Holly Rachel Vukadinović (born 11 May 1983) better known by her stage name Holly Valance, is an Australian model, actress and singer. Valance began her career as Felicity "Flick" Scully on the Australian soap opera Neighbours. In 2002, she released her debut album, Footprints, which yielded the international number-one hit single "Kiss Kiss".
Valance was born to a Serbian father, Rajko, and a British mother, Rachel. Her family moved to Melbourne when she was very young. Valance is first cousin twice removed to the late British comedian Benny Hill— Hill's cousin was her grandfather.Valance was educated at the Star of the Sea College, a Roman Catholic high school in Brighton, Victoria. While modeling as a teen, she was discovered and cast in the long-running Australian soap Neighbours.
In 2003, Valance fired her then-manager Scott Michaelson (who owns Biscayne Partners Pty Ltd) by phone, 15 months before his contract was due to expire. Biscayne Partners Pty. Ltd. sued Valance Corp., won their case and were awarded damages by the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
In 2004, Valance returned to acting, this time in the United States, appearing in episodes of the television series CSI: Miami, Entourage. In 2005, she appeared in an episode of CSI: NY. She then guest-starred in Prison Break, in 2006, as Nika Volek, a role which she continued to portray in the show's second season.
In 2005, Valance returned to music, albeit briefly, when she appeared on Har Mar Superstar's album The Handler singing on the tracks "Back the Camel Up" and "Body Request".
In 2006, Valance appeared in the National Lampoon comedy Pledge This!, alongside American socialite Paris Hilton. The same year, she was in DOA: Dead or Alive, an adaptation of the popular video game Dead or Alive, where she played Christie. In 2007, she appeared in the TV series Shark and Moonlight. In 2008, she had a role in the film Taken alongside Liam Neeson and Famke Janssen, and appeared in an episode of the The CW series Valentine.
In 2009, Valance played Brenda Snow for the video game Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising. She is also set to appear as Angela in the movie Red Herring and as Sally in the upcoming thriller titled Luster. Valance appeared with British electro-pop newcomer Frankmusik in the video for his single Confusion Girl, which was released on August 3, 2009.
Valance's first single as a recording artist was a cover of Turkish singer Tarkan's "Kiss Kiss" (composed by Turkish "Diva" Sezen Aksu), released in 2002. The song debuted at No. 1 in both the Australian Recording Industry Association and UK Singles Charts charts in April/May 2002.
The director's cut version of the music video was notable in that Valance appeared to be dancing naked. She revealed that she was topless but also wearing flesh-coloured underwear. The footage was then digitally retouched adding strategically placed lighting effects. The song was nominated for four ARIA Music Awards.
