Leyla Milani Khoshbin (born April 2, 1982) is an Iranian-Canadian-American model, TV host and retired actress. Milani was born in Iran and moved to Toronto when she was 4 years old. She led a successful career before meeting her husband Manuchehr (Manny) Khoshbin, Iranian entrepreneur, real estate investor and author. Leyla has appeared in the 2005 ''

WWE Diva Search ''WWE Diva Search'' (formerly ''WWE Raw Diva Search'') is an American talent competition that was produced and held by WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The first winner was Jaime Koeppe, but she did not receive a contract like subsequen ...

'', ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch '' Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this format is the final round (a ...

'', ''

Sleeper Cell A clandestine cell system is a method for organizing a group of people, such as resistance fighters, spies, mercenaries, organized crime members, or terrorists, to make it harder for police, military or other hostile groups to catch them. In ...

'', ''

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'', '' Rules of Engagement'', ''

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'', ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'', ''

Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...

'', ''

Stacked ''Stacked'' is an American television sitcom that aired on Fox from April 13, 2005, to January 11, 2006. Premise ''Stacked'' was described as the opposite of ''Cheers'', instead of a smart person in a "dumb" place, it is based on the concept o ...

'', ''

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of affa ...

'', '' Wanted'', ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...

'', ''

Extra Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

'', and the 2006 ''

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''. She has also appeared in the films ''

Wrestlemaniac ''Wrestlemaniac'' (also known as ''El Mascarado Massacre'') is a 2006 American slasher film written and directed by Jesse Baget and starring Rey Misterio Sr. Plot On their way to Cabo San Lucas, the cast and crew of a low-budget film get lost ...

'', ''Dr. Chopper''. ''

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment *Maxim (magazine), ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** Maxim (Australia), ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** Maxim (India), ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim ...

'' magazine features Milani and her fellow ''Deal or No Deal'' briefcase models in their online Girls of Maxim gallery.

Professional wrestling career

Milani was a contestant in the 2005

, finishing second out of 8,000 contestants worldwide. Following that, she made an appearance at

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Los Angeles, California. As of 2024, it is on an extended hiatus. It was created by pro wrestlers Disco Machine, Excalibur, Scott Lost, Joey Ryan, Super ...

After School Special. After appearing in the

, she began using the stage name Leyla Milani. She later appeared on one of the USA Network's WWE Raw Fan Nation commercials, which are a series of commercials advertising WWE Raw, featuring people ranging from a stockbroker to

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

. Milani is the former co-host of

Jimmy Hart James Ray Hart (born January 1, 1944) is an American professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician. He is signed to WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in WWE when it was still known as the World Wrestling ...

's all-women wrestling show, ''

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TakeDown'' which debuted March 1, 2010. She was replaced by Brooke Lynn on the March 31, 2010, episode, because of scheduling conflicts.

''Deal or No Deal'' (2005–2009)

Milani was a model on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's prime-time game show ''Deal or No Deal'' from 2005 to 2009. She was best known for her "lioness-like" mane, and held case #13 since the beginning of the show. Although 13 is usually considered the unluckiest of numbers, she was often referred to on the show as "Lucky Leyla" or "Lucky 13," as many times her case contained 6 digit amounts and in eight instances contained the $1,000,000 top prize. Nonetheless, NBC once opened the show noting that by holding all the large amounts and not being picked at the beginning, case #13 was very unlucky during most of the first season. On at least one occasion during the second season, case #13 contained a seven-figure prize. Milani and her fellow ''Deal or No Deal'' models won a Game Show Network Award for "Favorite TV Models." On June 6, 2009, Milani and 4 other models accepted this award on GSN. ''Deal or No Deal'' also won The People's Choice Award two years in a row for Favorite Game Show. She was one of a handful of models chosen to make a special appearance on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

''. Oprah picked Leyla's case (number 8 for this show). Oprah later chanted Leyla's name as her dog's name is also Leyla. Milani made an appearance on the Style Network's show, ''

Split Ends Split Ends may refer to: * Split ends, the splitting or fraying of hair, also known as trichoptilosis * Split end, a type of wide receiver in American and Canadian football TV and film * ''Split Ends'' (British TV series), a sitcom produced on I ...

'', and on a celebrity episode of GSN's game show ''

Catch 21 ''Catch 21'' is an American game show broadcast by Game Show Network (GSN). Created by Merrill Heatter (who also produced the show's predecessor '' Gambit''), the series follows three contestants as they play a card game centered on blackjac ...

'', alongside fellow ''DOND'' models

Patricia Kara Patricia Kara (Greek: Panayiota Karamouzis-Παναγιώτα Καραμούζη; born February 25, 1972) is an American model, TV personality and former actress. Career She began her career in Chicago, before moving to Miami, New York City, th ...

and Marisa Petroro. She announced on this show the launch of her own hair extension line, Milani Hair, which launched in early 2010.

Other appearances

Milani has made multiple appearances on the

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' conservative satire show ''

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'', and ''

Redeye ''RedEye'' was a publication put out by the ''Chicago Tribune'' geared toward 18 to 34-year-olds. It was published every weekday since its inception in 2002 until February 3, 2017. Publication was reduced to weekly starting February 9, 2017. ...

'' as a celebrity looking for a charity to support. She hosted FOX Sport Net's Celebrity Golf tournament as well as

Fuel TV Fox Sports 2 (branded on-air as FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in ...

'S motorsport show, ''M80''. Milani made a cameo appearance on LOGO channel series ''Noah's Arc'' as a woman applying for a job. She has also appeared on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's ''True Life: I'm A TV Star'', and ''

My Fair Brady ''My Fair Brady'' is an American reality television series on VH1 that followed Christopher Knight, who played Peter Brady on ''The Brady Bunch'', and Adrianne Curry, who won the first season of ''America's Next Top Model'', a year after they ...

''. Milani appeared in an online comedy web series for

Experian Experian plc is a multinational corporation, multinational data broker and consumer credit reporting company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Experian collects and aggregates information on more than 1 billion people and businesses including ...

Credit alongside comedian

Pauly Shore Paul Montgomery Shore (born February 1, 1968) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his roles in 1990s comedy films. Shore began as a stand-up comedian at the age of 17, before becoming an MTV VJ in 1989. This led to a starring ...

; she played a bride-to-be with bad credit. Other stars who appeared on this web series included

Vivica A. Fox Vivica Anjanetta Fox (born July 30, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She began her career on ''Soul Train'' (19821983) and played roles on the daytime television soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' (1988) and ''Generations (American TV s ...

Michael Madsen Michael Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. Alongside his frequent collaborations with Quentin Tarantino—''Reservoir Dogs'' (1992), ''Kill Bill: Volume 2'' (2004), ''The Hateful Eight'' (2015), and ''Once Upon a Time in Hol ...

and

Danny Glover Danny Glover ( ; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer, and political activist. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Danny Glover, numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian A ...

. She is in the independent horror film ''

'',"Bio" (2007).
LeylaMilani.com
'. Accessed June 25, 2007. where she plays "Dallas", and the docu-comedy ''Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down'' where she plays "Brittany", the "Westside Persian". She made an appearance on an episode of

's ''

Last Comic Standing ''Last Comic Standing'' is an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, and again in 2014 and 2015. Each season a comedian from an initially large group of hopefuls was picked as ...

'' and ''

Phenomenon A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...

''. She was also a referee in the 2006 ''

''. Milani is featured in the December 8, 2012, TLC special titled ''Secrets of a Trophy Wife.''

Milani Hair

In 2009, Milani founded Leyla Milani Hair, a luxury haircare company specializing in "premium, 100% human hair clip-in or (clip-on)extensions," citing Milani's own hair woes as the company's inspiration. Based in Irvine, California, the company is part of Kosh Milani Enterprises LLC. As of 2009, the company was known to have 5 employees.

References

External links

*
NBC.com's Deal or No Deal Model Profile on Leyla
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Milani, Leyla 1982 births Actresses from Toronto Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States Female models from Ontario Canadian film actresses Canadian people of Iranian descent Game show models Living people WWE Diva Search contestants Iranian female models