Maria Kanellis was born on February 25, 1982 in Ottawa, Illinois. She grew up with an interest in playing sports, particularly volleyball, basketball, and softball and graduated from Ottawa Township High School in 2000, before spending some time as a student at Northern Illinois University.

Maria was first asked to pose for Playboy when she was nineteen years old, but she turned down the offer. In 2004, she was a contestant on the reality show, Outback Jack. She made it to the final three before being eliminated. Before her career in wrestling began, Kanellis also regularly competed in beauty pageants.

She competed in the Raw Diva Search in 2004, deciding to enter the contest after seeing an advertisement while watching Raw. Even though she only placed fifth in the contest, she was hired by the company. Maria began making appearances at the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) training facility under head trainer Paul Heyman. She contributed booking ideas, and her work at OVW earned her a spot on the Raw brand roster. Maria was brought on to Raw as a backstage interviewer in November 2004. She quickly earned a reputation as the oblivious backstage reporter—Maria seemed to ask the wrong questions, irritating and amusing WWE Superstars and Divas.

In 2005, Maria began to get very physical—in and out of the ring. She was defeated in her first official match on the January 10, 2005 edition of Raw by Christy Hemme in a Lingerie Pillow Fight. She also competed in a Fulfill Your Fantasy Diva Battle Royal at Taboo Tuesday for the WWE Women's Championship but was the first to be eliminated by Trish Stratusand Mickie James. In another physical moment, Stratus slapped Maria so hard that one of her fillings legitimately fell out.

In early 2006, Maria defeated Victoria in a match. Afterwards, she was attacked by Vince's Devils (Victoria, Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle, but she was saved by Ashley Massaro. During a commercial break that night, Vince McMahon announced a Bra & Panties Gauntlet match for New Year's Revolution between all five girls that had previously been in the ring. At New Year's Revolution, Maria was the first to enter the Gauntlet match and eliminated Candice Michelleand Torrie Wilsonbefore being eliminated by Victoria. The match was ultimately won by Massaro.

On the January 1, 2007 edition of Raw, Maria attempted to interview Kevin Federlinebut was instead slapped by Melina and called a "bitch". This led to a match between the two later that night, with Melina winning with a Roll-up following a failed attempt at a dropkick.

Maria began an on-screen romance with Santino Marella in June 2007. She also resumed competing in the ring occasionally, often jobbing, or losing quickly, in short matches.

After former Playboy cover-girl Ashley Massaro's return in early 2008, Kanellis engaged in backstage segments where Ashley suggested Maria should be on the cover of Playboy, including at the Royal Rumble, to the disdain of Marella. As a part of the Playboy storyline, Maria defeated Beth Phoenix on February 18, to "earn the right" to be on the cover of the magazine.

As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Maria was drafted to the SmackDown brand. She made her debut on the August 1 edition of SmackDown by defeating Victoria. Later, Maria won a Las Vegas Dice on a Pole match to become the number one contender for the WWE Divas Championship against Michelle McCool, which Maria failed to win. On December 22, 2008, at a SmackDown taping in Toronto, she was a guest referee for the Divas Championship match between McCool and Maryse, in which Maryse won the title.