Amber Lee Ettinger

Last updated

Amber Lee Ettinger
Amber Lee Ettinger.png
Ettinger in 2011
Born (1982-10-02) October 2, 1982 (age 41)
Hazleton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actress
  • model
  • singer
  • internet celebrity
Years active2003–present
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2006–present
GenreComedy
Subscribers3.45 thousand [1]
Total views227,921 [1]
Last updated: September 2, 2021

Amber Lee Ettinger (born October 2, 1982) [2] is an American actress, Internet celebrity, model, and singer.

Contents

Ettinger became notable after being hired to portray Obama Girl in Barely Political's June 2007 Internet video "Crush on Obama", in which she lip-synced the lyrics to the song expressing admiration of then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama. The video led to numerous sketch comedy appearances and interviews, including Saturday Night Live , Geraldo at Large , The O'Reilly Factor , and Hannity .

Early career

Ettinger is a native of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. [3] Her interest in entertainment began at an early age. She participated in beauty pageants, dance recitals, theater, cheerleading competitions, and more.

Ettinger moved to New York City to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology to study fashion and clothing design, having expressed hopes to create her own clothing line and other business ventures. [4] She is currently a designer alongside her mother Roseann Ettinger, together they have created the "Inspired by Amber" jewelry line. [5]

Ettinger was crowned Miss NYC and Miss Alpine New Jersey in the 2003–2004 Miss Hawaiian Tropic pageant, [6] later augmenting that title with a nod as Howard Stern's Miss Howard TV in June 2007. [7] Ettinger was Hooters Miss Manhattan, representing them in the 2003 International Swimsuit Pageant. [8]

Ettinger appeared in commercials for VH1's Pepsi Smash, Bikini Zone, and Certain Dri. She has also appeared in a video for The Onion . [9] She was featured in music videos for Thalía, The John Popper Project, [10] and Styles P.

Ettinger has traveled around the world modeling for swimsuit, lingerie and fashion companies such as Ujena, Born, Baby Phat, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger. Ettinger has been featured in many publications such as Maxim, FHM , and Elle. She has appeared on the cover of Wired and Steppin Out magazine.

Viral videos, and response

Ettinger in 2008 Amber Lee Ettinger by b d solis at Mashable's Exhibit Hall, NYC.jpg
Ettinger in 2008

Ettinger was hired by Barely Political founder Ben Relles to appear in the "Crush on Obama" viral video, which was posted to the Barely Political channel on YouTube in June 2007. She appeared in a later video called "Hillary! Stop the attacks! Love, Obama Girl", released on March 25, 2008. [11] On May 7, 2008, Barely Political posted a YouTube video with Ettinger and former Democratic and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Mike Gravel, entitled "Mike Gravel Lobbies for the Obama Girl Vote". In the video, Gravel tries to persuade her to switch her support from Obama to him. [12] She and Relles guest-lectured in Paul Levinson's class at Fordham University on September 21, 2007. [13]

In late September, 2008 Ettinger made a YouTube video with Independent candidate Ralph Nader in which he argued that he should be included in the debates. The video was a spoof of conventional sitcoms and was called "The Obama Girl and Ralph Nader Show". Also featuring former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura, the video followed what would happen if Obama Girl and Ralph Nader shared an office. [14]

In the Fall of 2008, Ettinger starred in a parody of "I Got a Crush on Obama" with a promotional video for EA's Red Alert 3. In it, she professes her allegiance to Howard Ackerman, a fictional presidential candidate played by actor J. K. Simmons. Since then she has been featured in multiple videos by Barely Political, including parodies of Jennifer Lopez, Fergie and Catwoman.

In February of the election year 2012, Ettinger collaborated with Obama impressionist Iman Crosson (Alphacat) in the PoliPop video "Glease" which was a spoof of the song "You're the One That I Want" from the film Grease and television series Glee, [15] [16] in which "a smitten Obama seeks the affection (read: vote) of the Obama Girl". [17] A related music single was also released. [17] [18] In April 2012, "Glease" was included as part of the in-flight entertainment line-up for Virgin America airline. [19]

As the 2012 election approached, news organizations mentioned and interviewed Ettinger as a barometer of whether Obama would be re-elected. More than a year before the 2012 election, CNN Newsroom's Brooke Baldwin had remarked, jokingly, that "obviously, the Obama girl is the litmus test for who will win in 2012." [20] In 2012, Ettinger declined to state who she was supporting for President. [21] [22] Sean Hannity interviewed Ettinger on Fox News Channel's Hannity about her level of support for Obama; Ettinger explained that her 2007 Crush on Obama video "encompassed what a lot of Americans were feeling the excitement for hope and change" and that now (June 2012) she hadn't given up on Obama, but added that her options (for voting in November 2012) were open. [16] In a Fox News Channel opinion piece, J.D. Gordon used Ettinger's indecision in 2012 as a specific example of Obama's waning support. [23]

Music

Ettinger was a singer with Obama impersonator Iman Crosson in the music single "Glease" (February 14, 2012; PoliPop, and Maker Studios). [17] [18]

Ettinger released her own music EP titled Queen of the Web (October 29, 2008; Silver Curve Records), the EP including three tracks: [24]

  1. "Second Time"
  2. "Second Time Remix"
  3. "Surrender"

In an August 2008 interview, Wired magazine asked Ettinger about "her double life as an online sensation and actual person", with Ettinger describing her background in fashion design, modeling and acting. [25] Ettinger said that she was not singing about Obama in the EP's songs, and staking out her own musical identity after lip-synching the 2007 "I've Got a Crush" video, Ettinger explained that "Obama Girl's going to sing about Obama, but Amber Lee Ettinger's going to sing about other things that are going on in her life." [25]

Other projects

On March 10, 2010, she appeared on Shear Genius as one of the models to be styled for headshots. [26] In mid-2010, Ettinger became a correspondent on fashion for the network WPIX in NYC.[ citation needed ]

On December 17, 2012, she appeared on the game show Take It All hosted by Howie Mandel making it to the final round. She chose "Keep Mine" while her opponent chose "Take It All" and took everything winning in excess of $500k.

In 2013, Ettinger appeared in a commercial for Natural Light as a lifeguard. [27] A banned version of the same commercial also appeared online. [28]

Personal life

Ettinger has said that she did not vote in the primary for the 2008 presidential election [29] but that she did vote in the 2008 general election.[ citation needed ]

She is of German, Italian, Swedish and Irish ancestry. [30] She has an older brother and two younger sisters.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">María Conchita Alonso</span> Cuban-Venezuelan-American singer and actress

María Concepción Alonso Bustillo, better known as María Conchita Alonso, is a Cuban actress, singer and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World Venezuela 1975 and represented Venezuela at Miss World 1975 and placed Top 7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shandi Finnessey</span> American model (born 1978)

Shandi Ren Finnessey is an American actress, model, tv host and beauty pageant titleholder. She is best known for winning the Miss USA title, as Miss Missouri USA. She previously held the title of Miss Missouri 2002 and competed in Miss America, where she won a preliminary award. She placed as first runner-up at the Miss Universe 2004 competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Murphy</span> American beauty pageant queen and reality television contestant

Jennifer Murphy is an American YouTube personality and former beauty pageant contestant.

JuliaAlexandratou is a Greek socialite, media personality, glamour model, singer, actress, and pornographic actress. In 2002, at age 16, she won the beauty pageant title "Miss Young" in Greece. Four years later, Alexandratou won the title "Miss Greece International 2006" at the Miss Star Hellas beauty pageant. In 2010, a controversial celebrity sex tape featuring Alexandratou was released. She later admitted that she was paid for her participation in the film. In 2011, Alexandratou attracted controversy again, after the release of a second pornographic video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miss Teen USA 2007</span> 25th edition of the Miss Teen USA competition

Miss Teen USA 2007, the 25th Miss Teen USA pageant, was held on August 24, 2007 in Pasadena, California. At the conclusion of the final night of the competition Hilary Cruz of Colorado was crowned Miss Teen USA 2007 by outgoing titleholder Katie Blair of Montana.

Jodie Amy Rivera known professionally as VenetianPrincess, is an American former YouTuber. Rivera's content typically included parodies of songs and events in pop culture. Despite being inactive, her channel maintains 860,000 subscriptions with total video views of 363 million as of July 2021. The VenetianPrincess channel gained notoriety in 2006 after being featured on the front page of YouTube. In 2007 she became one of the first people invited into YouTube's revenue sharing program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allison Kreiger</span> American model

Allison Lee Kreiger Walsh is a beauty queen from Miami, Florida who has competed in the Miss Florida pageant and the Miss America pageant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirsten Haglund</span> American beauty pageant contestant

Kirsten Iora Müller-Daubermann is a public speaker, eating disorder awareness activist, commentator, and president of the Kirsten Haglund Foundation. She served as Miss America 2008.

The 2008 presidential campaign of Ralph Nader, political activist, author, lecturer and attorney began on February 24, 2008. He announced his intent to run as an independent candidate, on NBC's Meet The Press. It was Nader's fifth campaign; he ran in the four election cycles prior to 2008: 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. The 2008 election was the third in which he had officially run a national campaign. While Nader ran as an independent, in some states he had ballot access with the Independent-Ecology Party, the Natural Law Party, and the Peace and Freedom Party. Nader received 738,475 votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Key of Awesome</span> Comedy YouTube channel (2007–2018)

The Key of Awesome was a YouTube channel that produced comedy videos starring writer/performer Mark Douglas. "The Key of Awesome" was created by Mark Douglas and Ben Relles and is the channel's most popular series, mainly producing viral music videos and parodies. Barely Political was created in June 2007 by Ben Relles and subsequently debuted its first music video, "Crush on Obama", starring Amber Lee "Obama Girl" Ettinger, created by Ben Relles and Jake Chudnow. Videos on the channel have been seen over 3.37 billion times online. "The Key of Awesome" became the central identity of the channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bikini in popular culture</span>

The modern bikini first appeared in 1946, and since then it has become a part of popular culture. It is one of the most widely worn women's swimsuits, used for swimming and in a variety of other contexts. Today, bikinis appear in competitions, films, magazines, music, literature, and video games. Despite the availability of more revealing glamour wear, bikini modeling remains popular and can still create controversy. Portrayals of the bikini in popular culture led, to a large extent, to its acceptance by Western society at large. In 1960, Brian Hyland's pop song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" inspired a bikini-buying spree. The white bikini worn by Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No has been cited as one of the most famous bikinis of all time. By 1963, the movie Beach Party, starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol. Playboy first featured a bikini on its cover in 1962. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debuted two years later. This increasing popularity was reinforced by its appearance in such contemporary films as How to Stuff a Wild Bikini featuring Annette Funicello and One Million Years B.C. (1966) featuring Raquel Welch. Raquel Welch's fur bikini in One Million Years B.C. became a famous moment in cinema history. Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Gina Lollobrigida and Jane Russell further helped the growing popularity of bikinis. Pin up posters of Monroe and Mansfield, as well as Hayworth, Bardot and Raquel Welch distributed around the world contributed significantly to the popularity of the bikini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly Hu</span> American actress (born 1968)

Kelly Ann Hu is an American actress, former fashion model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993. Hu starred as Dr. Rae Chang on the American television soap opera Sunset Beach and as Michelle Chan on the American television police drama series Nash Bridges. She has starred in numerous films including The Scorpion King (2002) as Cassandra, Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) as Sona, X2 as Yuriko Oyama / Lady Deathstrike (2003), The Tournament (2009) as Lai Lai Zhen, and White Frog (2012).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iman Crosson</span> American actor and comedian

Iman Crosson, better known by his stage name Alphacat, is an American actor, impressionist, and YouTube personality known for his impersonations of former U.S. President Barack Obama and his starring role in independent film Along the Roadside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crush on Obama</span> 2007 song by Leah Kauffman 2nd

"Crush on Obama" is an Internet viral video, first posted on YouTube in June 2007 featuring a young woman seductively singing of her love for then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brittany Mason</span> American model

Brittany Mason is an American model, actress, activist and beauty pageant titleholder. In 2017 she became the national director for the Miss Universe Ireland franchise.

Belle Amie were an English pop girl group based in London. They were formed during the seventh series of The X Factor in 2010. The band originally consisted of Esther Campbell, Sophia Wardman, Rebecca Creighton and Geneva Lane. Their debut single, "Girls Up", was released in August 2011. Lane had left the group in early January 2011 and Creighton left in April 2012 in order to pursue a solo career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arden Cho</span> American actress, singer, and model

Arden Lim Cho is an American actress, singer, model and beauty pageant titleholder who competed at Miss Korea 2004. known for portraying Kira Yukimura in the 2011 MTV television series Teen Wolf and Ingrid Yun in the 2022 Netflix television series Partner Track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden (SPOOF)</span> 2011 single by Iman Crosson

"President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden (SPOOF)" is Iman Crosson's spoof video posted to the YouTube video sharing website, including a spoof of U.S. President Barack Obama's May 1, 2011 speech announcing the death of Osama bin Laden. The video is the basis of the rap music single "Momentous Day".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yara Sofia</span> Puerto Rican drag queen

Yara Sofia is the stage name of Gabriel Burgos Ortiz, a Puerto Rican drag queen, professional make-up artist, and reality television personality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zuri Hall</span> American entertainment reporter and actress (born 1988)

Zuri Hall is an American entertainment reporter, television personality, actress and producer. Hall serves as a correspondent for Access Hollywood on NBC. She is also the sideline reporter for NBC's primetime summer competition show American Ninja Warrior. Hall has hosted the beauty pageants Miss USA 2021, Miss USA 2022, Miss Universe 2022 and Miss Universe 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 "About amberleeonline". YouTube.
  2. ↑ Amber Lee Ettinger at IMDb
  3. ↑ "Amber Lee Ettinger". IMDb. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  4. ↑ Tribune, Cosmic Archived 2007-07-18 at the Wayback Machine November 16, 2006 at The Cosmic Tribune [ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ "Inspired by Amber Official Website". Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  6. ↑ Parker, Eloise (February 5, 2008). "Obama Girl hits New York". Daily News. New York.
  7. ↑ "Miss Howard TV - June 2007". Miss Howard TV. Archived from the original on December 18, 2007. Retrieved January 7, 2008.
  8. ↑ Pageant.com information on the 2003 Miss Hooters International Pageant. Ettinger's picture is shown. Accessed 22 January 2011.
  9. ↑ The Onion News Network Use of 'N-Word' May End Porn Star's Career Archived 2010-01-25 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ The John Popper Project featuring DJ Logic on YouTube
  11. ↑ "Amber Lee Ettinger: Hillary! Stop the attacks! Love, Obama Girl".
  12. ↑ "YouTube". youtube.com. Retrieved on 27 August 2015.
  13. ↑ Levinson, Paul (September 21, 2007). "Obama Girl Applauded In My Class At Fordham This Afternoon". Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  14. ↑ Elizabeth Benjamin (September 25, 2008). "Nader and Obama Girl". New York: The Daily News. Archived from the original on September 30, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2008.
  15. ↑ "Obama Girl Is Back! (VIDEO)" (WebCite archive), The Global Grind, February 15, 2012.
  16. 1 2 Hannity, Sean (interviewer), "Ex-Obama Girl?", Fox News Channel video, June 13, 2012. Related intro at Obama Girl's Crush Fading and So Is America's Archived 2012-06-26 at the Wayback Machine (same day). Interview includes clip from and discussion of Ettinger's 2012 "Glease" video.
  17. 1 2 3 Gavin, Patrick, "Team '12: Obama Girl, Alphacat" (WebCite archive), Politico, February 14, 2012.
  18. 1 2 "Glease - Single by Polipop" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine , AllSongsBy.com music search website, viewed 2012-06-26.
  19. ↑ "What's Onboard — Channel 11" (WebCite archive of 2012-04-10), "Life" section of Virgin America Channel 11 content listing.
  20. ↑ "CNN Newsroom / "Obama Girl" from 2008 may now have Doubts about President" (WebCite archive), transcript in CNN archives for CNN Newsroom, October 10, 2011.
  21. ↑ "'Obama Girl' Declines To Endorse". HuffPost. June 11, 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  22. ↑ Gavin, Patrick (February 6, 2012). "Obama Girl: I'm undecided this time". POLITICO. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  23. ↑ Gordon, J.D., "Top 5 changes at the Pentagon under Obama" Archived 2012-06-25 at the Wayback Machine , Fox News Channel Opinion, June 23, 2012.
  24. ↑ "All songs by Amber Lee Ettinger" Archived 2014-04-15 at the Wayback Machine , AllSongsBy.com music search website. Music label and date are specified on iTunes website. Both viewed 2012-06-26.
  25. 1 2 Buskirk, Eliot Van (interviewer), "Q&A: Amber Lee Ettinger (a.k.a. Obama Girl)", Wired, August 22, 2008.
  26. ↑ Miller, Liz Shannon. "Obama Girl Gets Action Heroine Look From Shear Genius" Archived 2010-03-16 at the Wayback Machine New Teevee; March 11, 2010
  27. ↑ "Nattastrophe". Vimeo. Retrieved on 27 August 2015.
  28. ↑ "Nattastrophe Banned 01". Vimeo. Retrieved on 27 August 2015.
  29. ↑ Jennifer 8. Lee (February 6, 2008). "'Obama Girl' Didn't Vote". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved February 8, 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  30. ↑ Tapper, Jake. of Clint Lexi and Sabrina Ettinger "Obamagirl Says 'We'll See' to Voting for Obama" ABC News. July 14, 2007
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.