Giving Is Receiving for MTV’s Duffy

Witty, streetwise and photogenic, MTV’s Karen Duffy seems like she was born to be a rock ‘n’ roll video jockey.

But, until three years ago, the 30-year-old VJ was actually working as a recreational therapist at a New York nursing home. Indeed, a career in show biz hadn’t even crossed her mind.

That all changed in 1989 when a photographer discovered her sitting in a bar. In no time “Duff”--as she is known to MTV viewers--was a model and actress. Duffy’s appeared in more than 25 commercials and a handful of films. (She had a small role in Woody Allen’s “Alice.”) Six months ago she hooked up with MTV.

However, Duffy claims that her jump from therapist to triple-threat performer hasn’t required that radical of an adjustment.

“I’m a natural ham,” she says. “When I was working at the nursing home, my job was to motivate the residents. I would completely do everything to make these geezers crack a smile.”

Duffy still finds time to volunteer three times a week at the nursing home. She also swims every Sunday with the Polar Bears, a group of intrepid seniors who tackle the frigid waters around Coney Island each winter.

“Last week Rabbi Jacobson arrived late (for the swim),” recalls Duffy. “I ask him, ‘Rabbi, why are you late?’ He says, ‘Oh my child, I just took up sky diving.’ I’m looking at this dude and thinking, ‘Wow, you’re the man!’ This 80-year-old guy is jumping out of airplanes before he jumps into 36-degree water! It’s been really inspiring hanging around with these guys.”

Duffy says her relatively late entry into show business has helped her cope with the public attention she’s now receiving. She refuses to let success alter her remarkably altruistic ways.

“If you just sit on your butt and moan about, ‘Oh, I need this or I need implants . . . ,’ you’re a sucker,” states Duffy, a former Colorado Volunteer of the Year while a student at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “But the minute you do something for somebody else, you realize how much you can get back.”