Vanna Marie White (née Rosich; born February 18, 1957) is an American television personality and game show hostess. She is best known as the co-host of Wheel of Fortune, a position she has held since 1982. She began her career as a model while studying fashion, competing in Miss Georgia USA in 1978. In addition to her work on Wheel of Fortune, she has played minor characters or appeared as herself in many films and television series, and she is the author of the 1987 autobiography Vanna Speaks. White also participates in real estate investment, owns the yarn brand Vanna's Choice, and patronizes St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Early life Vanna Marie Rosich was born on February 18, 1957, near North Myrtle Beach in Horry County, South Carolina, the daughter of Joan Marie (Nicholas) and Miguel Angel Rosich. Her parents divorced when she was an infant and she was raised by her mother, Joan, and Joan's second husband, Herbert White Jr. (1925–2022), in North Myrtle Beach. White took the surname of her mother's second husband, a former real estate broker. (On April 1, 2022, White announced, to an outpouring of support, that he had died peacefully that morning.) After graduating from high school, White moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she attended The Atlanta School of Fashion and Design and worked as a model. She headed to Los Angeles in 1979 to pursue an acting career. She spent the summer of 1980 back in South Carolina with her mother, who was dying of ovarian cancer. Career Television, motion picture, and other media appearances Before her appearance on TV in 1980, White was a contestant in the Miss Georgia USA 1978 pageant. White's first appearance in a game show was on the June 20, 1980, episode of The Price Is Right, in which she was among the first four contestants. She did not make it on stage, but the clip of her running to Contestants' Row was rebroadcast as part of The Price Is Right 25th Anniversary Special in August 1996, The Price Is Right Celebrates 50 Years in September 2021 (in which she also appeared as a Guest Model during the show), and also was featured on the special broadcast Game Show Moments Gone Bananas. In 1980, White acted in a film that was not completed; the film was subsequently edited and released in June 1990 as Gypsy Angels. In 1981,