We here at The Penalty Flag love cheerleaders. In fact, we think half-nude women in skirts  and sports go along just perfectly. So let’s “Bring It On” our Hottie of the Week is Gabrielle Union.

As cheerleader opposite of Kristen Dunst in the movie Bring It On, Gabrielle Unionsplashed onto the scene in a big way. She would later play a role in Bad Boys II with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

Previous to landing the more prominent roles Union had to work to get where she is today. She could be seen on over 25 different television shows in multiple roles and also 20 different movies.

Gabrielle was born in Omaha, Nebraska and after moving to Pleasanton, California she attended Foothill High School where she would become an all-star point guard in basketball and a year-round athlete, also playing in soccer and running track.

Per Wikipedia, Union attended the University of Nebraska before moving on to Cuesta College. She eventually transferred to UCLA and earned a degree in sociology. While studying there, she interned at the Judith Fontaine Modeling & Talent Agency to earn extra academic credits. Invited by the agency’s owner, Judith Fontaine, Union started working as a model to pay off college loans.

Union started her acting career in minor roles. Most were in teen movies such as 10 Things I Hate About You and Love and Basketball. In 1997, Union appeared in a sixth-season episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Klingon N’Garen. She also appeared in Sister, Sister as Vanessa, in Smart Guy as Denise, and in five episodes of 7th Heaven as Keesha Hamilton. She is. In 2000, Union landed the role of Isis in the cheerleading movie Bring it On opposite Kirsten Dunst. Bring It On helped push Union into the mainstream and she began gaining more exposure. This led to Union being cast in the CBS television drama City of Angels as Dr. Courtney Ellis.

Union was cast in her first leading role in the 2003 film Deliver Us from Eva with rapper L.L. Cool J. This was her second time working with the rapper since making a cameo in his video “Paradise” in 2002. The film received fair reviews from critics and it showed that Union was a leading lady. Union landed the role of Will Smith’s girlfriend Syd in the film Bad Boys II, a box office success grossing over $273 million worldwide. Union starred with Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx in the film Breakin’ All the Rules in 2004.

She will be again working with Tyler Perry on the upcoming 2012 romantic comedy Good Deeds. She will be playing the role of Natalie, the soon to be wife of Perry’s character Glen Deeds.