Kelly Monaco is an American model, actress and reality television contestant. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to an Italian-American family. As a young girl, she attended St. Joachim's Roman Catholic School 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. Success was limited for several years. In 1999, she landed her first major role on the soap opera Port Charles playing the roles of Livvie Locke and Tess Ramsay. Kelly has been nominated twice for an acting Emmy, and she currently plays the role of Samantha McCall on the soap opera General Hospital.

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 She was featured in the November 2005 issue of Playboy, however the pictorial consisted of previously unpublished photos from her Miss April 1997 shoot.

More recently, Monaco has made numerous cover appearances in other men's magazines such as FHM and Maxim magazine. Along with her Maxim feature in 2005, the magazine also awarded her 13th place on their annual Hot 100 List in May 2006.

Her first television role was on the nighttime drama Baywatch from 1997 to 1998. In addition to playing the role of Susan on the show, Monaco also was Carmen Electra's body double at times, as Electra could not swim. Monaco also had minor roles in the late 1990s films BASEketball, Idle Hands, and Mumford.

Monaco had two roles on the supernatural television soap opera Port Charles: Olivia “Livvie” Locke Morley (1999–2003) and Tess Ramsey (2002–2003). When that program ended, she joined the cast of soap opera General Hospital as Samantha “Sam” McCall in September 2003.

In 2003, Monaco was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role on Port Charles. In 2006, Monaco was again nominated for a Daytime Emmy, this time for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Sam McCall on General Hospital.