Shannon Tweed

Shannon Tweed (born March 10, 1957) is a former Playboy Magazine Playmate Of The Month, an American actress and TV personality who appears with her longtime beau, former heavy metal rock band KISS guitarist Gene Simmons and son Nicholas and daughter Sophie on A&E TV's reality program Gene Simmon's Family Jewels.

Shannon Tweed Biography

Early life and career

Shannon was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to a mink rancher father. She was raised in Whitbourne, Newfoundland and Labrador, on a mink ranch. She has six brothers and sisters. Shannon graduated from Mount Royal Collegiate in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and later she became involved in beauty pageants at a young age. In 1977 Shannon was crowned Miss Ottawa Valley and eventually went on to place 4th at the Miss Canada Pageant. She also won the talent award at the national pageant singing Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You".

Playboy Playmate pictorial

After the Canadian wish-fulfillment TV series Thrill of a Lifetime arranged for her to pose for Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine, she gained fame as the Playmate of the Month for the November 1981 issue (photographed by Richard Fegley) and eventually the Playmate of the Year for 1982. She was briefly involved with Hugh Hefner at that time.

Acting career works

Since her first appearance in Playboy, Shannon has primarily acted in TV series such as the HBO comedy 1st and Ten, the prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest and guest appearances on Frasier, as well as B movies. Tweed also appeared in an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard in the seventh and final season. In 1985, she landed a role on Days of our Lives as Savannah Wilder, a character who was working under Victor Kiriakis and through whom Steve "Patch" Johnson was introduced. She remained with the show until 1987.

Her first major theatrical film appearance was in the teen sex comedy Hot Dog... the Movie in 1984. Since then, Tweed has appeared in over 60 films, including Detroit Rock City, produced by Gene Simmons in 1999. She is one of the best known actresses of mainstream erotica, and she is identified with the genre of the erotic thriller, a point she makes in her autobiography, most notably her movies The Surrogate and Night Eyes 2 and Night Eyes 3. She occasionally acts with her younger sister, Tracy Tweed, and has also appeared in Playboy photo spreads.

Autobiography

In 2006, she authored an autobiography, Kiss and Tell, published by Phoenix Press.

Family life

Tweed has lived with Gene Simmons of KISS since 1985. They are not married. Their two children are Nicholas (born January 22, 1989) and Sophie (born July 7, 1992). The family members currently star in a reality television show on A&E entitled Gene Simmons Family Jewels. She also has a younger sister, Tracy (b. May 10, 1965), who is an actress. They shared the screen in the film Night Eyes 3, both have appeared nude together in a Playboy spread and Tracy occasionally makes appearances on Family Jewels. Due to her last name and love of tweed fashions, her signature catchphrase is "Tweed! Fashions co."