Emmanuelle Chriqui Biography 

Canadian born actress Emmanuelle Chriqui broke onto the scene in the late 90s and enjoyed her heyday for the next five years. She is most associated with her work in Detroit Rock City, On the Line, and Wrong Turn. More recently, she has appeared in several episodes of the hit series Entourage.

Emmanuelle Sophie Anne Chriqui was born December 10, 1977 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her unique last name is pronounced like the English word “shreeky.” Her parents were both Moroccan immigrants, and they raised the family within a Jewish Orthodox household. Chriqui is the youngest of three children. She has one sister and one brother.

Chriqui was raised in Toronto in the Unionville neighborhood. Knowing she was interested in acting, she began lessons when she was a child. With the interest still intact, she pursued drama at Unionville High School.

Chriqui’s first work in the acting field came when she was only ten. At this young age, she appeared in her first commercial, which was for McDonald’s.

By the mid-90s, Chriqui relocated to Vancouver in order to more fully pursue her film and television career. The move proved fruitful as she soon landed a series of television guest appearances. The first of these appearances was on Kung Fu: the Legend Continues with David Carradine and Chris Potter.

She even landed a spot in the popular children’s mystery show Are You Afraid of the Dark opposite series regulars Ross Hull, Joanna Garcia, and Daniel DeSanto. Just beginning her career, Elisha Cuthbert also appeared in Chriqui’s episode as the “young girl.”

Chriqui landed her first recurring role in 1997 when she lent her voice to the anime cartoon Kyûketsuki Miyu. Chriqui remained with the show until 1998, and during that time, she worked with Ryan Alosio, Anjuli Cain, and Stephanie Denise Griffin.

After frequent film and television appearances, she landed a breakout role in 1999 when she played Barbara in Detroit Rock City opposite Giuseppe Andrews, James DeBello, and Natasha Lyonne.

Winning increasingly visible roles, Chriqui next appeared in Snow Day. Although the movie was met with a mediocre reception, the cast was still strong with Jean Smart, Pam Grier, and Chevy Chase.

Next, she got her name into the mainstream with leads in 100 Girls (with Jonathan Tucker and Katherine Heigl) as well as On the Line opposite Lance Bass and Joey Fatone.

She broke out of her romantic mold in 2003, however, when she costarred in the horror film Wrong Turn with Desmond Harrington and Eliza Dushku.

Although she seemed to be in the prime of her career, roles began to slow considerably at this time.

Since then, Chriqui’s career has been marked by appearances on The O.C. with Peter Gallagher and Mischa Barton as well as a recurring role in Entourage starring Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, and Perrey Reeves.

Her career seems to have received the necessary revitalization, though, because Chriqui currently has four projects in production.