Eddie Cibrian

Eddie Cibrian

Eddie Cibrian. Photo: public domain.

Nationality	American (Cuban descent)
Born	June 16, 1973 Burbank, California, U.S.
Known for	Coca-Cola national commercial (1985); L’Oréal (2003); Charisma luxury home campaign face (2011–2012); Sunset Beach; Third Watch; CSI: Miami; boy band 3Deep

Eddie Cibrian (Edward Carl Cibrian, born June 16, 1973, in Burbank, California) is a Cuban-American actor whose career in front of the camera began not with acting but with advertising — a national Coca-Cola commercial booked on his very first audition at age twelve, followed by seven more national commercials before he was out of high school. Two decades later, he was still being cast for his face and physique as much as his acting: the Charisma luxury home collection ran two consecutive national campaigns around him in 2011 and 2012, placing him shirtless across the pages of Elle Décor, House Beautiful, and Gotham. Between the Coca-Cola spot and the Charisma sheets, he became one of the most recognizable male faces in American television across six major series and more than 600 episodes.^[1][2]

Early life

Cibrian was born in Burbank, California, the only child of Carl Cibrian, a banker, and Hortensia Balaguer, an office manager — both Cuban immigrants. His father’s family left Cuba in 1959; his mother’s followed in 1962. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, grew up an avid camper, and was valedictorian of his high school class. At twelve or thirteen, persuaded by a neighbor whose child had broken into commercials, his parents took him on his first audition. He booked the Coca-Cola commercial on the spot. Seven more national commercials followed over the next two years.^[2][3]

In high school, he set the camera work aside to focus on sports — football, in particular, until a severe injury ended that path. He briefly attended UCLA to study business and economics, but needed money for tuition and returned to the advertising circuit. Acting took over from there.^[3]

Commercial and campaign work

Cibrian’s advertising career bookends his acting work in a way that distinguishes him from most television actors. The commercial credits are not incidental; they form a through-line that runs from childhood to midcareer.

Coca-Cola (1985/1986) — His first-ever audition, at age twelve, resulted in a national commercial for the world’s most recognizable brand. The spot generated enough attention to launch a run of seven additional national commercials over two years.^[2][3]

L’Oréal (2003) — A commercial for the French beauty group, produced during the height of his Third Watch run on NBC.^[4]

Charisma (2011–2012) — The luxury bed and bath brand cast Cibrian as the face of two consecutive national campaigns. The first, shot in Summer 2011, debuted in the October issues of Elle Décor, House Beautiful, and Gotham — coinciding with the premiere of his NBC series The Playboy Club. The Spring 2012 campaign followed, shot at a private residence in Los Angeles, with Cibrian poolside in Charisma towels. Both campaigns ran in national lifestyle magazines. Before Cibrian, the brand had used Gabriel Aubry — a professional model — in the same format. Cibrian replaced a model, not the other way around.^[5][6][7]

Dayrunner — A commercial for the planner brand, date unconfirmed.^[4]

He also appeared in the music video for Jennifer Love Hewitt’s “Couldn’t Find Another Man.”^[4]

Acting career

Cibrian’s first television credit was an uncredited role as a janitor on Saved by the Bell: The College Years in 1993. He worked security at Nordstrom in Woodland Hills before landing his first recurring role as Matt Clark on The Young and the Restless (1994). When he auditioned for the role of Nick Newman, producers thought he was too old for the part but were so impressed they created a new character for him instead.^[1][4]

From there, he moved through a succession of television roles that capitalized on what one critic called his “classic leading man looks”: Baywatch Nights (1996), Sunset Beach (1997–1999) as Cole Deschanel — described as the “daytime version of James Bond” and quickly named one of the sexiest actors in afternoon television — and then Third Watch (1999–2005), five seasons as New York City firefighter Jimmy Doherty. The series won a Peabody Award for its post-September 11 episode “In Their Own Words.”^[1][8]

Alongside his acting career, Cibrian co-founded the soul-pop boy band 3Deep (1998–2001) with Young and the Restless co-star Joshua Morrow and Canadian singer CJ Huyer. Their single “Into You” reached the Canadian top ten.^[9]

Later credits include Invasion (2005–2006), CSI: Miami (2009–2010) as Jesse Cardoza, The Playboy Club (2011) as lead attorney Nick Dalton, The Best Man Holiday (2013), Rosewood (2016), Take Two (2018), and Country Comfort (2021). Guest appearances span Beverly Hills, 90210, Criminal Minds, Ugly Betty, and Dirty Sexy Money. His filmography spans more than 600 episodes across a career of over thirty years.^[1]

He married singer LeAnn Rimes in 2011 after meeting on the set of the Lifetime film Northern Lights (2009). He was previously married to model Brandi Glanville (2001–2010), whose own modeling career included runway work for Valentino, Armani, Chanel, and Versace. Their eldest son, Mason Cibrian, signed with DT Model Management in 2022 and made his modeling debut in a Ben Sherman campaign in 2023.^[1][10]

Legacy

Eddie Cibrian was never a professional model. He was something rarer in the context of this archive: an actor whose commercial presence was strong enough that a luxury brand replaced an actual model — Gabriel Aubry — with him. The Charisma campaigns were not celebrity endorsements in the usual sense. They were full-frame, shirtless, national magazine advertising in Elle Décor and House Beautiful — the kind of work that in any other context would be called modeling, because that is exactly what it was.

The arc runs from a twelve-year-old Cuban-American kid in Burbank booking Coca-Cola on his first audition, through two decades of being cast as the most handsome man in every room on daytime and primetime television, to a luxury home brand deciding his face was more commercially valuable than a working model’s. His ex-wife walked for Valentino. His son now models for Ben Sherman. The camera never stopped finding him.

References

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