Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, television personality, entertainer and sex symbol. She gained fame for her appearances in Playboy magazine, on the MTV game show Singled Out, on the TV series Baywatch and Summerland, for her appearances dancing with the Pussycat Dolls, and has since become recognizable for her roles in the parody films Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and Disaster Movie.
Electra became so popular among readers of Playboy that she was featured in the magazine three more times, with her second appearance in June 1997. She subsequently graced the cover twice, in December 2000 and April 2003. In the Playboy Cyber Club, she was the first woman invited to be a celebrity guest photographer; she chose Playmate Jennifer Walcott as her subject model.
Electra has appeared in several films, such as Good Burger (1997), The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999), the horror spoof Scary Movie (2000) and also appeared in Scary Movie 4 (2006), Epic Movie (2007), Date Movie (2006), the remake of the 1970s TV show Starsky & Hutch (2004) and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. She won an MTV Movie Award (best kiss) for Starsky & Hutch. Her acting work is generally panned by critics.
In 1999, she appeared in the Bloodhound Gang's music video of "The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dope." In 2005, she joined the voice cast of the animated series Tripping the Rift, replacing Gina Gershon as the voice of the sexy android "Six". Also in 2005, she began the Naked Women's Wrestling League, acting as the commissioner for the professional wrestling promotion. In late 2006, Carmen began to be featured in commercials by Taco Bell.
Electra is the current spokesmodel for Ritz Camera Centers, appearing in their television and print ads with CEO David Ritz. She is featured in some video spoofs of Lonelygirl15 that are advertising Epic Movie.
She is a playable character in the video game Def Jam: Fight for New York and is one of the celebrity challenges in the video game ESPN NFL 2K5, along with Steve-O, Jamie Kennedy and others.
