Jenny McCarthy

Jennifer "Jenny" McCarthy (born November 1, 1972, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American model, actress and author. She first appeared in Playboy magazine in October 1993 and was named Playmate of the Year in its June 1994 issue. She later began a career in television and film and has recently started writing books.

Biography

Early life

McCarthy was born in a middle class Catholic family that lived on the Southwest Side of Chicago in the West Elsdon neighborhood. She is the second of four daughters born to her mother, a housewife of German ancestry, and her father, a steel mill foreman of Irish ancestry. As a teenager, McCarthy attended Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School and was cheerleading captain at nearby St. Laurence High School.

After McCarthy graduated from high school, she attended Southern Illinois University to study nursing. She needed money to pay for college, so she decided to submit her picture to Playboy magazine to make money. She was accepted and became a model.

Modeling and acting career

After getting accepted by Playboy in 1993, the magazine wanted her to pose for the October issue. McCarthy was paid $30,000 for the photo shoot. McCarthy became the Playmate of the Month and later the Playmate of the Year. With this, McCarthy gained attention and popularity. In 1994, McCarthy moved to Los Angeles. For a time, she hosted Hot Rocks, a Playboy TV show featuring uncensored music videos.

In 1995, MTV chose McCarthy to be the host of a new dating show called Singled Out, for which she left Hot Rocks. Her job as a host was a success, and Playboy wanted her to model more. In 1996, McCarthy landed a small part in the comedy The Stupids. In 1997 McCarthy launched two shows. The first one was an MTV sketch comedy show called The Jenny McCarthy Show, which was popular enough that NBC signed her to do a sitcom later that year called Jenny. Unfortunately, her sitcom was generally considered a "bomb," and was quickly canceled. Also in 1997, she appeared on one of two covers for the September issue of Playboy, the other cover had Pamela Anderson on the cover. McCarthy also released an autobiography: Jen-X. McCarthy once modeled for Candies, a shoe company. In one advertisement, McCarthy posed naked only wearing shoes and having her panties off while sitting on a toilet seat. This stirred a controversy.

In 1998, McCarthy starred in BASEketball. In 1999, she starred in Diamonds, a movie which was directed by her husband John Mallory Asher. The next year, she starred in the popular horror movie Scream 3. Since 2001, McCarthy has guest-starred in many shows as Stacked, Charmed, The Drew Carey Show, Fastlane and Just Shoot Me!.

In 2003, McCarthy appeared in Scary Movie 3 along with model and actress Pamela Anderson. In 2005, McCarthy starred in Dirty Love along with Carmen Electra. The same year, McCarthy hosted a new show on E! called Party at the Palms. The reality show, which is filmed at The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, features hotel guests, party goers and celebrities acting outrageously with McCarthy. In March 2006, she was given Razzie Awards for "Worst Actress," "Worst Screenplay," and "Worst Picture" for her work on Dirty Love, which also netted her then-husband, John Asher, a Razzie for "Worst Director."

Public and professional image

McCarthy on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine

Though McCarthy initially rose to fame because of her sexual image, a frequent source of her humor derives from scatalogical jokes, particularly the shock or surprise of seeing a beautiful woman do something like vomit, pass gas or pick her nose. McCarthy has played off of both sides of this image. For instance, in a cover photo for Rolling Stone magazine, McCarthy was featured in a bikini top while squirting mustard over a hotdog as it splattered.

Another Candies ad which did not cause as much controversy found McCarthy passing gas in a crowded elevator. A sketch on her MTV show centered around her character, a well-coifed business woman, answering the question of "What did you have for lunch?" by forcing herself to vomit all over a table. The direct contrast of McCarthy's reputation as a sex symbol and this often grotesque humor is closely associated with her image.

This was taken to a head in her film Dirty Love, which featured scenes such as McCarthy's character sitting in a massive pool of her own menstrual blood. The film was not well received.

Personal life

In 1993, McCarthy received breast implants to enhance her look as a model for Playboy. In 1998, McCarthy decided to take them out.

In 1998, McCarthy dated her manager Ray Manzella for a short time. After breaking up with Manzella, McCarthy began dating actor/director John Asher. The couple got engaged in January 1999 and married that year on September 11. They have a son, Evan Joseph, born on May 18, 2002. In August 2005, McCarthy and Asher filed for divorce.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, numerous false rumors popped up on the internet, that Jenny was diagnosed with HIV, or had developed AIDS.

In a February 2006 interview with Howard Stern, adult actress Jenna Jameson said she had two sexual encounters with McCarthy.[1] When McCarthy visited Stern's show in April 2006, she denied having sex with Jameson, but said she "made out" with her during the two encounters. McCarthy also took a lie detector test and passed the questions regarding Jameson. During the appearance, McCarthy also admitted to cheating on her ex-husband with men and women.[2] However, in a later appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, she claimed they didn't cheat on each other.

In December 2005, McCarthy began dating actor Jim Carrey. They didn't make their relationship public until June 2006.

Appearances in Playboy special editions

Playboy's Playmate Review Vol. 10 May 1994 - front & back covers, pages 82-91.
Playboy's Girls of Summer '94 June 1994.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 38 July 1994.
Playboy's Playmates at Play July 1994 - pages 6-7.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 39 September 1994 - page 25.
Playboy's Wet & Wild Playmates September 1994 - page 73.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 40 November 1994.
Playboy's Nudes November 1994 - cover.
Playboy's Playmates in Bed Vol. 1 January 1995.
Playboy's Supermodels February 1995.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 44 July 1995 - cover.
Playboy's Nudes October 1995.
Playboy's Winter Girls February 1996.
Playboy's Celebrating Centerfolds Vol. 1 December 1998 - pages 6-7.

Selected filmography

Film

Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)
The Stupids (1996)
BASEketball (1998)
Diamonds (1999)
Scream 3 (2000)
Thank Heaven (2001)
Scary Movie 3 (2003)
Dirty Love (2005) (also producer and writer)
John Tucker Must Die (2006)Upcoming:
Rollin (2007) (also writer)

Television

Singled Out (host from 1995-1997)
The Jenny McCarthy Show (1997) (canceled after 5 episodes)
Jenny (1997) (canceled after 17 episodes)
Python (2000)
Party at the Palms
Charmed
Just Shoot Me
The Bad Girl's Guide (2005) (canceled after 6 episodes)
The Drew Carey Show (cameos in multiple episodes most notably the "after school special" spoof episode)
Hope & Faith (guest appearances)

Pro-wrestling

*Jenny made an appearance at the World Wrestling Federation's WrestleMania XI on April 2, 1995 as a guest valet for Shawn Michaels. She left after the match with the victor, WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel.

External links

*Indigo Moms, an online community devoted to motherhood, hosted by Jenny McCarthy
*JennyLaughs.com, the books of Jenny McCarthy
*Jenny McCarthy Quotes