7 celebrities who competed at Miss USA and how they placed
Anneta Konstantinides,Samantha Grindell
- The 72nd Miss USA pageant will take place in Reno, Nevada, on September 29.
- Ahead of the pageant, Insider took a look back at celebrities who competed on the Miss USA stage.
Halle Berry nearly won Miss USA in 1986.
Halle Berry represented Ohio at Miss USA in 1986. She was first-runner up to Miss Texas, Christy Fichtner, who was the first runner-up at Miss Universe. If Fichtner had won, Berry would have inherited the Miss USA crown.
That same year, Berry was the first African-American woman to represent the USA at the Miss World competition. She finished in sixth place.
While Berry didn't take home the Miss USA or Miss World crowns, she continued to make history in Hollywood. In 1999, Berry took on the title role in the HBO film "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," a biopic about the first African-American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for best actress. The role won Berry both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Three years later, it was Berry who became the first Black woman to win the coveted best actress Oscar. She took home the trophy for her role in the 2001 film "Monster's Ball."
In 1993, Kenya Moore became the second Black woman to win the Miss USA crown.
Kenya Moore took home the Miss USA crown while representing Michigan in 1993. She placed in the top six at Miss Universe.
Moore's big pageant win kicked off a Hollywood acting career that included stints on TV shows like "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Living Single," and "Girlfriends"; films like "Waiting to Exhale" and "Deliver Us from Eva"; and music videos with Nas and Tupac.
Moore has since become a Bravo star, appearing on "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" since 2012. She has also appeared as a contestant on "The Apprentice," "Dancing With the Stars," and, most recently, Fox's new reality show "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test."
Shanna Moakler was first runner-up at Miss USA in 1995, but she inherited the crown after her competitor won Miss Universe.
Shanna Moakler represented New York at Miss USA 1995. She was first runner-up to Miss Texas, Chelsi Smith, but assumed the title of Miss USA after Smith won Miss Universe.
Like many of her predecessors, Moakler ventured into Hollywood after her pageant career came to an end, appearing on shows including "Pacific Blue" and "Entourage." Moakler was married to Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker for four years, briefly starring in the E! reality show "Meet the Barkers." The couple, who divorced in 2008, share two children. Moakler also shares a daughter with boxer Oscar De La Hoya.
Moakler has appeared as a contestant on "Dancing With the Stars" and "Celebrity Big Brother." She also remains active in the Miss USA organization, currently serving as the executive director for both the Miss Utah USA and Miss Nevada USA state pageants.
Ali Landry was crowned Miss USA in 1996.
Landry took home the pageant's top prize in 1996 while representing Louisiana in the competition, and she went on to place in the top six in the Miss Universe pageant in the same year.
She transferred her pageant success into a career in entertainment, notably starring in a series of Doritos ads, including a spot that aired during the Super Bowl in 1999.
Landry's biggest role was as Rita Lefleur on UPN's EVE, which she appeared in from 2003 to 2006, according to her IMDb page, and she most recently appeared in the controversial film "Sound of Freedom."
Landry was also married to Mario Lopez — but only very briefly. The pair dated for six years before getting married in 2004, but their marriage was annulled just two weeks after they said "I do" after Landry found out Lopez had cheated on her, according to Yahoo! Entertainment.
In 2012, Olivia Culpo became the first Miss USA to win the Miss Universe pageant in 15 years.
After becoming Miss USA and Miss Universe, the Rhode Island native amassed a huge social media following and established a career as an influencer. Today, she has 5.3 million Instagram followers.
Culpo dipped her toe into acting in the years that followed, appearing in "I Feel Pretty" with Amy Schumer and "The Other Woman" with Cameron Diaz, as her IMDb page states.
She has also starred in one season of the TLC reality series "The Culpo Sisters" with her family, but the network has yet to announce if the show will be renewed for another season.
In April, Culpo's longtime partner Christian McCaffrey, who currently plays for the San Francisco 49ers, proposed. The couple have not publicly announced a wedding date yet.
Hannah Brown competed in the 2018 Miss USA pageant as Miss Alabama.
Brown did not place in the top 15 of the pageant, but in the same year, she went on to compete on season 23 of "The Bachelor" when Colton Underwood starred on the show.
She placed seventh in the reality competition series, and in 2019, she went on to become the Bachelorette in season 15 of the series.
Brown gave her final rose to Jed Wyatt and accepted his proposal at the end of the series, but their engagement ended a few months later after she found out he was dating someone else up until the day he left to film the show.
After her time on "The Bachelorette" ended, Hannah went on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," ultimately winning season 28 of the series.
In 2021, Brown published a memoir "God Bless This Mess," which became a New York Times bestseller. In September, she announced on Instagram that her second book, "Mistakes We Never Made," would be published in May 2024.
Competing in the same year as Brown, Caelynn Miller-Keyes was first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant.
Miller-Keyes represented North Carolina in the pageant.
Like Brown, Miller-Keyes went on to compete for Colton Underwood's heart in season 23 of "The Bachelor," placing fourth in the season.
She appeared on the spin-off series "Bachelor in Paradise" in 2019, where she met Dean Unglert. He briefly left the show without her, but he then returned and asked her to leave with him, which she did, as US Weekly reported. The couple got engaged in 2022.
Today, Miller-Keyes is an influencer with over 1 million Instagram followers.
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