Diora Lynn Baird (born April 6, 1983)[1] is an American actress and former model for clothing brand Guess?.
Early life
Baird was born in Miami, Florida on April 6, 1983. She got into acting when her mother, who was also a model, enrolled her in an acting class to help her overcome introversion. Later, she became vice president of her school's Thespian Society.[1]
At 17, she moved to Los Angeles with the hope of pursuing an acting career. To earn money while auditioning, she worked as a salesperson at The Gap, a caterer, a waitress, a pre-school teacher and a clown at children's parties, until breaking into the modeling industry - most notably with Guess?.[1] Her exposure increased considerably with an appearance on the cover of the August 2005 issue of Playboy magazine.[2][3] She was signed to Elite Model Management in Miami.[4]
Baird had featured photo spreads in several magazines including Playboy, FHM, Stuff, Maxim (in which she was ranked #76 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list,[5] #64 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list,[6] #76 on the Maxim Magazine Hot 100 of 2011 list,[7] the #17 spot on FHM's top 100 2010, and the #40 spot in 2011),[8]Toro and Esquire (UK).[9] She lent her voice to the Scarface video game as one of Tony Montana's possible girlfriends.[10]
She starred in several videos for the Funny or Die website, including one with Garfunkel and Oates called "Go Running with Chicken" and "Sexy Dark Ages" with Robert Englund.[15] She starred in another web video with the comedic duo called "This Party Took a Turn for the Douche". In 2010, she appeared in Night of the Demons. In February 2011, she starred in a short musical film called "Howlin' for You" for the band The Black Keys.[16]
Baird was married to actor Jonathan Togo from 2013 to 2016; they have one child.[19][20] In 2017, Baird revealed that she was dating comedian Mav Viola.[21] Baird told The Advocate magazine that after years of assuming herself to be asexual, she identifies as lesbian.[22] On December 29, 2017, Baird announced that she and Viola were engaged.[23]
