Bo Derek portrays the ruthless
fashion mogul Maria Gianni in
"Fashion House." A cutthroat fashion
mogul who rules the fashion world
and runs her company Gianni, Inc.
with an iron fist, Maria spares no
one, including her family, of her
rage. Never one to take "no" for an
answer, Maria's accustomed to
receiving whatever she pleases but
is suddenly whirled into a life of
uncertainty, blackmail and despair
at the hands of a tangled love
triangle that puts her life's work
in jeopardy.
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.