Mindy Paige Davis, billed as Paige Davis, is an American actress who hosted
the daily series with Mark Steines called Home and Family on Hallmark
Channel. Biography
= Early life and career= Davis attended Charles H. Bird
Elementary School in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, from first grade through part
of fifth. She lived for a time in Louisville, Kentucky, and graduated from
the Louisville Youth Performing Arts School. She graduated from the Meadows
School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
Much of her training has been in musical theater as well as dancing, and she
spent two-and-a-half years in the national touring company of the Broadway
musical Beauty and the Beast playing the role of Babette the Feather Duster for
her second year. During this period, she was sometimes credited as Mindy Paige
Benson, following her 1994 marriage to actor Greg Benson.
In Los Angeles, California, Davis also did numerous TV commercials and videos.
= Trading Spaces= In 2001, Davis became the host of the
TLC cable-TV network's redecorating television series Trading Spaces,
replacing Alex McLeod. Also that year, Davis married actor Patrick Page, with
whom she appeared in Beauty and the Beast. Davis and Page's wedding was
featured on the TLC series A Wedding Story.
TLC dropped Davis in January 2005 to revamp the show with a host-less format.
There was some media speculation that TLC's decision was in part motivated by
Davis's appearance in TV Guide "wearing nothing but wallpaper" and her
performance of a faux striptease in a "Broadway Bares/Equity Fights AIDS"
charity event. The New York Post had reported in its "Page Six" column that
Davis exposed her thong and permitted onlookers to touch her body. Davis
responded to the story on the TLC message boards, writing that she had
been dressed "...in a very modest, almost demure, yellow dress, cut to my
sternum." She acknowledged that she had "flip[ped] [her] skirt for a second" and
said that she "kept all of [her] clothes on at all times." She went on to
characterize the article as "rumor and exaggeration" in its description of the
event. The Post responded after Star magazine published three pictures of the
event in their July 2, 2004, issue, noting that the photos showed Davis in
poses that appeared to confirm the Post's version of the story. However,
both Davis and the network insisted there was no connection between the
controversies and the format change, which the network described as a
decision to take the show "in a new creative direction." Davis subsequently
signed a multi-year agreement with television syndication company King
World Productions/CBS to develop new scripted and reality programming,
including a deal to co-star in a daytime television program with interior
designer Nate Berkus, but nothing came to air.
TLC announced in November 2007 that Davis would return as host of Trading
Spaces in January 2008, along with others formerly associated with the
program. Reports on the announcement published in the New York Post and in
Davis's hometown paper the Philadelphia Inquirer remarked on the earlier "bad
press" in 2005, with the Post commenting, "Apparently, that 'new
creative direction' has done an about-face," and the Inquirer quoting a
network vice president who "doesn't know the specifics behind the perky Davis's
firing, but called it 'shortsightedness.'"
Davis hosts new segments and interviews in The Best Of Trading Spaces, which
debuted in January 2011, on TLC's sister channel OWN.
= Other television work= Davis made other television appearances
during and after her hosting duties. In 2004, she was a guest judge on the Food
Network's Iron Chef America in "Battle Egg." She also was a contestant on the
summer 2006 CBS television series Gameshow Marathon, in which celebrities
participated in recreations of classic game shows with their winnings going to
charity. Appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on
January 24, 2008, Davis shared with the audience her excitement about returning
to Trading Spaces. She praised the new TLC executive team and its intention to
keep "TS" fresh, while at the same time maintaining the original mission of the
popular show, which has been the inspiration for so many others.
Davis joined the home improvement series Home Made Simple as host in October
2011. = Theater=
During her initial run on Trading Spaces, Davis played the role of Roxie
Hart in the musical Chicago on Broadway, and wrote the book Paige by Paige,
chronicling her television experiences. It spent numerous weeks on the New York
Times Best Seller list. By 2007, Davis had created a cabaret act, Taking A
Chance, described as "chronicl[ing] how the choices Davis has made have informed
her life's loves". In mid-2007 she took over the title role in the national
touring production of the Broadway revival Sweet Charity, replacing Molly
Ringwald through the end of the show's scheduled run on August 12, 2007.
In 2008 and 2009 Davis played "Gloria" in the Broadway revival of
Boeing-Boeing. In 2014, Davis premiered the role of
"Senga Quinn" in Mark St. Germain's Dancing Lessons at Barrington Stage. Don
Aucoin of The Boston Globe praised the performance as providing "the emotional
depth and nuance of personality that can only be achieved by an actress who
understands her character inside and out."
= Commercial endorsements= Davis is currently spokesperson for RC
Willey Home Furnishings, a subsidiary of Berkshire-Hathaway, with locations in
Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and California. In September 2008, Eastman Kodak Company
formed a U.S. partnership with Trading Spaces and with Davis to encourage
people to explore their creativity with their photos. Davis became Kodak's
celebrity spokesperson with the media through March 2009, sharing
Kodak-inspired projects and ideas in the weekly design show, 30-second TV spots,
on-line tips, videos, and a custom-published magazine.
References External links
Paige Davis Paige Davis at the Internet Movie
Database