Karen McDougal (b. March 23, 1971, in Gary, Indiana) is an American model and actress. She was Playboy's Miss December 1997 and Playmate of the Year of 1998. She is of Cherokee Indian and Irish descent.

Biography

McDougal moved to Sawyer, Michigan at the age of 9. She was a cheerleader, band member, color guard, volleyball and softball player in high school and college. She had the most fun as a cheerleader at school. She is a clarinet player (Michigan state champion 4 years in a row in high school) and has studied tap dance and ballet as a child. After attending Ferris State University for college, she moved to a Detroit suburb and taught preschool there. She was called "Miss Karen" by the children she taught. In her spare time, she works out 3 times a week to keep fit and stay in shape. Her childhood dream, prior to teaching and modeling, was to become a ballerina.

One of her goals is to open a learning center for children. Lately, she has been pursuing roles in mainstream entertainment industry and has put her learning center plans on hold. She is interested in pursuing hosting duties of TV or sports shows.

She is one of the few Playmates that has publicly acknowledged having breast implants to enhance her figure. Since becoming Playmate of the Year, she has become an advocate of breast cancer awareness, trying to use her fame to spread awareness.

She commissioned a custom-built motorcycle in 2004 as she enjoys the ride of a bike. Her requirements for her bike were that it had to be pink in color and had to be reliable. In the end, the custom-built pink motorcycle was delivered to her in six months and she was happy with her new ride.

McDougal is currently residing in Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona.

Career Highlights

In 1997, McDougal tried out and won her local Venus Swimwear swimsuit competition in Michigan, her victory caught the eye of Playboy photographer David Mecey. Soon after that she was approached by Playboy for a test shoot at Playboy Studio West which she accepted. Later she was selected to return for a complete shoot and chosen as Playmate of the Month of December 1997. Her pictorial has a winter theme and its outdoor portion was shot in the snowy fields near Park City, Utah. Her centerfold, which showcased her backside was shot by photographer Richard Fegley.

In June 1998, she was announced to have been chosen by Hugh Hefner and fans as Playmate of the Year 1998 at a luncheon at the Playboy Mansion. As her reward, she was awarded $100,000 and a silver Shelby Series 1 convertible with a special Michigan license plate "PMOY 98". In contrast to her Playmate pictorial, her PMOY pictorial in the July 1998 issue of Playboy has a tropical theme and its outdoor portion was shot at St. Lucia. According to her interview in her Playmate of the Year video, she believes her physical imperfections are her "funny" smile, her crooked pinkies which she inherited from her grandfather and her "ugly feet" which she wishes others would not look at. Given the popularity of VH1 at the time. One of the segments in her PMOY video was done as a Pop-up Video parody filled with factoids about her and Playboy. She has also appeared in other Playboy Videos.

In March 1999, McDougal became the first woman to appear on the cover of Men's Fitness magazine. Since then she began transitioning her career into that of a fitness model by appearing in various fitness and body building magazines such as Muscle and Fitness (January 2000), Physical (July 2004) and Iron Man (October 2005 and January 2006) and refrained from modelling nude. She appeared in a 10-page pictorial in the January 2006 issue of Iron Man as the "Hardbody of the Month".

In 2000, McDougal appeared in a series of sexy, scantily-clad TV commercials for XFL football league on NBC with the theme of "Cheerleaders" along with Pennelope Jimenez, Angel Veil and other models. The most famous one featured her as one of many cheerleaders taking a shower in the locker room. Using clever camera angles and strategically placed objects, the commercial gave viewers the titillating illusion that the cheerleaders were nude in the shower with little left to the imagination. The edgier XFL commercials backfired and caused a controversy as they were deemed too risqué by family values groups, they were quickly withdrawn before the launch of 2001 XFL inaugural (and final) season.

In 2001, she co-starred with Lisa Dergan in The Arena, a Roger Corman produced, direct-to-video movie directed by Timur Bekmambetov. The entire production was shot in Russia. In her feature film debut, McDougal's character, Jessemina, is a slave girl who is forced into fighting as a female gladiator in a Roman colony by its corrupt governor. The role offered McDougal her first opportunity to act in a dramatic role and to demostrate her physical abilities with the movie's sword fighting sequences. The movie initially titled Gladiatrix was deemed to be a knockoff of Gladiator. Although the movie was not well received, it has turned into a lesser known cult film.

Many regard her as a favorite Playmate in recent years because of her combination of beauty, "Girl next door" appeal and curvaceous figure. This is further backed up by a Playboy poll in November 2001 which she was voted "Readers' Choice" No.2 Playmate of the 1990s only to lose to Pamela Anderson.

In 2002, Playboy released a limited edition doll based on the likeness of McDougal and emphasized that it was an anatomically correct and accurate model of her statusque physiqué.

In 2003, she collaborated with famed fantasy sculpter Bill Toma in creating a limited edition bronze statuette titled Warrior Princess. It was a revealing sculpture of a fictional female fantasy character in a standing pose using McDougal's face and figure as a template. McDougal posed for Toma in the creative process and the pedestal of each statuette bears her signature.

In 2004, in spring, McDougal appeared in a photo spread in the Italian edition of Vogue with fellow Playmates, Pamela Anderson, Audra Lynn and Tishara Cousino. It was a tennis themed men's fashion spread shot in Las Vegas by photographer David LaChapelle. The spread contained her first published nudes since her contract with Playboy expired years ago. In May, she travelled to Japan to be one of the valets for Scott Hall and Kevin Nash (The Outsiders) when they wrestled at Yokohama, Japan. She also participated in the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Playboy throughout the year at Las Vegas, New York and Moscow with other Playmates past and present.

She appeared in the 2005 Playmates at Play at the Playboy Mansion swimsuit calendar as the calendar girl of July. The calendar was the inaugural Playmates at Play calendar and it was shot on the grounds of Playboy Mansion in 2004. It was Playboy's first attempt at creating a non-nude swimsuit calendar featuring Playmates similar in style with those from Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. While all Playmates appeared in bikinis in the calendar, McDougal and Hiromi Oshima were the only two Playmates actually wearing nothing but painted on bikinis.

She has also guest hosted programs for E! (Wild On!) and appeared in other television programs (such as: The Magic Hour, The O'Reilly Factor, Playmate edition of Russian Roulette, WWE RAW Diva Search 2004, etc.) and movies (cameos in Joe Dirt, Charlie's Angels, Grind, The Girl Next Door and Raising Helen), music videos (singer David Lee Roth), various posters, calendars, magazine covers, advertising campaigns, clothing, swimwear and lingerie catalogs following her success as Playmate of the Year.

Career Lows

McDougal was one of twelve contestants in the search for the new host succeeding Brooke Burke for Wild On! in 2002 (known as Wild Off!). The contest took place at The Palms in Las Vegas. She was considered an early favorite by fellow contestants, but did not advance to the final round of 5 contestants. Cindy Taylor was the eventual winner of Wild Off!.

After winning the local try out in Los Angeles, she advanced to the WWE 2004 RAW Diva Search special held at the Beacon Theatre in New York as one of 28 finalists. The special was televised live on Spike TV with a live audience on July 15, 2004. McDougal, clad in a black bikini, survived 2 rounds of elimination during the 2 hour special, only to be eliminated by the judges in the last round at the end, just prior to the selection of the final 10 contestants eligible for online voting. Her elimination was a surprise to the live audience, as she was arguably the most famous contestant not advancing to the next round. Christy Hemme was eventually selected by viewers to be the 2004 WWE RAW Diva.

Trivia

• Her high school nickname was Barbie due to her wholesome sweetness.
• She has three older brothers, Bob, Dave and Jeff, and a younger sister, Tina.
• Her first kiss was at 15 years old.
• Although she is a swimsuit model, she is not a proficient swimmer.
• She has 2 cats: Brittany and Brandy.
• In the beginning, she did not believe herself to be "Playmate material".
• She is the 39th Playmate of the Year in Playboy history.
• She professed to be a chocoholic and junk food junkie even when she considers herself a "health nut".
• When she was Playmate of the Year of 1998, she had a healthy BMI of 19.
• She does not enjoy attending parties at Playboy Mansion, even when she does attend, she prefers not to stay for long.
• Although her Playmate datasheet stated that she prefers men with "bubble butts", it is her own "bubble butt" that has become one of her signature attributes.
• She has indicated that if approached, she would pose nude for Playboy again even when she is 40 years old.
• The only tattoo on her entire body is a small tattoo on the second toe of her right foot.
• She learned her signature pose - the sideway split, from cheerleading in high school.
• Her family has a history of breast cancer.

Quotes

• I'm more mature now and less shy -- that happens when you pose nude -- but I've always put the feelings of others first. I'm just very nurturing and love to take care of people. - Savvy.com interview, August 2004
• I have to admit I was completely smitten when the guy who delivers my bottled water said, "You have the face of an angel and the body of a goddess." - Centerfold on Sex, Playboy magazine, July 2005, Vol. 52, Iss. 7, pg. 113

Her appearances in Playboy Special Editions

• Playboy's Playmate Review Vol. 14 August 1998 - cover, pages 2-3,86-93.
• Playboy's Girls of Winter January 1999 - pages 1,10-13, 60-63, 90-91.
• Playboy's Playmates in Bed February 1999 - pages 3,68-69, 92-93.
• Playboy's Celebrating Centerfolds Vol. 2 May 1999 - cover, pages 3, 44-47.
• Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 67 June 1999 - pages 36-37.
• Playboy's Playmate Tests July 1999 - pages 64-67.
• Playboy's Barefoot Beauties Vol. 1 January 2000 - pages 66-67,74-75.
• Playboy's Nude Playmates May 2001 - pages 20-21.
• Playboy's Book of Lingerie June 2001 - pages 68-69.
• Playboy's Girlfriends August 2001 - page 95 (fan letter section).
• Playboy's Casting Calls Novemebr 2001 - page 95 (fan letter section).
• Playboy's Sexiest Playmates Novemeber 2001 - page 84-87.
• Playboy's Playmates in Bed February 2002 - pages 72-73.
• Playboy's Sexy Celebrities March 2002 - pages 54-55.
• Playboy's Nude Playmates May 2002 - page 95 (fan letter section).