Born in Colorado in 1986, Montag first came to the public's attention after appearing in several episodes of the MTV reality series Laguna Beach. Focused on the lives of several high-school students in an elite California beach town, Laguna Beach was a hit and spawned a second show, The Hills. Although ostensibly focused on cast member Lauren Conrad's life in Los Angeles, The Hills also became a showcase for Montag, with whom Conrad shared an apartment at the time. Essentially the show's co-star, Montag dropped out of college and nabbed an internship with the event-planning company Bolthouse Productions -- all of which was plot fodder for the series. However, it was Montag's relationship with cast member Spencer Pratt during season two of The Hills that drew the most attention.

Conrad took an immediate dislike to Pratt, who responded in kind. The ill will caused a major breakdown in Conrad's friendship with Montag and culminated in Montag's exit from their shared apartment at the end of season two. The rift brought high ratings to the series and divided viewers along such fan-oriented alliances as "Team Lauren" and "Team Heidi." Subsequently, Heidi was arguably cast as Conrad's nemesis during the show's third season, a role she shared with her boyfriend. Although she played a villain on the show, Montag became a darling of the tabloids outside of The Hills, fueling speculation about a possible history of plastic surgery (she admitted in 2007 to having both rhinoplasty and breast augmentation) and attracting headlines for her rocky relationship with Pratt. She also began pursuing a career as a pop singer, with several songs "leaking" digitally throughout the latter half of 2007 and 2008. An official single, "Higher," was released in 2008, followed one year later by the dance hit "More Is More." Montag continued funneling her own money into the recording of her full-length album, Superficial, which was released in January 2010 after three years of work and a reported sum of two million dollars. ~ Matt Collar