Jennifer Ann “Jenny” McCarthy (born November 1, 1972) is an American model, comedian, actress, author, activist, and game show host.
Jennifer Ann “Jenny” McCarthy began her career in 1993 as a nude model for Playboy magazine and was later named their Playmate of the Year. Jennifer Ann “Jenny” McCarthy then parlayed her Playboyfame into a successful television and film acting career. Most recently, Jennifer Ann has written books about parenting, and has become an activist promoting the claims that vaccines cause autism and that chelation therapy helps cure it—both claims are considered unsubstantiated by the medical community. McCarthy was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois to a middle-class Catholic family of Polish and Irish descent. She lived in the West Elsdon neighborhood of Chicago. Jennifer McCarthy is the second of four daughters; her sisters are named Lynette, Joanne and Amy. Her cousin is actress Melissa McCarthy ofBridesmaids and Mike and Molly fame. McCarthy’s mother, Linda, was a housewife and courtroom custodian, and her father, Dan McCarthy, was a steel mill foreman. Jennifer McCarthy 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 a cheerleader at both Brother Rice High School and St. Laurence High Schools, although she has referred to herself as an “outcast” at her school and has described how she was repeatedly bullied by classmates. 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. Jennifer McCarthy was accepted and became a model.
