Birth Name : Kelly Maria Ripa
Height : 5' 3" (1.60 m)
Mini Biography
Kelly Ripa had been performing in her senior high school play, The Ugly Duckling, when she was approached by her current manager, Cathy Parker, who encouraged her to pursue acting. After attending new Jersey's Camden County Community College, she performed in local theater productions before joining "All My Children" (1970) in November, 1990. Kelly has received nominations for a 1993 Daytime Emmy Award and a 1993 Soap Opera Award. Kelly, is the first in her family to enter the acting profession. She had studied ballet since age three, plays the piano and, in her words, is "no Barbra Streisand", but can carry a tune.
Actress, television host. Born October 2, 1970 in Stratford, New Jersey. The daughter of a bus driver and labor union president, Ripa began studying ballet at the age of three and appeared as a dancer on Dance Party USA when she was 19.
Ripa attended Camden Community College in New Jersey where she performed in local theater productions before landing the role of Hayley Santos on the ABC daytime drama All My Children in 1991. She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role in both 1993 and 1999.
In February 2001, Ripa joined co-host Regis Philbin for ABC's morning talk show Live with Regis and Kelly, replacing longtime co-host Kathie Lee Gifford. Ripa's endearing personality and upbeat sense of humor proved to be the ideal foil for Philbin's curmudgeonly style of entertainment. She continued to appear periodically on All My Children alongside husband and co-star Mark Consuelos; in 2002, she left the show.
Ripa and Consuelos live in New Jersey with their children, Michael Joseph, Lola Grace and Joaquin.Kelly Ripa, the bubbly, blonde, and garrulous host of Live With Regis and Kelly (formerly Live With Regis and Kathie Lee), made the leap from semi-obscurity to American icon in early 2001,
when the producers of that nationally syndicated daytime talk program selected her as the replacement for 15-year hostess Kathie_Lee_Gifford. Born October 2, 1970, to parents of mixed Irish and Italian heritage, the photogenic Ripa began her career as an actress -- first in high-school productions, then as a participant on the USA channel's Dance Party USA, and finally as a soap opera star on All_My_Children.
Her portrayal of psychologically tortured teenager Hayley Vaughan on that program spanned 12 years, from 1990 through 2002. During her time with that series, she also met and married co-star Mark_Consuelos, and eventually had several children with him.
The actress' assignment on Live With Regis represented the denouement of a long, suspenseful, and nationally publicized search after Gifford withdrew in mid-2000. In the final analysis, many insiders felt that executive producer
Michael Gelman and others had clearly made the right choice, for then-30-year-old Ripa's ascent to the co-host's chair helped the show reel in the highest ratings of its multi-decade run. Moreover, the program's fans asserted that the central banter between "Reege" and his hostess had never once been livelier, more entertaining or more fluid.
In mid-2003, the peppy Ripa signed for another popular small-screen gig, albeit in a completely different venue: she and Faith_Ford (Murphy_Brown) played reunited sisters -- Ripa one of the glitterati, Ford a low-key suburban wife and mother -- on the situation comedy Hope & Faith. The program debuted that fall and lasted for three seasons. Ripa guest-hosted Saturday_Night_Live in November 2003;
she and Regis are also frequent guests on Late Night with David Letterman. In addition to small-screen work, Ripa's resumé includes a bit part in the Muppet specials Sesame_Street:_Elmo's_World_--_Happy_Holidays! and It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, as well as the Steve_Martin comedy remake Cheaper by the Dozen (2003).
