Diora Lynn Baird is an American actress and former model for Guess? who has appeared in films such as Wedding Crashers, Accepted, , Young People Fucking, My Best Friend's Girl, Stan Helsing, and Transit.
Early life
Baird was born in Miami, Florida. Her mother was also a model. She got into acting when her mother enrolled her in an acting class to help her overcome introversion. Later, she became vice president of her school's Thespian Society. At the age of 17, she moved to Los Angeles in hope of pursuing an acting career. To earn money while auditioning, she worked at The Gap as well as a clown at children's parties, caterer, waitress and pre-school teacher until breaking into the modeling industry, most notably with Guess?. Her exposure increased considerably with an appearance on the cover of the August 2005 issue of Playboy magazine. She was signed to Elite Model Management in Miami.
Career
In 2004, Baird also started earning acting roles, such as a guest appearance on the Drew Carey Show and in the low budget filmBrain Blockers. Her breakthrough appearance in a major film was in Wedding Crashers in 2005, which she followed up with roles in Accepted and Hot Tamale. In 2006, she appeared in four films, most notably a major role in the horror film'. In 2009, Baird portrayed an OrionStarfleet officer in Star Trek directed by J. J. Abrams but was cut from the final version of the film. She can be seen in the deleted scenes of the home video release. Baird had featured photo spreads in several magazines including Playboy, FHM, Stuff, Maxim, Toro and Esquire . She lent her voice to the as one of Tony Montana's possible girlfriends. Baird has also guest starred in episodes of Big Day, Shark, The Loop, and Two and a Half Men. She starred in the movie ', directed by Ben Ketai, which is produced by Columbia Pictures and Ghost House Pictures. Baird stars in the FEARnet webseries Tea Party Macabre, which is part of the series "Women in Horror Month". She also starred in the 2009 comedy Stan Helsing. She starred in a couple of videos for the Funny or Die website, including one with Garfunkel and Oates called "Go Running with Chicken" and "Sexy Dark Ages" with Robert Englund. She starred in another web video with the comedic duo called "This Party Took a Turn for the Douche". In 2010, she appeared in Night of the Demons. In February 2011, she starred in a short musical film called "Howlin' for You" for the bandThe Black Keys. She plays a porn star in her 2014 filmBeautiful Girl. Baird was cast in a recurring role in the Amazon Studios pilot Cocked along with costars Brian Dennehy, Jason Lee, Dreama Walker, and Sam Trammell. The show was not picked up for series. Baird guest starred in an episode of the Hulu series Casual.
Personal life
Baird and her ex-husband Jonathan Togo have one child. In 2017, Baird revealed that she was dating female comedian Mav Viola. Baird told The Advocate magazine that after years of assuming herself to be asexual, she identifies as lesbian. On December 29, 2017, Baird announced that she and Viola were engaged. They have since ended their relationship.
