In 1986, Halle Berry became close to winning Miss USA.
In 1986, Halle Berry represented Ohio as Miss USA. Christy Fichtner, Miss Texas, who was first runner-up in Miss Universe, beat her out for the Miss Universe crown. Berry would have inherited the Miss USA title if Fichtner had won.
Berry won the United States at the Miss World pageant for the first time as an African-American woman in the same year. She came in sixth place overall.
Berry got to make history in Hollywood even if she did not win the Miss USA or Miss World titles. Berry played the lead in the 1999 HBO miniseries “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge,” which was about the first African-American woman to receive an Academy Award nomination for best actress. Berry received a Golden Globe and an Emmy for the role.
Berry became the first Black woman to win the coveted best actress Oscar three years later. She received the award for her role in the 2001 movie “Monster’s Ball.”
Kenya Moore was the second Black woman to be crowned Miss USA in 1993.
Kenya Moore, who was representing Michigan, won the Miss USA title in 1993. In the top six at Miss Universe, she placed.
Moore’s major pageant win marked the beginning of a successful acting career in Hollywood, which includes roles in films like Waiting to Exhale and Deliver Us from Eva as well as music videos with Nas and Tupac. Moore also appeared on TV episodes including “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Living Single,” and “Girlfriends.”
After that, Moore rose to fame on Bravo, and she has been a part of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” since 2012. Additionally, she appeared in “The Apprentice,” “Dancing With the Stars,” and most recently, Fox’s brand-new reality programme “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.”
First runner-up in Miss USA in 1995, Shanna Moakler won the title after her rival won Miss Universe.
At Miss USA 1995, Shanna Moakler represented New York. Chelsi Smith, Miss Texas, beat her to the title, but she went on to win Miss USA after Smith won Miss Universe.
After her pageant career came to an end, Moakler entered Hollywood like many of her predecessors did, making appearances on shows including “Pacific Blue” and “Entourage.” For four years, Moakler was married to Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, and she briefly appeared on the E! reality series “Meet the Barkers.” Two children were born to the couple, who divorced in 2008. Moakler and boxer Oscar De La Hoya also have a daughter together.
Moakler has participated in “Celebrity Big Brother” and “Dancing With the Stars” as a contestant. She continues to be involved with the Miss USA organisation and is currently the executive director for the state pageants for Miss Utah USA and Miss Nevada USA.
In 1996, Ali Landry was named Miss USA.
Landry, who competed on behalf of Louisiana, won the pageant’s highest honour in 1996. The following year, she finished in the top six in the Miss Universe competition.
She turned her pageant win into a career in entertainment, most notably by playing the lead in several Doritos ads, one of which aired during the 1999 Super Bowl.
According to report, Landry’s greatest performance was as Rita Lefleur on the UPN television series EVE, which she starred in from 2003 to 2006. She most recently made an appearance in the controversial movie “Sound of Freedom.”
Mario Lopez and Landry were also married, albeit for a very brief time. According to Yahoo! Entertainment, the couple dated for six years before being married in 2004, but their union ended just two weeks later after Landry learned Lopez had cheated on her.
Olivia Culpo made history in 2012 by becoming the first Miss USA to win the Miss Universe competition in 15 years.
The Rhode Island native acquired a huge social media following and started a career as an influencer after winning Miss USA and Miss Universe. She currently has 5.3 million Instagram fans.
In the years that followed, Culpo dabbled in acting, making appearances in “I Feel Pretty” with Amy Schumer and “The Other Woman” with Cameron Diaz, according to report.
She and her family co-starred in the first season of the TLC reality series “The Culpo Sisters,” but the network has not yet revealed if it will be renewed for a second season.
Christian McCaffrey, a former player for the San Francisco 49ers who is now Culpo’s longtime partner, proposed in April. A wedding date has not yet been made known to the public by the pair.
As Miss Alabama, Hannah Brown competed in the 2018 Miss USA pageant.
While Brown didn’t get in the top 15 of the pageant, the same year saw her compete on Colton Underwood’s “The Bachelor” season 23.
She came in seventh place in the reality competition series, and in 2019, she went on to win season 15 of the show as the Bachelorette.
After accepting Jed Wyatt’s proposal and giving him her final rose at the end of the series, Brown and Wyatt’s engagement lasted just a few months when she discovered that Wyatt had been seeing someone else right up until the day he left to shoot the show.
When Hannah’s time on “The Bachelorette” came to an end, she auditioned for ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” where she ultimately took home the season 28 championship.
Brown’s memoir “God Bless This Mess,” which was released in 2021, quickly rose to New York Times bestseller status. She revealed on Instagram in September that “Mistakes We Never Made,” her second book, would be released in May 2024.
Caelynn Miller-Keyes, who competed in the same year as Brown, finished as the Miss USA first runner-up.
In the pageant, Miller-Keyes represented North Carolina.
Miller-Keyes won fourth in the season and moved on to compete for Colton Underwood’s affection in season 23 of “The Bachelor,” just like Brown.
Dean Unglert and she first connected after she made an appearance on the spin-off series “Bachelor in Paradise” in 2019. He briefly left the show without her, but he later came back and begged her to go with him, and she complied, according to US Weekly. In 2022, the couple were engaged.
Miller-Keyes has more than a million Instagram followers today and is an influencer.