A native of Long Beach, California, Derek began modeling at the young age of 15 in an effort to support her love of sports. Following an accidental meeting with an agent backstage at a Las Vegas show, she was signed on the spot, launching her acting debut as Annie, the unfortunate victim of a brutal whale attack in the terrorizing 1977 feature thriller "Orca." The dazzling beauty then leapt to stardom (and into American pop culture) in Blake Edwards' wildly popular and Oscar-nominated film "10," in which she starred opposite Julie Andrews as the focus of Dudley Moore's comic obsession. Derek further solidified her status as a silver screen sex symbol with roles in 1981's "Tarzan, the Ape Man" and the provocative 1984 feature "Bolero," both of which she produced alongside her late husband and director John Derek. Since then, she has appeared in a flurry of features, including "A Change in Seasons," starring Shirley MacLaine and Anthony Hopkins; "Hot Chocolate"; and the renowned hilarity "Tommy Boy," where she portrayed Chris Farley's evil and conniving step mother. Her television credits include recurring roles on "Two Guys and a Girl," "Still Standing" and the critically acclaimed "7th Heaven." She additionally hosted American Movie Classics' original series "The Hollywood Fashion Machine." In 2002, Derek released her much-anticipated memoir, entitled Riding Lessons: Everything that Matters in Life I Learned from Horses, which chronicles the life of a California beach girl, who at a young age was thrown into fame by becoming the epitome of the "Perfect 10" beauty. Derek additionally serves as a proud member of the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Most recently, she was appointed as the U.S. Secretary of State's Special Envoy for the Coalition against Wildlife Trafficking.