Kelly Marie Monaco (born
May 23 1976) is an
American model,
actress and
reality television contestant.
Early life
Monaco, the third of five daughters, was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to an Italian-American family. As a young girl, she attended St. Joachim's Roman Catholic School (since closed) in Philadelphia. She graduated from Pocono Mountain Sr. High in Swiftwater, PA 1994. Monaco grew up with a love of sports such as
soccer,
swimming, and
track, and worked as a
lifeguard for several years while attending Northampton
community college in Bethlehem, PA until she broke into modeling. As a young adult, Kelly moved to Los Angeles with dreams to become an actress.
Modeling
In 1996, Monaco sent nude modeling photos of herself to
Playboy and in April 1997 she became the
Playboy Playmate of the Month. Throughout her tenure with Playboy in the 1990s, Monaco was also featured in many
Playboy Special Edition publications. She was a
booth babe for
Eidos Interactive at the 1999
Electronic Entertainment Expo in
Los Angeles, California. She was featured in the November 2005 issue of
Playboy, however the pictorial consisted of previously unpublished photos from her Miss April 1997 shoot.
