Biography of Niki Taylor:

Younger sister, Krissy Taylor, also a model, died on July 2, 1995. Her sudden death was caused by right ventricular dysplasia.

Niki found her in their parent's home. Grew up in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

Critically injured in an automobile crash in 2001, when her then-boyfriend reached down to answer his cellular phone and swerved off the road. Niki Taylor has had 41 surgeries since, and has been recovering remarkably.

Taylor's career advanced rapidly. At age 14, Niki Taylor did her first shoot with Seventeen.

"There's always one who comes along each year that you think is going to be a star," editor-in-chief Midge Richardson told People's Elizabeth Sporkin. "Niki is probably the most comfortable person of that age in front of the camera of anybody we have worked with.