Emmanuelle Chriqui
Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui was a regular player in North American teen features and series before gaining widespread fame as Kevin Connolly's on-again, off-again girlfriend on "Entourage" (HBO, 2004-2011). Born Emmanuelle Sophie Anne Chriqui (pronounced SHREE-kee) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on December 10, 1975, she was the daughter of Sephardic Jews who hailed from Morocco. At the age of two years, Chriqui and her family moved to Toronto, Ontario, where she grew up in the suburb of Markham. An early interest in performing led to acting classes and her television debut in a fast-food commercial, which was followed by studies in the drama program at Unionville High School. After graduation, Chriqui moved to Vancouver, where she began working in Canadian television in 1995. Roles on series like "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" (YTV/Nickelodeon, 1990-2000) led to her American film debut in Adam Rifkin's comedy "Detroit Rock City" (1999). Prominent roles as romantic interests in such youth-oriented projects "Snow Day" (2000) and "On the Line" (2001) preceded her breakout role as Sloan McQuewick, the long-term and long-suffering romantic interest to Kevin Connolly's "E" on the HBO comedy-drama "Entourage." During the series' run, she worked steadily in features, most notably as Revetta Chess, wife of Chess Records co-founder Leonard Chess, in "Cadillac Records" (2008) and as Adam Sandler's love interest in the comedy "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" (2008). When "Entourage" concluded, Chriqui moved largely into independent features while enjoying several recurring roles on television series: she was the illegitimate daughter of the King of Naples on "The Borgias"(Showtime, 2011-13) and played Lorelei Martins, henchman to the serial killer Red John on "The Mentalist" (CBS, 2008-2015), while also lending her voice to several animated series, including the revived "ThunderCats" (Cartoon Network, 2011-12) and "Beware the Batman (Cartoon Network, 2013-14). She reprised her role as Sloan in the feature film version of "Entourage" (2015) before returning to network television as a regular on the short-lived "Shut Eye" (Hulu, 2016-18) and the Ridley Scott-produced science fiction drama "The Passage" (Fox, 2019-).