Patricia Anne Stratigias was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada,
on December 18, 1975. She grew up a fan of the World Wrestling
Federation (WWF), now known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and
watching her hero, Hulk Hogan, wrestle on television. After high
school, she went on to York University in Toronto where she majored in
biology and kinesiology and was well on the road to medical school.
The staff and faculty at York University would end up going on strike
though, leaving Patricia with few options. Soon she found herself
working for a local gym where her friends and gym members suggested
and pushed her to go into fitness modeling. The 5' 4" 36-24-36student
succumbed to the pressure, she decided to pursue the idea and began
using the pseudonym Trish Stratus in her new career.
After modeling and appearing on magazine covers across the globe,
Stratus was approached by the WWF and began training to become an
entertainer in Vince McMahon's wrestling empire. On March 19, 2000,
she appeared for the first time on the wrestling show Sunday Night
Heat as an escort, accompanying some of the night's wrestlers to the
ring. Quickly, she took a liking to the ring and would soon be found
in it as well as beside it. For her first taste of what the sports
entertainment industry had to offer, Stratus was plowed through a
folding table by Bubba Ray Dudley. The 5'4" former fitness model loved
every minute of it, and thus became even more involved, until
ultimately she would be crowned the WWE's Women's Champion six times
over.
Stratus became a key player in the WWE's ongoing entertaining
storyline. Less than a year after her debut in the industry, she found
herself wound up in the deep plot of infighting between the WWE's
founding McMahon family. When the smoke cleared, the six-time women's
champion found herself at the center of the fans' attention, and
despite injuries past and present that have kept her out of the game,
Stratus keeps at it.
In addition to wrestling, Stratus has been named WWE Babe of the Year
three times. She is also steadfast in keeping to a vow that she will
never pose for Playboy, as other women involved with the WWE have done
in the past. She is a fitness and nutrition advocate, and her official
site has diet and exercise tips as well as some of her own recipes.
She also enjoys using her WWE Superstar status to help give back to
the community through her charity work with Easter Seals, The Special
Olympics, The Ronald McDonald House and other child-aimed charities.