Vanessa Viola, the daughter of a Filipino, Irish, and German father and Filipina mother, is the fourth child of five. Their loving and very protective father moved his family onto a ten acre farm in a small town in Northern California. Living out in the "boondocks" left a lot of time for Vanessa's imagination and creativity to flourish and having two older brothers turned her into a tough little girl. Vanessa was scouted by a model agent. At 16, she was chosen as a model in the Macy's Passport Show in San Francisco where she shared the runway with supermodels Vendetta, Rebecca Romign, and Marcus Schenkenberg. That summer she graduated from high school and went on to get her degree in Media Arts from CSU, Chico. While in college she learned the "behind the scenes" of film making. Although she tried to hide it, her true passion was in acting. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream. Determined to hone the craft she immediately started taking acting classes and six months later was signed by a manager. A National TV commercial for Verizon Wireless quickly followed before Vanessa booked roles on ABC's General Hospital, MTV's The Andy Dick Show, and ABC's short lived sitcom My Adventures in Television. Later, she branched out into film booking her first supporting role in the short, "Liquid Confidence," produced by Brett Ratner. Her first short film to circulate the festivals, "Frame of Mind," directed by Simon Joeker, was recently picked up by HBO Latin. Most recently she booked her first lead role in an independent feature, "Against the Grain," directed by Tyronne Laforrest. She can also be found in ads for Nike Women, Yamaha Speakers, Suzuki, and countless commercials with major brands such as Jack in the Box, Motorola, Burger King, Toyota, and Right Guard.
