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Karen Duffy (born May 23, 1961) is an American model, television personality, and actress.

Early life

Duffy was born in New York City, the daughter of Carol, a homemaker, and Phil Duffy, a developer.^[1] She attended Park Ridge High School in Park Ridge, New Jersey, graduating in 1979. She received a bachelors degree in recreational therapy from the University of Colorado.

Film and television career

By 1989, she was modeling and appearing in television commercials and would become a VJ for MTV in the early 1990s as "Duff." Since then she has had small roles in a handful of films including Dumb & Dumber, and by 1999 she was working as a correspondent for documentary film-maker Michael Moore on his television shows TV Nation and The Awful Truth. Duffy currently hosts House of Tiny Terrors on TLC.^[2]

On July 7, 2007, she appeared on the Live Earth telecast on the Bravo Channel as a co-host at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States.

In 2008, Duffy began working with New York City's NYCTV through a series of emergency preparedness videos, based on the network's hit TV show, Secrets of New York. The videos, which mimic the unique style of the network's Emmy-award winning series are an attempt by City officials to raise awareness of the perils of natural disasters and preventative actions families should take to prepare for them.

Personal life

Duffy was leading a relatively carefree youth in the heyday of her modeling career, partying with movie star friends such as George Clooney, when in 1995 she was diagnosed with the relatively rare disease sarcoidosis. In her case, this affected her brain (neurosarcoidosis), leaving her partially paralyzed. She has so far battled it with a sense of humor, as is evident from her 2000 autobiography Model Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass.

After the diagnosis she continued to model for Revlon and married John Lambros in 1997. They have since had a son named Jack "Lefty" Lambros.

Filmography

• Who's the Man? (1993)
• Dumb & Dumber (1994)
• Blank Check (1994)
• Reality Bites (1994)
• Memory Run (1996)
• Celebrity (1998)
• The 24 Hour Woman (1999)

Bibliography

• Karen Duffy. Model Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass. 2001. ISBN 0-06-095727-1.
• Karen Duffy. A Slob in the Kitchen. 2004. ISBN 1400051150.

References

External links

• Karen Duffy at the Internet Movie Database
• Former MTV VJ tells of battle with chronic illness, by Kat Carney. September 19, 2003, CNN.com.
• COURTTV.COM ONAIR
• Bravo TV Live Earth Bio