Jennifer Granholm

Jennifer Granholm’s route to Michigan’s governorship – in 2002 she became the first woman elected as the state’s chief executive – has not followed a traditional path.No, she is not a former wrestler or action film star, but Granholm ''has'' tried her hand at acting and is the only sitting governor who can claim to have been a contestant on The Dating Game. She is also a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Born in British Columbia, Canada, Granholm arrived in the United States in 1962, when she was 4 years old. After attending high school in Northern California, she moved to Los Angles to give acting a shot.

Granholm graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984 with a degree in political science, and she received a law degree from Harvard University in 1987. She became an American citizen at age 21.It was at Harvard, while serving as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law Review, that she met her future husband, fellow law student Daniel Mulhern, according to the Associated Press. After moving to Detroit, Granholm worked as a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorneys Office before becoming Michigan’s attorney general in 1999.

After one term as attorney general, Granholm opted to run for Michigan’s highest political post, facing off against Democratic stalwarts James Blanchard, a former governor, and House Minority Whip David Bonoir. Her successful primary campaign led to a face-off against Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus in the general election, which she won to become the state’s first female governor.

Recent hard economic times in Michigan – the state has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs, and thousands more have disappeared from the auto industry as U.S. automakers experience historic financial woes – nearly cost Granholm re-election in 2006. But she held of a strong challenge from multimillionaire Dick DeVos.