Nicole Elizabeth "Snooki" LaValle (née Polizzi; born November 23, 1987) is a Chilean-American reality television personality and dancer who is best known for being a cast member of the MTV reality show Jersey Shore and starring in Snooki & Jwoww. Since the show's debut in 2009, Polizzi has gained popularity by appearing on talks shows including The View, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Show with David Letterman, and The Wendy Williams Show. She earned $150,000 per Jersey Shore episode, as of season five. She also appeared as the guest hostess for WWE Raw in 2011 and competed at WrestleMania XXVII that same year.

Personal life

Polizzi was born in Santiago, Chile. She was adopted when she was six months old and was raised by Italian American parents. Polizzi's father is a volunteer firefighter and auto-salvage supervisor and her mother is an office manager. Polizzi lives in Florham Park, New Jersey.

Polizzi received her nickname, Snooki, in middle school when her friends named her after "Snookie", a male character in Save the Last Dance, because she was the first of her friends to kiss a boy. She grew up and attended school in Marlboro, New York, where she was a cheerleader. During high school, she suffered from an eating disorder, at one point weighing 80 pounds (36 kg). Polizzi attended community college after graduating from Marlboro High School, where she studied to become a veterinary technician.