Jennifer McCarthy Wahlberg (born Jennifer Ann McCarthy; November 1, 1972) is an American actress and model from Chicago. She first became famous as Playboy magazine's 40th anniversary Playmate. Her credits include John Tucker Must Die, Dirty Love, Singled Out on MTV and her own sitcom on NBC. She has been married to Donnie Wahlberg since 2014, and prior to that she was in a relationship with Jim Carrey from 2006 to 2010. She is the cousin of Melissa McCarthy.
She has become well-known for her outspoken support for the anti-vaccine movement, which proposes the belief that certain common childhood vaccines cause autism, and that this cause is being covered up by the pharmaceutical industry/government. It should be noted, of course, that this theory is based on a preservative containing small amounts of mercury in some vaccines that was removed over a decade ago, and which has no scientific underpinning whatsoever. This has earned her a great deal of criticism.
Filmography
Film
- 1995 Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead - Blonde Nurse
- 1996 The Stupids - Glamorous Actress
- 1998 BASEketball - Yvette Denslow
- 1999 Diamonds - Sugar
- 2000 Scream 3 - Sarah Darling
- 2000 Python - Francesca Garibaldi
- 2000 Live Girls - Rebecca
- 2001 Thank Heaven - Julia
- 2001 Honey Vicarro - Honey Vicarro
- 2002 The Perfect You - Whitney
- 2003 Scary Movie 3 - Katie
- 2003 Untitled Jenny McCarthy Project - Portia
- 2005 Dirty Love - Rebecca Somers
- 2006 John Tucker Must Die - Lori
- 2006 Santa Baby - Mary Class / Mary Claus
- 2006 Untitled Patricia Heaton Project - Hilary
- 2008 Witless Protection - Connie
- 2008 Wieners - Mrs. Isaac
- 2008 Tripping the Rift: The Movie - Six (voice)
- 2009 Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe - Mary Class / Mary Claus
- 2010 A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventure - Shelly (voice)
- 2015 Tooken - Herself
Television
- 1994 Silk Stalkings - Totally Positive Rush Model
- 1995 Mr. Show - Rhonda
- 1995 Singled Out - Co-Host
- 1996 Baywatch - April Morella
- 1996 Wings - Dani
- 1997 The Jenny McCarthy Show - Host
- 1997-98 Jenny - Jenny McMillan
- 1999 Home Improvement - Alex
- 2000 MADtv - Herself
- 2000-03 Just Shoot Me! - Brandi / Covergirl
- 2001 Going to California - Amber Beamis
- 2001-02 The Drew Carey Show - Jenny McCarthy, Various, Marlo Kelly
- 2003 Fastlane - Gretchen Bix
- 2003 Charmed (1998) - Mitzy Stillman
- 2003 Wanda at Large - Leader
- 2003 Less Than Perfect - Dani
- 2003-04 One on One - Holly Spears
- 2004 Wild Card - Candy LaRue
- 2004 All About the Andersons - Lauren
- 2004 Hope & Faith - Mandi Radnor
- 2005 What I Like About You - Michelle
- 2005 The Bad Girl's Guide - JJ
- 2005 Stacked - Eve
- 2006 My Name Is Earl - Wendy
- 2007 Two and a Half Men - Courtney
- 2008 In the Motherhood - Kelly
- 2008 Sesame Street - Herself
- 2009 Chuck - Sylvia Arculin
- 2010-Present New Year's Rockin' Eve - Co-Host
- 2012 Love in the Wild - Host
- 2013-14 The View - Co-Host
- 2014 Nashville - Herself
- 2014-17 Wahlburgers - Herself
- 2015 Donnie Loves Jenny - Herself
- 2016 The Real Housewives - Herself
- 2017 Return of the Mac - Jenny
- 2019-Present The Masked Singer - Judge
- 2019 Bar Rescue - Judge
Video Games
- 2008 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Special Agent Tanya
Western Animation
- 2003 What's New, Scooby-Doo? - Marcy
- 2007 Tripping the Rift - Six
Tropes associated with her works:
- Cute, but Cacophonic: She may be a beautiful woman, but when she screams, either when scared or excited, it sure is loud.
- Genki Girl: If Donnie Loves Jenny is anything to go by, where she appears as energetic, enthusiastic, and hyper...Which she is in real life.
- Hysterical Woman: She tends to get pretty histrionic when she's really excited.
- Motor Mouth: Her characters tend to talk constantly and very quickly.
- Ms. Fanservice: She has no qualms about removing her clothes off in roles, one example being that her first claim to fame was that she appeared on Playboy.
