Vanessa Lachey’s journey from her early years to her current role in the “NCIS” series began when she achieved fame as Miss Teen USA in 1998. Following her win, she balanced a series of minor acting gigs with a successful career in hosting. She started by presenting various MTV programs and then secured a spot as a correspondent and occasional guest host on “Entertainment Tonight” from 2005 to 2024. Nowadays, she is perhaps most recognized for co-hosting the popular Netflix dating series “Love is Blind” alongside her husband, Nick Lachey.

In terms of acting, her most noteworthy role is Jane Tennant in “NCIS: Hawai’i,” a character she has reprised in episodes of the original “NCIS” series and a guest appearance on “NCIS: Los Angeles.” While her filmography is limited, her cinematic debut was in a major film: the 2007 “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” Unfortunately, this film added to the list of underperforming Marvel movies at the box office, effectively ending that version of the “Fantastic Four” series (though subsequent reboots haven’t fared much better, but that’s another story).

In “Rise of the Silver Surfer,” she plays an unnamed date of Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), attending the wedding of his sister Sue (Jessica Alba) and her groom, Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd). While Johnny revels in the media spotlight at the event, a journalist asks Lachey’s character about her experience dating the Human Torch, to which she humorously replies, “Fireproof lingerie … and a lot of aloe.”

Among minor roles in Marvel films, this one remains particularly entertaining for Lachey. Chris Evans, who portrayed Johnny Storm, and his co-star Michael Chiklis, who took on the role of Ben Grimm/The Thing, both cherish their time in these “Fantastic Four” films. Some critics argued that the humor overshadowed the films’ attempts to explore deeper or more intricate themes beyond simple superhero entertainment. Regardless, the movies are enjoyable relics of their era, and “Rise of the Silver Surfer” arguably stands out as Lachey’s most memorable movie role to date.