Olivia Munn (born July 2, 1982) is an American actress, model, and television personality. She began her career being credited as Lisa Munn. However, since 2006, she has been using the name Olivia Munn professionally. Also since 2006, Munn has been one of the faces of the cable network G4, hosting a number of shows for the network, the most prominent being Attack of the Show!, with co-host Kevin Pereira.


Biography

Early life

Lisa Olivia Munn was born in Oklahoma to mother Kim Munn and father Sam Munn. She is of Chinese descent on her mother's side and of Caucasian descent on her father's.[1] When Munn was two, her mother re-married to a man in the Air Force.[1] Although the family relocated many times, Munn was predominantly raised in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, Japan,[2] where the military assigned her stepfather. During this time, she had appeared in a number of local theater productions, and later became a model within the Japanese fashion industry.[3]

Early career

Munn moved back to the United States, settling in Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career. In 2004, she interned at Fox Sports Net and worked as a sideline reporter for college football and women's basketball. She has gone on to say that she disliked the experience, explaining "I was trying to be something I wasn’t, and that made me really uncomfortable on live TV."[2] Munn had also gained a small role in the straight to video horror film Scarecrow Gone Wild.

In late 2005, Munn began her portrayal of Milly Acuna, a teen surfer, over two seasons of the TV drama Beyond the Break[4] on The N network. She enjoys surfing and continues to practice the sport.[5] She originally auditioned for the part of Kai, but the producers wanted a "local girl".[6] She also appeared in the film The Road to Canyon Lake.

Attack of the Show!

In 2006, Munn moved on to the G4 network, where she began co-hosting Attack of the Show! with Kevin Pereira on April 10, 2006. She was replacement for host Sarah Lane, who left the show along with Brendan Moran to get married. The network, devoted to the world of video games and the video game lifestyle, was at first hesitant to hire Munn. Although she admits video games were her "weak point", she was confident in her technical knowledge.[7] On the show, Munn is featured with journalist Anna David in a segment of the program called "In Your Pants", which deals with sex and relationship questions from viewers. While working on Attack of the Show!, Munn hosted Formula D, a now defunct program about American drift racing, and an online podcast called Around the Net (formerly known as The Daily Nut), for G4.

Acting career

Munn will make her debut in a large Hollywood film in the upcoming Rob Schneider movie Big Stan. She will play Schneider's character's receptionist Maria. Munn will also have a role in the 2008 horror film Insanitarium.

Modeling career

Munn is a successful model and has booked campaigns for Nike, Pepsi and Neutrogena. She appeared on Fall 2006 cover of Foam magazine in September, and Men's Edge magazine in August, and was featured in a pictorial in Complex magazine in November 2006. In February 2007, she appeared as "Babe of the Month" in a non-nude pictorial in Playboy magazine.[8] Munn also appeared in the July/August 2007 issue of Men's Health magazine. In September 2007, she was featured in the magazine, Italian Vanity Fair for their "Hot Young Hollywood" Issue.