Kitana Baker, born on July 15, 1977, in Anaheim, California, and raised in Riverside, California, is the younger of two children. Her older brother had a profound influence on her life, teaching her snowboarding and soccer at a young age, which she continues to enjoy to this day. Baker was also exposed to more feminine pursuits, such as ballet and tap dancing, from an early age.
As a good student, she graduated from high school a year early as an A student and then pursued an Associate's degree in Science from a local junior college. Baker's passion for performing in front of an audience led her to work as a showgirl in local clubs, earning her the titles of Local Showgirl of the Year in 1998 and National Showgirl of the Year in 1999.
She began modeling, posing for various magazines and websites, and caught the attention of Playboy magazine in February 2001. Baker worked on several Playboy projects, including 'Strip Search', 'Playboy's College Girls', 'Playboy's Wet & Wild', and 'Playboy's Book of Lingerie', as well as the 'Playboy's College Girls' calendar, where she was featured as Miss December.
The producers of the show 'Night Calls 411' took notice of her and signed her on immediately, and she has been a regular on the show since then. Baker continued to work on various projects for Playboy, including videos and appearing on other shows on the network.
In the summer of 2002, it was announced that Brooke Burke would be leaving her hosting duties on the E! show 'Wild On'. Feeling that she would be a perfect fit for the travelogue/bikini-oriented show, Baker tried out for the job and ended up as one of the twelve finalists in the 'Wild On! Wild Off' contest. Although she did not land the hosting role, E! was impressed enough with her to feature her in a segment of the show taped in San Diego, titled 'Wild on Wants You: The West Coast'.
Wanting to transition into a more mainstream acting career, Baker began taking acting lessons at the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California. She has since landed several roles in both independent feature films and major ones. Baker can be seen in the opening trailer for the film 'Auto Focus' (2002) and has a small role in the Universal film 'Intolerable' (2003). She has also appeared in television shows such as 'Fast Lane', 'Big Shot', 'The Test', and 'The Man Show'.
Baker continues to work as a showgirl on 'Night Calls 411' every second and fourth Wednesday. She has also been involved in various music videos for artists such as Tommy Lee, Sugar Ray, Offspring, Moby, Brian McKnight, Shaggy, Mack 10, and DragPipe. Kitana plans to continue modeling for the time being.
