Maria Kanellis

Maria Kanellis impresses me as a genuine multi-hyphenate. A wrestler, model, singer, Playmate and pageant veteran from Ottawa, Illinois, she is also a Northern Illinois University graduate, which complicates the easy assumptions people make about her. Surviving and staying relevant across WWE, TNA, AEW and ROH takes far more than looks, and her work as a manager and promoter shows she understands the business inside and out. I have a soft spot for ambitious, versatile women who refuse to be boxed into a single label, and I find the strategic mind behind her glamour just as appealing as the spotlight she commands.

Name (English)

Maria Kanellis

Name (Japanese)

マリア・ケネリス

Reading

まりあ・けねりす

Born

February 25, 1982 (age 44)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Pisces / Dog

Origin

Ottawa, Illinois, United States

Height

170 cm

Occupation

professional wrestler / model / singer / Playboy Playmate / beauty pageant contestant

High school

Ottawa Township High School

University

Northern Illinois University

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mariakanellis/
• Xhttps://x.com/MariaLKanellis
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria%20Kanellis
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B1%E3%83%8D%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1611054

Tags

• Illinois
• professional wrestler
• model
• singer

Last updated

2026-06-21

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.