Emmanuelle Chriqui was born on December 10th, 1977 in the Canadian city of Montreal. The Chriqui (pronounced shree-kee) family is Moroccan and Emmanuelle has both an older sister and an older brother. They moved to Toronto when Emmanuelle was about 6 years old and this is where she grew up.

a commercial beginning

When she was 9, she realized that acting was something she wanted to do more than anything else. Her parents couldn't afford acting lessons for their youngest daughter but Serge, her older brother who was 18 at the time, dipped into his own pockets and paid for the classes himself.

With her family's unshakable support, a 10-year-old Emmanuelle began her acting career in a McDonald's commercial, with a dancing cheeseburger on her sweatshirt. More commercials followed but she had yet to be a superstar.

going places

After a few years, Chriqui relocated to Vancouver and began auditioning for TV shows. Supporting herself by working as a waitress -- a flexible job that let her make her own schedule -- she landed guest-starring roles in the mid-'90s, in Canadian series such as Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Forever Knight, Kung Fu, Once a Thief, and Psi Factor.

Then came a succession of TV movies that allowed her to receive more exposure, including Harrison Bergeron (1995) with Christopher Plummer and Sean Astin, Unwed Father (1997), Principal Takes a Holiday (1998) with Kevin Nealon, and Futuresport (1998) with Wesley Snipes and Vanessa Williams.

With these projects under her belt, Chriqui was ready for meatier parts. Hollywood came calling and she was offered a supporting role in Detroit Rock City (1999), the story of four teenage boys who try to attend a KISS concert.

Even though her screen time was limited, it served as a stepping stone and her next movie, Snow Day (2000), put her on the map. In this Nickelodeon production, Emmanuelle portrayed Claire Bonner, the most popular girl in school. Once again, her name wasn't on the marquee but she left an impression and even starred in the Hoku music video for "Another Dumb Blonde" (from the Snow Day soundtrack).

shrieking for more

Emmanuelle's next projects were the horror thriller Ricky 6 (2000) and the little-seen teen sex comedy, 100 Girls (2000). In the latter, she played Patty, a promiscuous artsy girl who turns out to be the most three-dimensional character in the film, having a more significant part than anticipated.

Just when things started picking up for the raven-haired actress, she got the chance of a lifetime and was selected to appear in the Steven Spielberg science-fiction epic, Artificial Intelligence: AI.

Chriqui was on the set for three days in the summer of 2000, but unfortunately her scene wound up on the cutting room floor. The same fate awaited her later that summer when she participated in the shooting of Todd Solondz's Storytelling, with Selma Blair.

'n sync with fame

Still making her way up the Hollywood hierarchy, she won the coveted female lead in On the Line (2001), also known as the 'N Sync movie because it starred group members Lance Bass and Joey Fatone. She wasn't very knowledgeable about the band but got to hang out with them for a month before shooting and built chemistry with the boys. In the process, she made a lot of teenage girls jealous.

Chriqui's next role came two years later when she appeared alongside Eliza Dushku as Carly, a girl who is stalked by cannibals in Wrong Turn (2003). Currently living in L.A. and New York City, she has just finished shooting the fourth installment of the popular The Crow series, called The Crow: Wicked Prayer, which stars Edward Furlong, Tara Reid and Dennis Hopper; it's scheduled for release in 2004.