- Melanie Marquez
Mimilanie Laurel Marquez, popularly known as Melanie, (born July 16, 1964) is a Filipina television and movie actress, producer, personality development coach, author, and celebrity endorser. She is a former beauty queen and supermodel, best remembered for winning the Miss International beauty pageant in Tokyo, Japan, for the year 1979, representing the Philippines.
- Louise Glover
Louise Glover (born on 8 February 1983 in St Helens, Merseyside, England) is a glamour model, and the first British model to be named "Model of the Year" in "Playboy" Special Editions. A qualified fitness instructor and a beauty specialist, Glover started out her modelling career as a beauty pageant contestant, twice winning Miss St. Helens. She then became known for her glamour model and adult work, appearing on Page 3 of British tabloids and in British lad mags, …
- Rita Faltoyano
Rita Faltoyano (born Rita Gacs on August 5, 1978 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian-born porn star. She grew up on a farm outside of Budapest with her godparents. It was there that she learned to ride horses and eventually began riding at competition level. In addition to being a champion equestrian she is also a gymnast and swimmer.
- Anara Gupta
Anara Gupta (born August 1986) is an Indian model and actress who won the "Miss Jammu" beauty pageant in 2001. She has been at the center of an ongoing and widely publicized pornography and police scandal in Jammu and Kashmir since 2004.
- Desiree Washington
Desiree Washington (born 1973), a native of Coventry, Rhode Island, was an eighteen-year-old Miss Black America beauty pageant contestant representing her home state of Rhode Island when she accused boxer Mike Tyson of raping her in an Indianapolis hotel room on July 19, 1991. Tyson was ultimately convicted of the crime and served 3 years of a 6-year sentence. Tyson maintains his innocence.
- Vida Samadzai
Vida Samadzai (born 1980) is Miss Afghanistan 2003. As the first Afghan woman to participate in an international beauty pageant since 1974, her appearance in a red bikini in the 2003 Miss Earth pageant created controversy in her native country. Samadzai, an ethnic Pashtun, was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan, and moved to the USA in 1996. She is a student at California State University, Fullerton.
- Kimberly Caldwell
Kimberly Ann Caldwell (born February 25, 1982 in Katy, Texas) is an American singer best known for being a contestant on the second season of Fox Network's singing competition television show, "American Idol" and as a talk show host on the TV Guide Network. On Amerian Idol, she was the sixth finalist eliminated and finished in seventh place. Kim Caldwell first sang publicly at the age of five at beauty pageants.
- Priscilla Meirelles
Priscilla Meirelles, from Brazil, won the 2004 Miss Earth pageant in Manila, Philippines. In winning Miss Earth, Brazil became the first country to win the "Big Four" in beauty pageants. She also claimed the Best in National Costume Award. The 5'10" beauty also won the 2003 Miss Globe pageant in Antalya, Turkey. She is currently dating Filipino commercial model Marc Nelson, who coincidentally was the host/presenter of Miss Earth 2004, Priscilla's winning pageant.
- Lucia Liptakova
Lucia Liptakova (born c. 1985), of Slovakia, is the first representative of her country to win the Miss Globe International pageant in 2005. The 1.78 m beauty competed in the 2005 Miss Globe International in Tirana, Albania, where she emerged the winner.
- Laura Harring
Laura Elena Harring (born March 3, 1964) is a Mexican American actress and former Miss USA (1985). She starred as Rita in David Lynch's 2001 film "Mulholland Dr."
- Frankie Avalon
Frankie Avalon married Kathryn Diebel on January 19, 1963. She was a former beauty pageant winner, and Avalon met her while playing cards at a friend's house. He told his friend that Kay was the girl he was going to marry. His agent warned Avalon not to marry, as it would spoil his teen idol mystique, but Avalon ignored his advice. Still together, the couple has eight children--in order of age, they are Frankie Jr., Tony, Dina, Laura, Joseph, Nicolas, Kathryn and Carla.
- Jennifer Murphy
Jennifer Murphy (born 1979) is a beauty pageant queen, reality television contestant and business woman. Murphy grew up in Medford, southern Oregon, with her eleven siblings (she is the second oldest among her five sisters and six brothers). She was partially home schooled but also attended Seton High School which she graduated from in 1996.
- Helen Morgan
Helen Elizabeth Morgan (born 1951), of Barry, Wales, is the 1974 winner of the Miss United Kingdom pageant. She earned the right to represent the United Kingdom in Miss World, eventually becoming the second Welsh woman and the fourth UK representative to win the competition in 1974. The celebration was short-lived, however, when she resigned four days after her victory, upon the discovery that she had a child.
- Sonia Ahmed
Sonia Ahmed is a Pakistani promoter of beauty pageants. President of Miss Canada Pakistan Inc. and Miss Pakistan World, she was a prime mover of Pakistan's beauty pageant industry. She started her company in 2002 in the capital of Canada, Ottawa with the aim of creating the first beauty queen in Pakistan, since beauty pageants were unheard of in Pakistan. The first Miss Canada Pakistan was crowned in 2003, …
- Bess Myerson
Bess Myerson was the first (and, so far, only) Jewish Miss America. She went on to become a popular television personality, a public servant, and a philanthropist. Bess encountered anti-Semitism during the Miss America Pageant, when an official tried to convince her to change her name to one that was less ethnic, suggesting Betty Merrick. Bess refused.
- Alana De La Garza
Alana de la Garza (born June 18, 1976) is an American actress. She was born in Columbus, Ohio to a Mexican-American father and an Irish-American mother. She was raised in El Paso, Texas. She won the "Miss Photogenic" title in the Miss El Paso Teen USA local beauty pageant. She then became a special-needs teacher and enrolled at The University of Texas, studying physical therapy and social work. Upon graduating, she landed some small roles while living in Orlando, Florida, …
- Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American motion picture actress.
- Linda Thompson
Linda Diane Thompson (born May 23, 1950 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American actress and songwriter. Linda Thompson won several beauty pageants, including the 1972 Miss Tennessee USA title. In July of that year she began a relationship with the recently separated Elvis Presley and immediately moved in with him at Graceland for roughly three and a half years. A few months after Elvis' late 1976 breakup with Linda, …
- Nick Clooney
Nicholas Clooney (born January 13, 1934) is an American television journalist, anchorman, game show and American Movie Classics host, as well as a politician from the state of Kentucky. He is the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney, and the father of actor George Clooney.
- Marlene Schmidt
Marlene Schmidt was Miss Universe in 1961. She was born in the eastern part of Germany, grown up in the German Democratic Republic after war, but went to West-Germany and lived in Stuttgart. She won the Miss Germany pageant in the same year, representing Baden-Württemberg. But winning Miss Universe, Schmidt became the first German to make a breakthrough in the pageant, after years of runner-up finishes. She went on to have a movie career after her reign.
- Margaret Gardiner
Margaret Gardiner, from Woodstock, South Africa is the winner of the Miss Universe pageant in 1978. During the event held in Acapulco, she received her crown from Janelle Commissiong, the first black titleholder of the pageant. This circumstance, together with the fact that she represented South Africa, and that she is the first winner from the African continent led her to exclaim, …
- Carol Morris
Carol Laverne Morris (born 1936), Miss Iowa USA, was the second Miss USA to win the Miss Universe title in the pageant's fifth edition in 1956. Morris hails from Ottumwa, Iowa and attended Ottumwa High School. She was the first and only Miss Iowa USA to win the Miss USA crown.
- Shilah Phillips
Shilah Phillips is an American entertainer, beauty pageant contestant, and the 2006 winner of the Miss Texas title. Phillips was named first runner-up to Miss America on January 29, 2007.
- Apasra Hongsakula
Apasara Hongsakula (born in 1948 in Bangkok, Thailand;) is a Thai beauty queen who has held the title Miss Universe 1965. She was the first woman from Thailand ever captured the Miss Universe crown.
- Gayle Moher
Gayle Moher is a professional female bodybuilder, now living in Scottsdale, Arizona. Gayle was born in Norwich, England, and grew up as an only child. As a teenager she competed in several beauty pageants. She took up bodybuilding in 1990 after visiting the United States of America. She earned her pro card by winning the NPC Nationals in 1996, and competed in her first professional contest in 1997. Around this time she began training other women from a gym in her basement.
- Agnieszka Kotlarska
Agnieszka Kotlarska is the first Polish winner of the Miss International beauty pageant in 1991. She went on to pursue a modeling career in New York for the likes of Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, before returning to Poland to settle in Maślice. Agnieszka was stabbed to death by a stalker in August 27, 1996. The attack also injured her husband, Jarosław Świątek.
- Yvonne Ryding
Yvonne Agneta Ryding (born December 14, 1962), from Eskilstuna, Sweden, was the Miss Universe titleholder for the year 1984 (crowned on July 9, 1984). She was the third Swede to win the pageant. Prior to competing in the Miss Universe pageant, Miss Ryding was a Swedish National Lucia Bride. Nowadays, she is a TV-personality. She was also the hostess of the Swedish competition Melodifestivalen 1989. Ryding was a guest of honor of the Miss Universe 2006 competition, …
- Emily Yoffe
Emily Yoffe (born 1954) is a journalist, a regular contributor to Slate magazine and the NPR radio show Day to Day. She has also written for The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, and many other publications. Yoffe began her...
- Stella Araneta
Stella Márquez Araneta, born Stella Márquez Zawadski and now simply known as Madame Stella Araneta, is a national pageant director (Binibining Pilipinas) and former international beauty queen. Araneta was Miss Colombia in 1959 and was therefore able to compete in the Miss Universe pageant held in Miami Beach, Florida placing as a semifinalist. She then competed in the first Miss International beauty pageant held in Long Beach, California, …
- Sarah-Jane Hutt
Sarah-Jane Hutt, from Poole, England, was the fourth delegate of the United Kingdom to win the Miss World pageant in 1983. Her victory caused a stir among other contestants, citing that she was not really the most beautiful among the group, with a delegate refusing to attend the coronation ball held thereafter, and another one challenging the judges' decision.<br /> She is a former pupil of the Mountbatten School in Romsey, Hampshire.
- Gretchen Malalad
Gretchen Malalad is a Filipina 2005 Southeast Asian Games karate gold medalist and a former beauty pageant contestant in Binibining Pilipinas 2002 where she emerged Ms. Talent and Ms. Red Bull Supreme. She was also a housemate in "Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition". Her best friend in the house is actress Aleck Bovick. She is currently facing a pending case against the Philippine Air Force after she went on AWOL upon joining "Pinoy Big Brother".
- Keriman Halis Ece
Keriman Halis Ece (1913) is a former Turkish beauty contestant, who became Miss Turkey 1932 and Miss World 1932. She was born 1913 in İstanbul, Turkey as one of the six children of a merchant, Tevfik Halis Bey. Her uncle was a renowned operatta composer Muhlis Sabahattin Ezgi and her aunt a well-known musician and composer Neveser Kökdeş.
- Kayne Gillaspie
Jonathan Kayne Gillaspie (born March 14, 1980) is an American fashion designer, specializing in beauty pageant gowns. He was a contestant on the third season of the Bravo reality series "Project Runway" after being rejected during second-season auditions.
- Catharina Svensson
Denmark's Catharina Svensson became the first Miss Earth when she was crowned in 2001. It was Denmark's first beauty pageant title in any of the "Big Four", and its first since winning Miss Europe 1981. At the time of her crowning, the 21 year old Svensson was a third year law student and a part-time model.
- Brenda Dickson
Brenda Dickson (born February 3, 1949 in Long Beach, California) is an American actress. Dickson was a beauty pageant contestant who won the title of Miss California (preliminary to Miss World) 1967. After a number of years making commercials and appearing on game shows as a panelist, she was cast as one of the first cast members of the daytime drama "The Young and the Restless". She was on the show as Jill Foster Abbott when it launched in 1973 until 1980.
- Gabriella Brum
Gabriella Brum (born 1960) won the 1980 Miss World beauty pageant and resigned one day later. She initially claimed that this was because her boyfriend disapproved, but it later came out that she was forced to resign because she had posed nude in a magazine. She later posed in Playboy and modeled in Los Angeles for a few years. She still lives in Los Angeles.
- Maria Lekkakos
Maria Lekkakos is a beauty pageant contestant from Rockport, Massachusetts who has competed in the Miss USA 2004 pageant. Lekkakos has been involved in pageantry for a long time, first entering a "little Greek pageant" called "Queen of Hearts" as a young girl. In late 2003, Lekkakos won the Miss Massachusetts USA pageant, and was crowned by Susie Castillo, Miss USA 2003 and Miss Massachusetts USA 2003.
- Cheryl Sarate
Cheryl Sarate was a college freshman in the Philippines who burned to death when her costume caught fire during a college beauty pageant. The tragedy dominated headlines for many months in the Philippines media and engendered much discussion and controversy over issues of safety, responsibility, and liability.
- Gemma Cruz Araneta
Gemma Teresa Guerrero Cruz Araneta is the first Philippine delegate to win the Miss International title in the pageant's fifth edition in Long Beach, California in 1964. She is the first Filipina to win an international beauty pageant tilt. Araneta received "Outstanding Manileña" and also, was awarded by President Diosdado Macapagal the "Golden Heart" Presidential decoration.
- Maggie Cheung Ho Yee
Maggie Cheung Ho Yee, not to be confused with Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, is a Hong Kong actress, under contract to the television channel TVB. As such she owes her popularity for her work to that channel's television series, with several film credits to her name. Born in 1970, she competed in TVB's 1994 Miss Hong Kong beauty pageant, reaching the final five but not placing.