Name: Cora Skinner

Birthplace: Alexandra, Va., USA

Now Lives: Hollywood, Calif., USA

Birthday: June 18, 1985

Stats: 5'8", 120 lbs., 34C-23-35

In a town full of blonde bombshells, Cora Skinner is an unforgettable brunette.

She grew up a tomboy on a ranch and studied accounting in college, but she ended up going full-time as a professional model, appearing in Maxim, FHM, Dreamgirls, Muscle & Fitness, Hot Bikes, Sport Truck, KMC Wheels, Benchwarmer, and the Lingerie Bowl, among others.

She said to look for her on a behind-the-scenes interview on E! Television channel this September and as a Dreamgirls Lingerie spokesmodel in 2008.

Even though she's never posed nude in Playboy, she appears in advertisements for the Playboy Club at the Palms Casino in Vegas. You know, the one where the guy is gambling with three ravishing goddesses in bunny outfits who happen to be two-dimensional centerfold girls. She's the brunette, obviously.

After her photo shoot with Studio 8's Barry Smith, Savvy got to know Cora a little better...

Savvy: You are an amazing beauty. What's your ancestry?

Cora: Thank you for the compliment. I'm Sicilian, Irish and Scottish.

Savvy: You have that well-bred air about you. It is easy to picture you at a country club.

Cora: My parents are pretty well off, but they are very non-materialistic. I grew up on a 70-acre ranch in a tiny town in Central California, and up until I was about 8, we lived in a mobile home. I didn't even think it odd that we lived in a trailer at the time. My dad ended up designing and constructing our house when my mother finally convinced him to.

Savvy: What did they do?

Cora: My father is a scientist and has an orchard on the side. My mother is a teacher at the local elementary school. My sister and I had her for third and fourth grade, and we were always great students.

Savvy: Did you always want to be a model?

Cora: I actually wanted to be a chef when I was little, then a lawyer, then a business woman. It wasn't until I moved down to Long Beach to study accounting that I actually got involved in modeling, but now I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Savvy: What's the best advice your mom ever gave you?

Cora: She told me "Nothing in the world worth having is easy to get". Whenever I get overwhelmed, she always gives me the confidence to keep working to achieve everything I can.

Savvy: You've done a lot of high-profile modeling work. How did your Savvy shoot compare?

Cora: I had so much fun at the photo shoot! It was at a friend's mansion in Beverly Hills and Barry, the photographer, was so great. He and the stylist came up with the best looks and set-ups. I think the pictures came out really sexy and sophisticated. They have the whole "Guess?" jeans feel.

Savvy: Where do you hope to go with the modeling?

Cora: I just hope to continue getting modeling jobs that excite me and allow me to express myself. I want to work for as many catalogs as I can, and I love shooting spreads in magazines. There are a couple of jobs that, if I was given the opportunity to do, would be the pinnacle of my life, but I don't want to jinx it! I want to model for as long as I can and then hopefully be able to focus on raising a family.

Savvy: Your personality is a bit of a mystery from looking at your photos.

Cora: I would describe myself as fun-loving, witty, sarcastic, carefree, random, restless, and flirty. I can have a great time, no matter what I'm doing if I'm with the people I love the most. I love going to concerts and the beach, and I love just laying low.

Savvy: What were you like in high school?

Cora: I was on the dance team, and I did competitive cheer, choir, gymnastics, and I was on the diving team.

Savvy: Well, let's just dive into some personal questions... What kind of guy are you attracted to?

Cora: A good sense of humor is honestly the most important thing. When a guy makes me laugh, it automatically makes me think he's cute. As far as the physical, I like really tall guys with dark hair and tattoos. I like men who are real and aren't putting on a front or acting the way they think will make women like them. I love men who are bad boys but good men.

Savvy: Any advice for guys to approach hot women?

Cora: Models hate to get hit on when they are working, so guys have a better chance if they find a way to meet them outside of that. Make sure you approach them with confidence and be charming but not too pushy. Don't talk about yourself too much, or your money, and also, don't compliment her too much, because she is used to hearing that and it gets old. Just try to be original and yourself.

Savvy: No ass kissing!

Cora: (Laughs) Right.

Savvy: Any advice on keeping a girl's heart once he has it?

Cora: This is the advice I would give men: If you treat their girlfriend or wife like she is the most beautiful, intelligent and fascinating woman in the world, she will do anything for them. If you treat a woman like she's the center of your universe, both in the bedroom and outside, there should be no problems.

Savvy: Should women get jealous if they see their husbands or boyfriends admiring your photos? Females occasionally say there's pressure to look as perfect as the models they see everywhere these days.

Cora: I understand that people feel the media bombards Americans with images of retouched, perfect standards that are, in most cases, impossible to achieve. But I don't think it is fair for people to blame the media or the models for making them feel inferior or causing them to have low self-esteem. People who crusade around, ripping apart the media on talk shows aren't giving the public enough credit.

Savvy: How so?

Cora: The majority of the public doesn't look at a picture of a model and then rush off for plastic surgery. (Laughs) I hope people realize these images are simply commercial devices to sell products, not statements about how a woman is expected to look. It is just a beautiful image, and it is human nature to want to admire a beautiful human body. Idealized images of human bodies have been around since the beginning of time, and they are not going anywhere.

Savvy: If it is your human body we're talking about, let's hope it sticks around for a few years to come! Thanks, Cora.

Cora: Thank you, Savvy!

_______

On the Web:

http://www.coraskinner.com

http://www.myspace.com/coraskinner

Credits: Photography by Barry Smith, interview and article by Steven Stiefel.