Article published in Dropline.biz on September 5, 2005

Adrienne Janic—“Model, Actress, OVERHAULIN’?”

By Sarah D. Goldstein (co-authored by Dino M. Zaffina)

Beautiful model and actress, Adrienne Janic has joined the all male team of TLC’s Overhaulin’.  Adrienne, also known by her co-stars of the show as “A.J.” has become a new co-host.

Before joining Overhaulin’ full-time, Janic was a recurring figure on the show. She pranked unsuspecting victims portraying different characters. “It’s so much fun playing different characters and improvising for the hidden camera. You can only rehearse so much because you never know how the ‘mark’ is going to react, and you only have one shot” says Janic excitedly.  Impressed with her natural ability and ease, the network asked Janic to join the show full-time as a co-host.

Before Overhaulin’, Adrienne has been busy working as a model and actress. Her career, however, did not commence until she finished high school; as she explained, “I did want to model in high school, but my mom would not let me. She said absolute not!” Adrienne further explained, “She wanted me to be a normal teenager; do the cheerleading and regular high school stuff.” She recalls being so angry because ever since she was fourteen, Adrienne remembers wanting to get into fashion and modeling.

One day, shortly after finishing high school, Janic was grocery shopping with her mother, when she was approached by a photographer. The man asked Janic if she modeled. She replied, “No.” The photographer went on to tell Janic that there was a local modeling contest and he thought that she would be great. Being skeptical, thinking that this might be a “Hollywood Dream” scam, she took his card, but brought her dad with her to the contest. “The contest turned out to be legitimate. I got third place and two hundred bucks,” said Janic.

Adrienne was not only excited about placing in the contest, but she was also happy to win the prize money. She said, “At the time this was a lot of money; for a seventeen year old this is great cash.” This prompted her to continue to compete in a few more of these local modeling contests. Adrienne candidly said, “I would get second or third place, maybe two or three hundred dollars in my pocket.”

During these local competitions, people would approach Janic and suggest that she pursue modeling by going to Los Angeles to interview with modeling agents. Now, it wasn’t as if Janic had to move to Los Angeles from another state, she did only live in Whittier, which is a suburb just 30 minutes east of Los Angeles.

Adrienne did not run up to L.A. that following Monday; she actually waited approximately six months until she built up the courage. She realized that she had done well locally, but she wasn’t sure how she would compete against the real professional models. Nevertheless, she made the trip up to L.A. and visited five different agents. Four agencies wanted to sign her to a representation contract and one turned her down. The agency that rejected Adrienne said, “You are really pretty, but you are too commercial.”

Janic decided to sign with the Nina Blanchard Agency. Shortly thereafter, she competed in the Ford Supermodel of the World Contest.  Again, speaking so humbly, Janic said, “I only made it to the finals in the local division, but I did end up signing with Ford – Los Angeles.”

Through modeling, Adrienne had the opportunity to travel all through Europe, the South Pacific, and South Africa. She has been to Italy, Greece, Spain, Germany, Japan, and her absolute favorite country, South Africa. She said, “I had a lot of fun in Capetown, South Africa. The weather was beautiful and the people were really nice.” While in Capetown, Adrienne went shark diving.  She said, “It was slow one week, so while I was shopping I saw all these posters, ‘Go diving with Great Whites’ and I thought that it would be cool because I love watching the Discovery channel when shark week is on. I told myself that I would pretend that I was on the Discovery channel during shark week, so I signed up to go cape diving with Great Whites.”

Janic has been featured and graced the coves of numerous magazines. Some of these include “Natural Health,” “Nail-Pro,” “Item,” “Beverly Hills Magazine,” “Shape,” “Maxim” and “Cosmopolitan.” Her print campaigns include “Fanta,” “Lee Jeans,” “Bausch and Lomb,” “Hewlitt Packard,” and “Parallel Clothing.”

As her modeling career progressed, so did her confidence to expand her horizon to include film and television. Janic began working in commercials in Europe and South Africa. She said, “This is kind of fun, I can actually speak versus just standing there and posing.” Upon returning to Los Angeles, Janic sought out and signed with a commercial agent, Innovative Artists Commercial and Voiceover, Inc. Not long after that, she began auditioning for commercials in the states.

Since acting became so much fun, Adrienne asked her agent if they could submit her for acting roles on television and in films. Once she booked her first couple of jobs, she was hooked. Some of Adrienne’s feature film credits include National Lampoon’s Cattle Call, the psychological thriller, Marrow, and the sci-fi thriller, Choker. Her television credits include Kitchen, Confidential, House, Complete Savages, Oliver Beene, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment and Angel.

While holding down a full-time job in modeling and acting, Janic still found time to fit in a semester here- and-there to go to college. It took her a little longer than three years to complete the requirements at a community college in Whittier, but she did receive an Associate in Arts degree in Journalism and Theatre. Theatre in college is where Janic actually got her first acting start. She had parts in many of the college’s stage performances.

When asked how she made the transition to co-hosting a television show, Adrienne explained, “It happened by accident. About two or three years ago when E! Entertainment had a huge nationwide search for a new host for their Wild On show, I convinced a friend of mine, who was hosting shows, to go an audition. I told her that I would go with her as support. I showed up in sweat pants and a tank top with my hair back in a ponytail and no make-up. While we were waiting in line, a camera crew approached us and asked, ‘So how does it feel to be auditioning for the new Wild On host?’ I told him that I was not here for the audition; my friend is. He said, ‘You really should audition.’ I told him, no, it was not my thing, I had never hosted before. Next thing I know, one of the producers came out from the audition.  He said, ‘I heard that you are not auditioning; you really should audition.’  I told him that I did not have a headshot with me, I have no make-up on, and I pretty much look like crap. He said, ‘Don’t worry, we will take a Polaroid, fill out the paperwork, no big deal.’ So I agreed. I met everyone from E! Entertainment and the next day I received a call informing me that I got a call-back. From there I got a second, third, and fourth call-back. I ended up shooting three episodes for them and made it to the final ten, but I did not get the host job. However, from Wild On another producer saw me on the show and asked me to host his pilot called The Music Café. That show did not get picked up.

Janic continued to explain, “When Overhaulin’ first booked me to work, they wanted me to pull some pranks, hidden camera stuff on unsuspecting individuals. They loved my first episode because I made the guy that we were pulling the prank on so pissed at me. They called me back for five more episodes. A few weeks after finishing my last episode, I received a call from the network asking me if I would be interested in being our new co-host.”

Before accepting the offer, Adrienne told the network executive, “Before I answer yes I want you to know that I know absolutely nothing about cars. He told me not to worry, ‘that is exactly what we want, for you to ask all the questions that people would normally be asking at home.’ So, I said, yes.” Adrienne will be co-hosting with the original hosts, Chris Jacobs and Chip Foose. Her first episodes providing pranks will air September 27, 2005, at 9:00 p.m.  Audiences will be able to see Adrienne wearing her co-hosting hat in a later episode in October 2005.

For more information about Adrienne Janic and pictures go to her official website at: www.adriennejanic.com; and for more information on Overhaulin’ go to their official website at: www.overhaulin.com.

The following is Adrienne Janic’s representation:

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