 The eldest of five children, she was born in San Diego, California at the Balboa Naval Hospital, where her father, Thomas Howard, was a dentist in the U.S. Navy.At the age of two they moved to Ottumwa, Iowa and when she was fourteen the family moved to Davenport, Iowa.She has appeared in over 100 commercials, including Life Savers, the George Foreman Grill, Quaker Oats, Nexium, and AARP.