Kari Samantha Wührer (born April 28, 1967) is an American actress and singer, mostly credited as Kari Wuhrer, sometimes as Kari Salin. Wührer was born in Brookfield, Connecticut, the daughter of Karin (née Noble), a payroll accountant, and Andrew Wührer, a police officer and car salesman. She has three siblings. As a teenager, she sang in nightclubs, sneaking out of the family home to perform. Wührer began studying acting at the age of 13 at the Wooster School. She studied drama at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, Columbia University, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London with famed teacher Uta Hagen.
Wührer's first television break was working for MTV on Remote Control (1987), before moving on to film. After appearing in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and the leading lady role of Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991), she then starred in over a dozen straight-to-video sexploitation movies, most notably Sex and the Other Man (1996) and Spider's Web (2001). In between, she co-starred in a Canadian art film entitled Vivid (1997) (also released as Luscious). Wührer appeared in the television series Swamp Thing as Abigail from 1991-1993.
Wührer came to mainstream fame in 1997 on the series Sliders as Maggie Beckett, joining the cast as a regular and staying until the show ended in 2000. Later mainstream movie roles include Anaconda (1997), Berserker (2001) and Eight Legged Freaks (2002). Wührer is also well known by many gamers for her role in Westwood Studios' PC game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and its subsequent expansion pack, Yuri's Revenge as Special Agent Tanya. Previously played by Lynne Litteer and followed by Jenny McCarthy Wührer signed a record deal with Rick Rubin and her debut album was called Shiny, released in 1999. She plays the guitar and the flute as well as sings.
Wührer, who considered an offer to appear nude in Playboy in 1998, was later voted #76 on the FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 2000. #73 in the FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2001, #36 in Maxim magazine's 50 Sexiest Women Countdown (1999), #64 on Celebrity Skin's 100 Sexiest Stars of All Time, and #4 in the Celebrity Nudity Database most popular actresses (1999).
Her breast implants encapsulated during the filming of Spider's Web (2001) so she had them removed. She later wrote an article for the September 2002 issue of Glamour Magazine about the insecurities that led her to get implants early in her career and the sense of self-acceptance she acquired. After its publication, she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and discussed the pressure she received from a prominent record producer to get the implants, during what she called "the era of the Video Vixen".