Tiffani Amber Thiessen was born on January 23, 1974 in Long Beach, California to Robyn Ernest, a homemaker & Frank Thiessen, a park designer. She grew up in Long Beach with her parents and her brothers, professional cyclist Todd (born August 1, 1968) and Schyler (born May 10, 1977). When Tiffani was 8, her uncle,
Roger Ernest, suggested that she try acting and modeling. Soon afterward, she appeared in her first TV commercial, for Peaches and Cream Barbie. From there she started competing in several beauty pageants and, in 1987, she won the Miss Junior America pageant.
She got her big break when she was cast as the popular cheerleader Kelly Kapowski on the NBC series
Saved by the Bell (1989), which lasted for five years. But this was not at all the end of her career. Coinciding with the cancellation of the short-lived
Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993), she was cast as the bitchy, conniving vixen Valerie Malone on
Aaron Spelling's long-running hit series
Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990). Here, she played the constant enemy of Kelly Taylor, played by
Jennie Garth, although in real life, the two are actually best friends. Tiffani also lived with co-star
Brian Austin Green for several years. She stayed with the show until 1998 and then left to pursue her movie career. The result was two independent movies, followed by two comedies and then
Hollywood Ending (2002), in which she starred alongside
Woody Allen.
She met actor
Richard Ruccolo while guest starring as Marti in the hit sitcom
Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (1998) where in 2001, the couple became engaged. During the fall of 2002, she co-starred with best friend Jennie's husband,
Peter Facinelli, and
Bill Bellamy on Fox's action/drama series,
Fastlane (2002), where she starred as Billie Chambers, but the show was canceled after one season. In 2003, Tiffani broke off her engagement to
Richard Ruccolo and in 2005, she married actor
Brady Smith. The couple have two children, a daughter,
Harper Smith (Harper Renn Smith) and a son, Holt Fisher Smith.