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Ali Landry Beauty pageant titleholder
Landry at the 16th Annual MovieGuide Faith and Values Awards Gala
Birth name:	Ali Germaine Landry
Birthdate:	July 21, 1973 (1973-07-21) (age 35)
Birth location:	Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, USA
Height:	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Eye color:	Brown
Hair color:	Brown
Title(s):	Miss Louisiana Teen USA 1990 Miss Louisiana USA 1996 Miss USA 1996
Major Competition(s):	Miss Teen USA 1990 (Top 12) Miss USA 1996 (winner) Miss Universe 1996 (Top 6)

Ali Germaine Landry (born July 21, 1973) is a former Miss USA (1996), model and actress. She is recognized as the Doritos Girl from her popular 1998 Super Bowl commercial. In 1998, she was named by People magazine as one of 50 most beautiful people in the world. ^[1]

Early life

Landry grew up in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. This southern region of Louisiana is referred to as "Acadiana," the heart of Cajun country. Landry is of French (Cajun) and Spanish descent.^[2] She graduated from Cecilia High School in 1991. She attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) (now University of Louisiana-Lafayette (ULL)) and was majoring in Mass Communications. She is an alumna of Kappa Delta Sorority.

Pageantry

Her first foray into pageantry came in 1990 when she was crowned Miss Louisiana Teen USA. The pageant is directed by RPM Productions^[3]. She represented Louisiana in the Miss Teen USA 1990 pageant held in Biloxi, Mississippi in July 1990, where she placed first in the preliminary swimsuit and evening gown competitions, but was ranked seventh during the final competition and couldn't reach the final 6.

In 1995, Landry won the Miss Louisiana USA 1996 title, becoming the first former Miss Louisiana Teen USA to win the Miss title. She went on to compete in the 1996 Miss USA pageant, which was broadcast live from South Padre Island, Texas in February 1996 — she placed third highest after the preliminary competition and second highest on average during the final Top 10 competition. She was the highest placed of the Top 6 finalists and eventually went on to win the 1996 title.

She is the first former Miss Teen USA delegate to actually win the Miss USA crown (her predecessor Shanna Moakler, previously Miss Rhode Island Teen USA, Miss New York USA and first runner-up to Miss USA Chelsi Smith, only inherited the title after Smith became Miss Universe).

Landry went on to compete in the 1996 Miss Universe pageant held in Las Vegas in May that year. She placed first in the preliminary competition and was ranked second in the evening gown and interview events during the final competition. She was second going in to the next round of six delegates, but was eliminated after the judges' questions.

Until 1999, Landry was the only former Miss Teen USA delegate to compete at Miss Universe. Her record at all three pageants was not surpassed until 2000 when Miss USA 2000, Lynnette Cole made the top 5 at all three pageants.

Post pageants

Landry has done much modeling for photographers and magazines. As a spokeswoman for the Doritos chips brand, she appeared in celebrated TV commercials airing during the 1998, 1999 and 2000 Super Bowl football games. She was named by "People" magazine as one of 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1998^[4]. Her house was featured on E!'s celebrity homes and on MTV's Cribs. She has been listed as one of FHM magazine's 100 Sexiest Women in the World numerous times. She was twice named on Stuff Magazine's 100 Sexiest Women list. Askmen.com has named her one of the 50 Most Beautiful Women and 99 Most Desirable Women in the World.

In 2002, she hosted the second season of the hidden-camera series Spy TV. From 2003 to 2006, she was a regular cast member of the UPN sitcom Eve.

Landry has participated in the show Fear Factor, and was runner up. She is an avid athlete and also participated in the Boston Marathon.

Personal life

Landry met actor/TV personality Mario Lopez when he MC'd the 1998 Miss Teen USA pageant and she was a commentator. They were engaged during the summer of 2003 and married on April 24, 2004, but two weeks later she had the marriage annulled over alleged infidelities committed by Lopez during the relationship. She had previously been engaged to high school sweetheart Sean Fluharty. ^[5]

She married film director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde on April 8, 2006 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.^[6][7] Their daughter Estela Ines Monteverde was born on July 11, 2007.^[8]

Filmography

Landry and her husband Alejandro Monteverde made the film Bella together. Bella was directed by Monteverde and was produced by their business partners Sean Wolfington, Eduardo Verastegui, Leo Severino, and Denise Pinckley.^[9] Monteverde and the filmmakers received honors for Bella from the Toronto Film Festival, the Smithsonian and the White House. The Smithsonian Latino Center honored Monteverde with their "Legacy Award."^[10]

The director of the Department of Citizenship also gave Monteverde the "American by Choice" award for Bella's positive contribution to Latino art and culture in the U.S.^[11]

President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush saw the film and invited Bella's director to sit with Laura Bush in her private box during the annual "State of the Union" speech in 2007.^[12]

Movies

• Bella (2006)
• Who's Your Daddy? (2003) (V)
• Outta Time (2002)
• Repli-Kate (2002)
• Soulkeeper (2001)
• Beautiful (2000)

Television

• Eve playing Rita (2003-2006) (TV series) (UPN)
• Beach Week (Travel Channel)
• Will You Marry Me? (2003) (TV)
• Spy TV (2001) (TV series, host of second season) (2002)
• Full Frontal Fashion (host)
• Fastlane (recurring role)
• Farmclub.com (2001) (TV series)
• Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve (co-host)
• Fear Factor
• Felicity
• Inside Schwartz
• Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place
• Popular
• Significant Others
• Bold and the Beautiful
• Clueless
• Dorito's commercials
• Pensacola: Wings of Gold (?1999) (TV series, regular guest star)
• America's Greatest Pets (1998) (host) (TV series)
• Sunset Beach (1997) (TV series)
• Secret's Out (ReelzChannel)

References

External links

• Ali Landry's Official Web Site
• Ali Landry's Official Fan Club at Yahoo Groups
• Ali Landry at the Internet Movie Database
• Ali Landry at AskMen