Traci Bingham Perhaps best known for donning the red swimsuit as the first African American actress on Baywatch from 1996 to 1998, Traci Bingham has made a career out of looking gorgeous. Bingham was born as Julie Anne Smith on January 13, 1968 in Cambridge, Massachusetts . Her mother is of African American descent while her father is Native American. After graduating high school, Bingham attended Harvard Extension School to study psychology, which is open to the public and taught by Harvard professors. She dropped out of the school after three semesters. Bingham was married to Robb Vallier for five years before the relationship ended in divorce in 2001. She became engaged to John Yarborough, an investment banker, in 2003. Bingham is also a vegetarian. A combination of Baywatch and posing nude for Playboy magazine on numerous occasions launched Bingham into the limelight in the mid-1990s. One of Bingham’s more memorable Playboy photo spreads was for the “Babes of Baywatch” issue in 1998. It is rumored that Bingham has had numerous plastic surgeries to enhance her bust and change her face. Following her work on Baywatch, Bingham remained friends with some of the members of the cast. She even attended the wedding of former cast member, Carmen Electra and her husband Dave Navarro in November of 2003.
Other than Baywatch, Bingham has worked on television shows like Dream Team and Beverly Hills 90210. She has also had minor spots on series like Married with Children and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Bingham has recently returned to television to star in various reality television shows like The Surreal Life. She was a part of the second season cast which also included Trishelle Cannatella, Erik Estrada, Tammy Faye Messner, Ron Jeremy, and Vanilla Ice. Bingham is making her rounds on reality TV. Following her commitment to The Surreal Life, Bingham starred on the version of Celebrity Big Brother season 6. Other members of the cast included Michael Barrymore, Pete Burns, Dennis Rodman, and Samuel Preston. On the show it was rumored that Bingham and Rodman had become involved romantically. Bingham was the 6th place runner up on the show and won a donation to the charity of her choice, Families of SMA. Her niece died of SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). In 2005, Bingham began using her celebrity status as the spokesperson for Empire Poker, which is an online gambling site. To promote the site, Bingham would attend various events, uninvited, wearing a skimpy low-cut tee shirt with the company’s logo on it. | 
