Best Known As: B-movie star of Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death
Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Year in 1982, Shannon Tweed went on to carve out a career in B movies. Her films have included Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1989), Possessed by the Night (1994), and Bimbo Movie Bash (1997). Tweed is the longtime companion of Gene Simmons of the rock group Kiss. (His official site has described them as "happily unmarried.") They starred together in the 2006 TV reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Her autobiography, Kiss and Tell, was published in 2006.
Tweed has two children with Gene Simmons: Nick (b. 22 January 1989) and Sophie (b. 7 July 1992).
Born: Mar 10, 1957 in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
Occupation: Actor
Active: '80s-'90s
Major Genres: Thriller, Action
Career Highlights: Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death, Possessed by the Night, Power Play
First Major Screen Credit: The Surrogate (1984)
Biography
The Standard Operating Procedure of those anonymous young lovelies chosen as Playboy's Playmate of the Month is to make an extremely brief flurry of au naturel movie appearances before rapidly fading into the sunset. Such was not the case of very blonde, very buxom Shannon Tweed. After being anointed Playmate of the Month and Playmate of the Year, the Canadian-born Tweed was able to sustain her film career for nearly two decades. Her come-hither looks, cascading blonde hair, and divine figure admittedly contributed to her durability, but her strongest suit was her genuine acting ability and willingness to poke fun at her image. The actress offered a comedy performance worthy of a Colbert or Lombard as the fetchingly undraped star of the Apocalypse Now spoof Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1990), while she was consistently superior to her material (and most of her co-stars, female and male) in the Night Eyes and Indecent Behavior films of the 1980s and 1990s. Somewhat more modestly garbed in her television appearances, Tweed has been a regular on the daytime soaper Days of Our Lives, the nighttime serial Falcon Crest (1981-1982 season only, as Diana Hunter), and the raunchy cable-TV sitcom First and Ten. In 1991, she starred as air-service proprietor Sally "Slick" Monroe on the diverting Canadian TV adventure weekly Fly By Night, which ran in rerun form on CBS until 1993. The sister of actress Tracy Tweed, Shannon Tweed has two children with Kiss musician Gene Simmons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Shannon Lee Tweed (born 10 March 1957)[1] is a Canadianactress and model. One of the most successful actresses of mainstream erotica,[2] she is identified with the genre of the erotic thriller.
She occasionally acts with her younger sister, Tracy Tweed, and has also appeared in Playboy photo spreads.
In 2006 Tweed authored an autobiography, Kiss and Tell, published by Phoenix Press.[3]
Personal life
After a brief relationship with Hugh Hefner (which coincided with her Playmate appearances and being named 1982 Playmate of the Year), Tweed has lived with Gene Simmons of KISS since 1985. Their two children are Nicholas (born 22 January 1989) and Sophie (born 7 July 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 (born 10 May 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.
