Kelly Maria Ripa was born in 1970 and raised in Berlin, New Jersey. She is the daughter of Esther, a homemaker, and Joseph Ripa, a labor union president and bus driver. She has three-quarters Italian and one-quarter Irish ancestry. During her high school years she was a cheerleader and was encouraged by her drama teacher to pursue acting. She starred in local theater productions and was discovered while performing in The Ugly Duckling during her senior year. She attended Camden County College studying psychology, but dropped out and moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.
Aside from local TV gigs, Ripa’s first national television exposure came in 1986 when she appeared as a regular dancer on Dancin’ On Air, leading into Dance Party USA. Her career goal at the time was to be a newscaster and she often did the cast news reports. Ripa was cast in her first major acting role in 1990 as Hayley Vaughan, a troubled party girl, on All My Children. She concluded her 12-year stint in 2002, but returned for two episodes in 2010 to help celebrate the soap opera’s 40th anniversary.
In Feb 2001, Ripa replaced co-host Kathie Lee Gifford on Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee. The chemistry between Philbin and Ripa (or “Pippa” as he nicknamed her), their banter, interviews, and conversations about their families, personal lives, and New York City attracted a successful, strong, and loyal viewership averaging 6 million viewers daily. In January 2011, Philbin announced that he would be retiring from Live! at the end of the year. Ripa replaced Philbin as the head of the show, which was re-titled Live! with Kelly. Michael Strahan was announced as the new co-host and Live! with Kelly and Michael premiered September 4, 2012. Live! won its first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show on June 23, 2012. After Strahan left Live! for Good Morning America, Ryan Seacrest took over as the new co-host.
Ripa ventured into primetime in September 2003 on Hope & Faith, playing Faith Fairfield, an unemployed ex-soap star. The half-hour sitcom, co-starring Faith Ford, Ted McGinley, and Megan Fox, gave ABC its best Friday premiere score since 1996. The show ended in May 2006 with Ripa declaring she “never wanted to work that hard again.”
In 2007, Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos founded Milojo, the production company, named for their children Michael, Lola, and Joaquin. On October 12, 2015, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce honored Kelly Ripa with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.