Caprice Bourret - Holidays in Southern France

Caprice Valerie Bourret (born October 24, 1971) is an American lingerie model, actress, television personality and businesswoman. Much of her career has been in the United Kingdom where she is known by her first name, although she has also made a number of appearances in American television programmes such as The Surreal Life.

Early life

Bourret (pronounced Bur-Ray) was born in Whittier, California to working class parents of French and Jewish ancestry. Dale Bourret and Valerie Pion;[2] who originate from Quebec, Canada. After growing up in Hacienda Heights, California, Caprice moved to the United Kingdom in 1996 to further her career in modeling. An appearance in a see-through dress at the 1996 British National Television Awards ceremony helped gain her public recognition.

Modeling career

At 25 she became one of the UK's best known models after becoming one of the models for Wonderbra. She has appeared on the covers of GQ, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Maxim, FHM and the 1998 Swimsuit Issue of Sports Illustrated. She was voted GQ magazine's Woman of the Year and Maxim's International Woman of the Year in three consecutive years. She has been featured in television ad campaigns for Diet Coke and Pizza Hut. She is currently the face of Paradise Poker.com, and appears on billboards and advertisements in London and elsewhere.

Lingerie line

In 2000, Bourret entered a licensing agreement with Debenhams, giving her name to a lingerie range. The line is now in its sixth season but has yet to make it to high-street success despite a 2009 relaunch in Liverpool. She also founded the company "by Caprice", which launched her own range of hair styling products including hair straighteners, however these didn't sell well and were quickly discounted to below half price by retailers.

Other work

Bourret appeared on stage in London in The Vagina Monologues and Rent. She also appeared in the low-budget films Hollywood Flies, Nailing Vienna, and Jinxed In Love, the soap operas Hollyoaks and The Dream Team, and the one-off comedy show Hospital!.

In 1998, Caprice became the host of a UK television series, "Caprice's Travels". The series involves Bourret's tour through several major holiday destinations across the world. Bourret has hosted Friday Night's All Wright as well as several award shows, including the European MTV awards and the Monaco World Music Awards in 1997, the British National Television Awards in 1996, 1997 and 1998, and several series for the television channels VH1 and E! Entertainment.

In 1999, Bourret released her first single as a pop singer, "Oh Yeah" (#24), then follow-up single "Once Around the Sun" (also #24), which was co-written by '90s one-hit wonder Chesney Hawkes

In early 2005, she appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK, where other contestants implied that she was only taking part in order to boost sales of her products. During a boozy game of 'spin the bottle confessions' on the show, she confessed to thinking about having a lesbian romp.

She was a cast member on the fifth season of the VH1 reality series The Surreal Life and has previously appeared in the reality shows Celebrities Under Pressure, Celebrities Disfigured, Three Celebrities and a Baby, and Road Raja.

Bourret travelled to Los Angeles, where she played in the World Poker Championship, coming in at 120th out of 700, beating actors Ben Affleck, Matthew Perry, Tobey Maguire, and James Woods.

In May 2006 Caprice captained the England Women's team in the Celebrity World Cup Soccer Six tournament, in which they lost to Brazil in the final. In June 2006 she starred in the English independent movie Perfect Woman, produced by Olympus Productions Limited.

In South Africa, she produced the hit off-Broadway musical Debbie Does Dallas at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre in January and February, 2007.

On 13th November, 2008 she came joint second with Jimmy Osmond in Celebrity Come Dine with Me, along with Nicky Clarke and Nancy Sorrell.

Charity work

Bourret has been an ambassador for the Prince's Trust, an ambassador for ChildLine, and is a committee member of Jewish Blind and Disabled, Action on Addiction,Breast Cancer Awareness and Battersea Dogs Home.