Maria Kanellis

About Maria Kanellis

Maria Louise Kanellis (born February 25, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, model, and professional wrestler, also known simply as Maria. She is best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment, and is working for Ring of Honor as the valet of real life boyfriend Mike Bennett.

In 2004, she was a contestant on the reality show, Outback Jack. She made it to the final three before being eliminated. During the week of November 5, 2007, she appeared on five episodes of Family Feud with several other WWE superstars. She also appeared on the February 6, 2008 episode of Project Runway with some of the other WWE Divas. On August 17, 2008, Maria, Candice Michelle, and Eve Torres were on an episode of Sunset Tan. Kanellis later appeared on VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown, along with John Cena. On December 17, 2009, she was a guest host on G4's Attack of the Show. Kanellis began a new career as a mixed martial arts announcer for HDNet on March 26, 2010 at the King of the Cage event in Reno, Nevada. Kanellis was also a contestant on the Celebrity Apprentice, which premiered in March 2010. She was eliminated on the May 16 episode. She placed fifth out of fourteen contestants.

Kanellis was first asked to pose for Playboy when she was nineteen years old, but she turned down the offer in fear of embarrassing her sister. She eventually posed for the cover of the April 2008 issue, with an accompanying nude pictorial. For the pictorial, she chose her own wardrobe and made the black hooded jacket she wore in one of the photos. That same year, FHM named her 53rd of 100 on their "The Sexiest Women 2008" list.

Kanellis is also a singer and released her debut album Sevin Sins on April 13, 2010, with "Fantasy" as the first single.

In early 2011, Kanellis starred in online comedy webshow Funny or Die, and in March 2011 she launched her own perfume line called Signature. In September 2011, Kanellis launched her DVD line in conjunction with Code Red DVD called Maria's B Movie Mayhem. Kanellis will be appearing in Manos: The Search for Valley Lodge, the upcoming 2013 sequel to the cult movie Manos: The Hands of Fate.

In January 2014, Kanellis and Bennett launched a weekly podcast called Mike & Maria in Wonderland.

As of December 2023, she has amassed 941,000 followers on Instagram