Diora Lynn Baird (born April 6, 1983)[1] is an American actress and former model for clothing brand Guess?.
Baird was born in Miami, Florida on April 6, 1983. Her mother was also a model. She got into acting when her mother 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]
In 2004, Baird also started earning acting roles, such as an appearance on the Drew Carey Show and in the low budget film Brain Blockers. Her breakthrough appearance in a major film was in Wedding Crashers in 2005, which she followed up with roles in Accepted and Hot Tamale. In 2006, she appeared in four films, most notably a major role in the horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.
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]
Baird has also guest starred in episodes of Big Day, Shark, The Loop, and Two and a Half Men (the 2009 episode "She'll Still Be Dead at Halftime"). She starred in the movie 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, directed by Ben Ketai,[11] which is produced by Columbia Pictures and Ghost House Pictures.[12] Baird stars in the FEARnet webseries Tea Party Macabre, which is part of the series "Women in Horror Month".[13] She also starred in the 2009 comedy Stan Helsing.[14]
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]
She plays a porn star in her 2014 film Beautiful Girl. Baird was cast in a recurring role in the Amazon Studios pilot Cocked along with costars Brian Dennehy, Jason Lee, Dreama Walker, and Sam Trammell. The show was not picked up for series.[17] Baird guest starred in an episode of the Hulu series Casual.[18]
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]
