evangelista’s and Christy Turlington’s, she stood out from the pack. It did not hurt that her effervescent personality translated effectively to the small screen, most especially when hosting the then popular MTV program, “House of Style” (1989- ). Her personal life transfixed the public, most especially her romance with Hollywood leading man, Richard Gere. In fact, of all her supermodel peers, Crawford continued to fascinate and work consistently past the usual retirement years of her 30s – without having cocaine arrests or assault charges keeping her in the news.