Jenny McCarthy

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Jenny McCarthy

Playboy centerfold appearance
October 1993
Preceded by Carrie Westcott
Succeeded by Julianna Young
Playmate of the Year
1994
Preceded by Anna Nicole Smith
Succeeded by Julie Lynn Cialini
Born November 1, 1972 (1972-11-01) (age 35)
Chicago, Illinois
Measurements Bust: 38 in (97 cm)
Waist: 24 in (61 cm)
Hips: 34 in (86 cm)
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight 120 lb (54 kg)

Jennifer Ann "Jenny"[1] McCarthy (born November 1, 1972)[2] is an American model, comedian, 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.

Contents

[edit] Early life

McCarthy was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a middle-class Irish American and German American[citation needed] Catholic family that lived in the West Elsdon neighborhood. She is the second of four daughters; her sisters are named Joanne, Amy and Lynette. Her cousin is Melissa McCarthy of Gilmore Girls fame. McCarthy's mother, Linda, was a housewife and courtroom custodian, and her father, Dan McCarthy, was a steel mill foreman.[3][4] She attended St. Turibius Grade School on Chicago's South Side. As a teenager, McCarthy attended Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School (whose school sweater she donned in the pages of Playboy) and was cheerleader at both Brother Rice High School and St. Laurence High Schools,[5] although she has referred to herself as an "outcast" at her school.[6] After McCarthy graduated from high school, she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale 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.

[edit] Career

[edit] 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. In 1994, thanks to this newfound attention and popularity, McCarthy moved to Los Angeles and, for a time, 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 do more modeling. That same year, she also appeared at WrestleMania XI as a guest valet for Shawn Michaels. She left after the match with the victor, WWF Heavyweight Champion Diesel. 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. The latter show is generally considered a disappointment and was quickly canceled. Also in 1997, she appeared on one of two covers for the September issue of Playboy, the other cover featured Pamela Anderson. McCarthy also released an autobiography: Jen-X.

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 appeared in the horror movie Scream 3. Since 2001, McCarthy has guest-starred in such shows as Stacked, Charmed, The Drew Carey Show, Wings, Fastlane and Just Shoot Me!.

In 2003, McCarthy appeared in Scary Movie 3 along with model and actress Pamela Anderson. In 2005, McCarthy produced, wrote and 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. 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."

McCarthy has continued her work with Playboy over the years, both as a model and in other capacities. She graced the cover of the magazine's January 2005 issue wearing a leopard skin bunny suit and was featured in a pictorial shot at Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in the same issue. She was the second woman (Carmen Electra was the first) and first Playmate to become a celebrity photographer for the Playboy Cyber Club, getting behind the camera to photograph model Jennifer Madden, who is not a Playmate.

Jenny's younger sister, Amy, has also posed for Playboy. She was a Cyber Girl of the Week and the Cyber Girl of the Month for January 2005.[7]

She is the current voice of Six in the third season of Canadian CGI Sci-Fi cartoon Tripping the Rift.

McCarthy currently stars in an online five episode series, called In The Motherhood, along with Chelsea Handler and Leah Remini. The show is on MSN and is based on being a mother where users could submit their stories to have it made into real webisodes.

[edit] Public persona

In June, 2007, Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) named McCarthy as its spokesperson.[8] Her stated goal is to educate the public that autism is treatable. She will be participating in fundraisers, online chats and other activities for the not-for-profit organization to help families affected by autism spectrum disorders. Her first fundraiser for TACA, Ante Up for Autism,[9] was held on October 20, 2007, in Irvine, California.

Though McCarthy initially rose to fame because of her sexual image, a frequent source of her celebrity derives from toilet humor. McCarthy once modeled for Candie's, a shoe company. In one magazine ad, McCarthy posed on a toilet seat, with her underwear near her ankles. Cultural scholar Collin Gifford Brooke wrote that the ad's "taboo nature" brought it attention, while noting that the ad itself helped to weaken that taboo.[10] Another Candie's ad depicted McCarthy passing gas in a crowded elevator.

A sketch on her MTV show centered on 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 (which she then ate on-screen). The direct contrast of McCarthy's reputation as a sex symbol and this often grotesque humor is closely associated with her image. This image was taken to a new extreme in her film Dirty Love, which featured McCarthy's character sitting in a massive pool of her own menstrual blood.[11]

[edit] Personal life

In 1993, McCarthy underwent breast augmentation to enhance her look as a model for Playboy. McCarthy had the implants down-sized in 1998.

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

In a February 2006 interview with Howard Stern, adult actress Jenna Jameson said she had two sexual encounters with McCarthy.[12] 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 having performed oral sex on women and that she cheated on her ex-husband with both men and women.[13] However, in a later appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, she claimed they didn't cheat on each other because it was agreed upon.

In December 2005 McCarthy began dating Jim Carrey. They did not make their relationship public until June 2006. She announced on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 2, 2008 that she and Carrey are now living together, but have no plans to marry, as they do not need a "piece of paper."

[edit] Activism

In May 2007 McCarthy announced that her son was diagnosed with autism in 2005. In June, she was named as the TACA spokesperson for families affected by Autism. Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism was published September 17, 2007. McCarthy told Oprah that her son was developing normally until he received his measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (at 15 months of age).[14]

She has stated in her book, and on her appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show that her husband was unable to deal with their son's autism, which led to their divorce. She went on to say that her relationship with Jim Carrey has made it easier on her and that finding someone who loves her and her son is great.

On April 2, 2008, she went on the Larry King Live special dedicated to autism, and engaged in a fierce, on-camera spat debating whether premature vaccines have contributed to the incidence of autism in previously unaffected babies. This opinion is in stark contrast to the scientific community opinion that no causal association exists between autism and childhood vaccines, such as the MMR vaccine,[15] although the US government has recently compensated a family whose child developed complications from a previously-existent disease, resulting in autism-like symptoms, after receiving a vaccination.[16] However, this is the only such case where a link has been established between autism and vaccination, and was most likely due to a pre-existing condition.

[edit] Other interests

McCarthy began her writing career in 1997 with her first book, Jen-X: Jenny McCarthy's Open Book, an autobiography.

In recent years, McCarthy has written a successful series of four books about her experiences with pregnancy and raising her son, Evan.

McCarthy is also an occasional columnist for FHM magazine and has also recently appeared in a commercial for Weight Watchers after successfully losing and maintaining her post-pregnancy weight by following the program. She is also working with Talk About Curing Autism Now (TACA).

[edit] 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.

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role
1995 Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead Blonde Nurse
1996 The Stupids Glamorous Actress
1998 BASEketball Yvette Denslow
1999 Diamonds Sugar
2000 Scream 3 Sarah Darling
Python (TV) Francesca Garibaldi
2001 Thank Heaven Julia
2002 Crazy Little Thing Whitney Ann Barnsley
2003 Scary Movie 3 Kate
2005 Dirty Love Rebecca Sommers
2006 Lingerie Bowl (TV)
John Tucker Must Die Lori
Santa Baby (TV) Mary Class
2007 Weiners Ms. Isaac
2008 Witless Protection Connie

[edit] Television work

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Biography for Jenny McCarthy. IMDb.com, Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
  2. ^ "Jenny McCarthy Profile" E! Online. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  3. ^ Heroine Worship: Jenny McCarthy, The McCarthy Era
  4. ^ Jenny McCarthy Biography (1972-)
  5. ^ Austin, Michael and Jennifer Wehunt, "Before They Were Famous," Chicago, pg. 76, February 2007, Volume 56, number 2.
  6. ^ USA WEEKEND Magazine
  7. ^ Amy McCarthy. Playboy.com (January 2005). Retrieved on 2007-09-18.
  8. ^ TACA Talk About Curing Autism Spokesperson - Jenny McCarthy
  9. ^ Ante Up For Autism : : Taca
  10. ^ Collin Gifford Brooke (2003). "Sex(haustion) Sells: Marketing in a Saturated Mediascape", in Tom Reichert and Jacqueline Lambiase: Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0805841180. 
  11. ^ Glory At The Razzies For Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman - Hecklerspray: Music, Movies, TV, Celebs, Games and Gossip
  12. ^ MarksFriggin.com - Stern Show News - Archive
  13. ^ MarksFriggin.com - Stern Show News - Archive
  14. ^ "Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete—Their Fight to Save Their Autistic Sons", Jenny McCarthy on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 2007-09-18. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  15. ^ Taylor B (2006). "Vaccines and the changing epidemiology of autism". Child Care Health Dev 32 (5): 511–9. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2006.00655.x. PMID 16919130. 
  16. ^ "Case Study: Autism and Vaccines", Time Magazine Article 'Case Study: Autism and Vaccines', Claudia Wallis, 2008-03-10. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  17. ^ Amazon.com: Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism: Books: Jenny McCarthy

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Ronan Keating		 MTV Europe Music Awards host
1998		 Succeeded by
Ronan Keating
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