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Famous Pageant Titleholders

Famous opening   I   Famous 1   I   Famous 2      Famous 3   I   Famous 4    I   Famous 5

Vanessa Williams 

The first African-American woman ever to win the Miss America Pageant, Williams was a stand-out won both the swimsuit and talent competitions at the national contest.

Sadly, she was asked to resign when Penthouse magazine published sexually-explicit photos she had posed for earlier.

Despite initially appearing to be ruined by scandal, she rebounded and achieved fame as a recording artist.  1988 marked her professional debut, with her first album, The Right Stuff.  It was followed by four hits: Dreamin, Darling I, He Got the Look which earned her first three Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist. Vanessa's album, Colors of the Wind, won an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and a Grammy Award for Best Song in a Motion Picture.

She has conquered Broadway, starring as the lead in Kiss of the Spider Woman, and films.  In 1996 she starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action film, Eraser.

In 2006, she added television stardom to her repertoire when she was signed to play Wilhelmina Slater on the ABC hit, Ugly Betty.

• Vanessa Williams: ABC TV bio
• View Vanessa Williams movies
• Purchase Vanessa Williams music

Oprah Winfrey

Before becoming an Emmy Award-winning television talk show host, Oprah Winfrey won the 1971 Miss Fire Prevention and Miss Black Tennessee titles. When asked what she would do with a million dollars, Winfrey delighted the judges when she blurted out, "I'd be a spending fool!" She competed in the Miss Black America Pageant, but failed to make the finals.

Oprah began her career in broadcasting at Nashville's radio-WVOL while she was in high school. At age, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV.

In 1985, the A.M. Chicago Show which she hosted, was re-named The Oprah Winfrey Show - which became the highest rated talk show in television history. That year, she made her acting debut  as "Sofia" in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple.  She was nominated for both Academy Award® and Golden Globe honors.

In 1988, she started Harpo Studios, her production company, based in in Chicago, which now produces The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In 2000, Oprah and Hearst Magazines launched O, The Oprah Magazine, a monthly women's lifestyle magazine.

In 2006, she fulfilled her dream of  founding an elite private educational program for impoverished African girls when she founded The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy.

• View Oprah Winfrey movies

Michelle Yeoh

Named, Miss Malaysia in 1983, most Americans know her as Pierce Brosnan's sidekick, Chinese secret agent Wai Lin, in the James Bond flick, Tomorrow Never Dies.  But the former Miss Malaysia (1983) is known throughout Asia as a kung-fu queen who has starred in nine movies including the mega-hit, Police Story III: Supercop. And, yes, she performs her own dangerous stunts.

• View Michelle Yeoh movies

Paula Zahn

After competing in numerous pageants and making the finals of the 1973 Miss Teenage America Pageant, Zahn entered television journalism, wracking up credits on The Health Show, ABC's World News This Morning, and CBS This Morning with Harry Smith. 

She now anchors the CNN news program Paul Zahn Now, which focusing on exposing intolerance and social injustice.

• Paula Zahn - Bio - CNN  

Famous opening   I   Famous 1   I   Famous 2   I   Famous 3   I   Famous 4    I   Famous 5