Date of Birth: Dec. 27,1970
Hometown: Rochester, New York
Current residence: Burbank, California
Ethnicity: Cacusian
Marital Status: Single
Orientation: Straight
Height: 5'11"
Current Weight: 160 pounds
Pro debut: 1995
Championships: 3X WWF Intercontinental, PGWA & WWF Women's
Education: Spanish Literature -BACHELORS (U of Tampa)
CLAIM TO FAME:
Chyna is a current American actress, model and professional wrestler. A former fitness competitor, she is best known for her career with the World Wrestling Federation, where she was billed as 'The Ninth Wonder of the World'".
Chyna is the only woman to enter the Royal Rumble, qualify for the King of the Ring tournament, and be the number one contender for the WWF Championship. In 1999, she became the first and only woman to hold the WWF Intercontinental Championship, which she held three times. She was also an undefeated WWF Women's Championship, before leaving the company in 2001.
In 2002 Chyna entered the New Japan Professional Wrestling federation where became the only woman to compete at the Tokyo Dome and hold number one contedership for the IWGP Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships. Currently Chyna is embarking on an acting and modeling career, she has been in over a dozen feature films and hundreds of television shows.
LIFE & CAREER:
Before exchanging body slams, modeling for the top magazines and guest starring on hundreds of shows, Chyna was a shy girl who was born in Rochester, New York. She spent most of her childhood in a home filled with alcoholism and domestic problems. She found her release through working out and began doing aerobics and lifting weights at gym near her home. This is where Chyna found her niche in the world of fitness.
As the only female in the gym Chyna always stood out, but developed bonds and friendships with the local gym members that gave her the encouragement to keep going in the world of fitness.
She broke all gender barriers everywhere she went and continued her love of fitness throughout her college days. Chyna graduated from the University of Tampa with a 3.9 GPA and a double major in Spanish Literature in under two years. She has also studied forgien languages and can speak English, Spanish, German and French.
Chyna is a true humanitarian and has served in the R.O.T.C and in the Peace Corps to help third world countries re-build, and to teach illiterate children to read. Currently she is a strong supporter of the National Animal Rescue charity which helps domesticated animals find good, loving homes.
Throughout her life Chyna always dreamed of being an entertainer. Chyna began her career in the early 90's as a belly dancer and soon moved on to fitness competitions but the star found her true niche in professional wrestling. She began training to be a professional wrestler under the guidance of Killer Kowalski in a school of all men. Chyna soon took the world of women's wrestling by storm and began competiting in the PGWA where she was named the 1996 rookie of the year and won the women's championship.
After dominating the world of women's wrestling Chyna was discovered by Paul Levesque (Triple H) and Shawn Michaels (HBK), two WWF superstars, who helped Chyna break into the big time. Chyna made her world wide television debut in February 1997 as a bodyguard for Triple H but Chyna soon went on to break all gender stereotypes by competing with some of the toughest men under the name of "Chyna" in the World Wrestling Federation. Years later Chyna became the only woman to qualify for the Royal Rumble and King of the Ring tournaments and became the only female Intercontinental Champion and the only undefeated WWF women's champion in history.
Five years after she debuted as a professional wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation, she parted ways with the company and Chyna then took Japan wrestling by storm under the tutelage of Mr. Antonio Inoki and single handedly brought a culture (where women were considered mere second class citizens) into the 21st century by competing against the top male wrestlers in the New Japan Pro Wrestling federation. While in Japan Chyna stepped in the ring with some of the greatest athletes in the world today, wrestlers like The Great Muta, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, The Great Kabuki, Masahero Chono and alongside Antonio Inoki himself in Mr. Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation.
Her 2002 Tokyo Dome match against Masahero Chono earned her the title of Nikkian Sport's 2002 Women's Wrestler of the Year.
Meanwhile back in the United States Chyna appeared in several motion pictures, hosted a barrage of shows and showed women can combine strength and beauty in two top selling issues of Playboy which proved to the world that women can be beautiful without having the stereotypical, "tradition", Twiggy look. She also appeared in the first ever Playboy documentary which did personal in depth interviews with Chyna, her former manager Rich Minzer, her friend Joe Gold and Hugh Hefner himself.
Her strong will to the best and "survival of the fittest" attitude made her one of the top wrestlers in history. She has served as a role model to millions of men and women by proving anything is possible through hard work and determination. In her best selling autobiography If They Only Knew, she discussed what it took to make it to the top and showed the world what she had overcome in her life to make her one of the most well known pop culture icons in the world.
Shortly after her first appearance in Playboy she released her own fitness video More Than Meets The Eye which has won awards from fitness and lifestyle magazines. The video is still loved among Chyna fans and fitness fans alike.
She has been featured on Reggie Benjamin's CD 2X-Centrix, performing drums and back up vocals. She was on the top of the "dance music" billboard charts for 5 weeks with the CD single Ride. She also sang with her own rock band named The Chynna Dolls for a short time, doing concerts the The Roxy, Elrey Theater, Hollywood Athletic Center and two performances on the Howard Stern Show.
Chyna has also hosted multiple shows from Robot Wars to FYE and AMC's Tough Guys series. She had many guest starring roles on TV Show such as; Whose Line , Third Rock From The Sun , Nick Cannon , Pacific Blue , Sabrina , Mad TV , MTV's Diary and many others. She was also featured as a cast mate on season four of The Surreal Life and VH1's spin off, Fame Games as well being in feature films including Alien Tracker , Alien Fury ,Frank McKlusky CI , Hunter Back In Force , The Romp & Brown Sugar .
In 2007 Chyna appeared on VH1's "Fame Games" and later in the year legally changed her name from Joanie Marie Laurer to Chyna through the Los Angeles courts.
In 2008 she was featured on VH1's Celebrity Rehab TV series to conquer person demons and depression caused from an abusive relationship and childhood trauma.
She's also began making special guest appearances with Mr. Inoki in his new Inoki Genome Federation.
She is the current star of 2 new comedy films The Cougar Club and Illegal Aliens now on DVD
In 2009 Chyna filmed for a role in the new movie, A Night at the Silent Movie Theater and had a lead role in the band Lovechild's music video, Gunna Make you Love Me.
She is also a regular guest host on LA TALK RADIO's Out There w/Jeff Rector show.
Chyna recently has finished a new fashion book with her friend and personal stylist Emillio O called, Paper Doll which is on sale at amazon.com. Chyna has several projects in the works including 3 new feature films, "black T", "Code of Death" and "War of the Dragon", in addition Chyna was recently signed to a very lucrative modeling contract with Model House Talents and is the current face of their company's "Builder's Division". In May 2011
Chyna returned to the world of wrestling with TNA and debuted on the May 12,2011 edition on IMPACT, and followed it up with one last match at the TNA Sacrafice Pay Per View, where Chyna and Kurt Angle took on Jeff and Jaren Jarrett. Chyna's episode of TNA Impact was one of the highest rated episodes for the company in many years.
Although her match with TNA was a one time only deal, Chyna showed the world she had turned her life around, she overcame depression,
emotional trauma and was finally where she wanted to be in life.
In June 2011 Chyna released her first pornography with Vivid Entertainment called, "Backdoor to Chyna", the movie sold over a million copies and Chyna said the movie allowed her to regain control of her life, gave her a new found confidence and got her back on her feet. Chyna embarked on a huge media tour
appearing all over the United States. Chyna began feature dancing at high end night clubs, appeared on dozens of radio shows including "Howard Stern" and ABC radio and in November 2011 won a Fleshbot Award for her video, "Backdoor to Chyna". Chyna also appeared in a tell all shoot interview with KayFabe Commentaries where Chyna discussed everything from her childhood, to drugs, porn and all in between. Chyna's future looks bright these days, with her past behind her Chyna is ready for the next project, she begins shooting her next video with Vivid in early December, a wrestling themed movie.
CHAMPIONSHIPS, AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS:
1996: PGWA Women's Champion
1996: IWF Women's Champion (undefeated)
1996: PGWA Rookie of the Year
1998: First female to wrestle a man
1999: Only female Royal Rumble qualifier
1999: Only female Royal Rumble participant
1999: First woman to wrestle a man on Pay Per View
1999: Only woman number one contender for WWF Championship
1999: Only woman King of the Ring qualifier
1999: Only woman WWF Intercontinental Champion
1999: WWF Diva of the Year
2000: Jane Magazine Fitness Award
2000: Jane Magazine Achievement Award
2000: Playboy Magazine: Top Selling issue #1
2001: Forbes Magazine Entertainer of the Year
2001: WWF Women's Champion (undefeated)
2001: PWI Top 100 Female Wrestlers #1
2001: FHM Hot 100 Women #97
2002: FHM Hot 100 Women #98
2002: Only female to compete at Tokyo Dome
2002: Only female number one contender for IWGP Title
2002: Only female number one contender for IWGP Tag Title
2002: Only female to appear at Koragan Hall
2002: Playboy magazine: Top selling issue #5
2002: Dammie Award: "Best Ass Kicking" Actress (Nominee)
2002: Dammie Award: Best Actress
2002: Dammie Award: Best Actress
2003: Nikkan Sports Woman Wrestler of the Year
2003: Nikkan Sports Entertainer of the Year
2006: WWE.com poll: Best Female Wrestler
2007: PW Insider: Female Wrestler of the Decade #1
2007: Lifted Magazine: Most Influential Female
2008: Maxim Hot 100 Women #100
2009: Publisher of Biographical Ref. Works: Woman of the Year
2009: Bleecher Rpt: Greatest Female Champion in Wrestling
2011: Fleshbot Award
Chyna has been dubbed the Ninth Wonder of the World because she has changed the face of television forever and is a pioneer for women in sports entertainment. Chyna's success has been measured through her hard work and ability to captivate audiences in every feild of entertainment, wherever she may go. In addition, Chyna has also been called the First Lady of Sports Entertainment. She has broken more barriers than any other individual in professional wrestling history. Chyna's accomplishments have gone far beyond the wrestling ring and far beyond anyone's expectations.
Unlike most former pro wrestlers, Chyna has had success on her own two feet. She has been on nearly every talk show and has been featured on hundreds of magazine covers from Playboy and Newsweek to TV Guide and People magazine.