Kelly Marie Monaco (born May 23, 1976 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
is an American model, actress, and reality television contestant.
Kelly grew up in a traditional Italian American Catholic household,
the third of five sisters. The Monacos relocated from Philadelphia to
the rural Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania before Kelly became
a teenager. Although initially unhappy about the move, she eventually
learned to love her peaceful surroundings.
Monaco excelled at sports, including soccer, swimming, tennis, track,
and softball, as well as speech, debate and drama during her years at
Pocono Mountain High School in Swiftwater, where she graduated in
1994. She then attended Northampton Community College in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, where she majored in mass communications for two years,
and worked as a lifeguard at the Mount Airy Lodge in Mount Pocono.
With dreams of becoming an actress, she planned her escape from the
Poconos.
In 1996, Monaco sent nude photos of herself to Playboy magazine and
was contacted one month later by the men's publication. With her
family's approval, she traveled to Chicago for a photo shoot. She
became Playboy's Playmate of the Month in April 1997, and was also
featured in several of its newsstand specials. The work allowed her
the opportunity to travel to many exotic locales, including Fiji,
Honduras, and throughout South America.
Her first television role was on the nightime drama Baywatch from 1997
to 1998. She also had minor roles in the late 1990s films BASEketball,
Idle Hands, and Mumford.
Monaco had two roles on the supernatural television soap opera Port
Charles: Olivia "Livvie" Locke Morley (1999-2003) and Tess Ramsey
(2002-2003). When that program ended, she joined the cast of soap
opera General Hospital as possible con woman Samantha "Sam" McCall in
September 2003.
In 2003 Monaco was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her Port Charles work.
In summer 2005, Monaco appeared as a contestant in the highly-rated
American version of the television series Dancing With The Stars.
Despite her perceived lack of height and an initial lack of grace, she
improved each week and became a popular underdog. In the quarterfinal
round samba, she coolly recovered from a mid-dance wardrobe
malfunction without becoming exposed on live national television. On
July 6, 2005, Kelly Monaco won the Dancing With The Stars competition.
This was viewed by some as an upset, whereas others suspected
ballot-box stuffing, a frequent complaint of Internet-based voting.
This was discussed briefly on a Larry King Live interview with several
members of the show, but was not pursued by runner-up John O'Hurley,
who took the high road and declared that participation and viewer
popularity was more important to him than winning. However, it was
decided to have a "Dance-Off" special as a follow up to this
controversial result, with a presumably lessened chance of Internet
voting skewing the results. It was held "live" on September 20 and
results were announced two days later. This time, O'Hurley and his
dance partner Charlotte emerged as the winners. From appearances, it
is fair to say that Monaco was as happy about losing this match as
O'Hurley was about losing the regular competition.
The win on Dancing With the Stars boosted her visibility level
considerably and resulted in a number of appearances on talk shows as
well as possible new job offers, but she stated that she intends to
remain with General Hospital. Along with making a post-Dancing with
the Stars appearence in the November 2005 issue of Playboy (previously
unpublished pictures from her Miss April 1997 shoot) , Monaco has also
made numerous recent cover appearances in scantily-clad magazines such
as FHM and Maxim.
Her appearances in Playboy Special Editions
* Playboy's Playmate Review Vol. 14 August 1998 -- pages 26-33.
* Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 63 September 1998 -- pages 34-35.
* Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 64 November 1998 -- pages 20-23.
* Playboy's Playmate Tests November 1998.
* Playboy's Nudes December 1998 -- pages 30-31, 46-47.
* Playboy's Girls of Winter January 1999 -- cover, pages 28-29, 34-35,
40-41, 44-45.
* Playboy's Playmates in Bed Vol. 3 February 1999 -- pages 88-91.
* Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 67 May 1999 -- pages 80-81.
* Playboy's Natural Beauties Vol. 1 May 1999.
* Playboy's Girls of Summer June 1999.
* Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 68 July 1999 -- pages 14-17.
* Playboy's Hardbodies July 1999.
* Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 69 September 1999.
* Playboy's Girlfriends September 1999 -- pages 32-41.
* Playboy's Barefoot Beauties December 1999.
* Playboy's Nudes December 1999 -- pages 64-65.
* Playboy's Wet & Wild December 1999.
* Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 71 January 2000 -- front & back
covers, pages 1-3, 36-37, 66-67, 76-81, 92-93.
* Playboy's Natural Beauties Vol. 2 April 2000.
* Playboy's Girls of Summer May 2000.
* Playboy's Celebrating Centerfolds Vol. 5 June 2000.
* Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 74 July 2000 - pages 36-37.
* Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 75 September 2000.
* Playboy's Nude Playmates April 2001 -- pages 80-81.
* Playboy's Blondes, Brunettes & Redheads March 2002.
* Playboy's Sexy 100 February 2003.
* Playboy's Girls of Summer June 2003.