Jennifer "Jenny" McCarthy (born November 1, 1972, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American model and actress.

Career

In 1992, McCarthy was studying nursing at Southern Illinois University. In an attempt to make money for college, she submitted her picture to Playboy magazine. She was chosen to be the centerfold in the October 1993 issue and was subsequently named Playmate of the Year in 1994. Her success as a model led to her quitting college and moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in show business.

In 1995, McCarthy was hired by MTV to co-host a new series, Singled Out. She became a popular success on the series due to her good looks and sense of humor. McCarthy had two short-lived television series; The Jenny McCarthy Show, a variety show, and Jenny, a sitcom. She has also appeared in several movies, mostly in small supporting roles. McCarthy is the author of Jen-X (1997), an autobiography, and Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth (2004).

McCarthy is known for her comedic style of relying on the combination of her physical beauty and gross-out humour. Often times the "joke" simply stems from the fact that some sort of gross bodily function, such as passing gas or belching, has eminated from a beautiful woman. She participated in a series of television and print advertisements for Candies shoe company that played off of this image. One television ad had her farting in a crowded elevator; a print ad which stirred up a great deal of controversy found her seated on a toilet with panties around her ankles and Candies shoes on her feet.

McCarthy had a relationship with Ray Manzella who was also her manager. The couple separated and McCarthy married John Mallory Asher on September 11, 1999. The couple have a son, Evan, who was born May 18, 2002. In August 2005, McCarthy and Asher filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences." McCarthy wrote and starred in the feature film Dirty Love which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The film was an abysmal failure, reaping less than $100,000 at the box office and receiving a zero star rating from critic Roger Ebert.

In her book Jen-X, Jenny revealed that when it came to modeling, she was "not that comfortable with nudity". Nonetheless, ten years after she was featured as a Playmate, she posed again for Playboy and appeared in the January 2005 issue.

In 2005 Jenny McCarthy hosted a new show on E! Entertainment Television 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 the late 90s and early 2000s, numerous false rumors popped up on the internet, mostly on message boards, that Jenny was diagnosed with HIV, or had developed AIDS. It it unknown where or how the rumors got started.

Her 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.

Trivia

• Jenny's younger sister, Amy McCarthy, is now a Playboy model.
• Jenny McCarthy is currently a spokeswoman for José Cuervo Tequila.

Filmography

• 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)
Upcoming:
• John Tucker Must Die (2006)
• Rollin (2006) (also writer)

Television Work

• Singled Out (host from 1995-1997)
• The Jenny McCarthy Show (1997) (canceled after 5 episodes)
• Jenny (1997) (canceled after 17 episodes)
• Python (2000)
• 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)

Quotes

• "My philosophy of dating is to just fart right away."

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.