Laura Cover Bio
Some Playmates spend years building modeling portfolios before appearing in Playboy. Laura Cover took a far more unusual path. While attending community college in Southern California, she walked into an open casting call at the Playboy Studio with no professional modeling experience. A simple Polaroid photograph was enough to earn her a test shoot, and only months later she became Playboy’s Playmate of the Month for October 1998.
Born in Bucyrus, Ohio, Laura was raised in a close-knit Christian family before eventually settling in Newport Beach, California. As a teenager she focused on athletics rather than modeling, participating in gymnastics and playing competitive soccer throughout high school. In her Playboy interview, Laura described herself as something of a tomboy during her younger years, saying she became more comfortable embracing her femininity after graduation while remaining determined to stay true to herself.
Photographed by Arny Freytag, Laura’s centerfold combined the approachable charm of the girl next door with classic California glamour. The pictorial immediately established her as one of the breakout Playmates of the late 1990s and led to frequent appearances in Playboy videos and numerous Playboy Special Editions, making her a familiar face to readers well beyond her original centerfold.
Outside Playboy, Laura expanded into acting with appearances in television series including Baywatch, Pacific Blue, The Parkers, The Young and the Restless, and Men, Women & Dogs, along with several independent film projects. Although acting never replaced modeling as the defining part of her career, it demonstrated the versatility she had hoped to develop when she first entered the entertainment industry.
Laura also remained active in charitable work. During her Playmate interview she spoke about supporting breast cancer awareness because her mother worked as a registered nurse, and she described sponsoring a child through the Christian Children’s Fund. Those interests reflected a quieter side of her personality that contrasted with her glamorous public image.
In 2002, Laura married Major League Baseball infielder Aaron Boone, a member of one of baseball’s most prominent families and later manager of the New York Yankees. Together they have built a family while Laura gradually stepped away from the spotlight after the height of her modeling career.
Laura Cover’s story stands apart because of how naturally it unfolded. Without agency representation or years of professional experience, she walked into Playboy on her own initiative and became one of the magazine’s most recognizable Playmates of the late 1990s. Her combination of athleticism, Midwestern roots, and enduring popularity has made her a lasting favorite among Playboy readers.
