Vanessa Marcil-Giovinazzo is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Brenda Barrett Corinthos on General Hospital, Gina Kincaid on Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sam Marquez on Las Vegas. Marcil, the youngest of four children, was born in Indio, California, the daughter of Patricia Marcil, an herbalist, and Peter Ortiz, a contractor and self-made millionaire. Her parents are separated. Marcil's father is Mexican and her mother is an American of French, Italian and Portuguese ancestry. Marcil acted in a number of theatre productions before landing the role of Brenda Barrett on the... soap opera General Hospital in 1992. She garnered three Daytime Emmy Award nominations for her portrayal, winning in 2003 as Outstanding Supporting Actress. In February 1998, she was named Outstanding Lead Actress at the Soap Opera Digest Awards. In 1994, she was cast in the Prince music video, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", and made People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful list the next year.
more