Maria Menounos (Μαρία Μενούνος in Greek) (born on 8 June 1978 in Medford, Massachusetts) is a Greek-American actress, journalist, and television presenter.

Beauty pageants

In 1995, Menounos began to compete in beauty pageants. The following year, she won the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA and competed at Miss Teen USA where she failed to place in the top 10. Menounos did however place in the top 15 (honorable mention) during the preliminary competition; Menounos placed 13th in prelims. That pageant was won by Christie Lee Woods, who later competed on The Amazing Race 5. Maria would go on to compete for the title of Miss Massachusetts USA 2000; she placed as the 1st runner up.

Film and television career

Later Menounos attended Boston's Emerson College. During her senior year, she was hired as a reporter for Channel One News, known as the top news source for American students. Her work for Channel One's 10-minute segments included traveling to El Salvador to report on the earthquake of 2001 and interviewing President George W. Bush.

Entertainment Tonight hired Menounos as a correspondent in 2002, where she reported on movies, music and fashion. ET executives offered her a hosting gig for ET on MTV & VH1; she left the program in 2005 to focus on her acting career, though she would eventually be joining rival program Access Hollywood later that Fall as a special correspondent.

In 2003, Menounos appeared on the November 30 episode of Punk'd where she was one of many celebrities caught in the awkward and embarrassing "Red Carpet Interviews".

Maria Menounos at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival

In the summer of 2005, she appeared in the comic book film Fantastic Four, where she played a nurse who is romanced by the "Human Torch", played by Chris Evans. Her likeness and voice was featured in the 2005 Electronic Arts video game, From Russia with Love as Eva Adara, Red Grant's henchwoman, which stars Sean Connery as James Bond. She is also the spokesperson for Pantene hair products.

Menounos presented the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest (along with Greek singer Sakis Rouvas) that took place in Athens.

Menounos is a correspondent for The Today Show as well as Access Hollywood in an overall deal with NBC Universal to act in films and television shows. She also has recurring roles on CBS' Without a Trace and as Jules in the second season of The CW's One Tree Hill (during its run on The WB).

Menounos also appeared on the Scrubs episode "My Extra Mile", which aired in May 2006 where John Dorian attracts her because of his hair style. Later, in the episode, he agrees to shave his head in solidarity with a chemotherapy patient and consequently lose her.

In 2006, Menounos appeared in the music video for "A Public Affair" by Jessica Simpson.

Production

At the age of 17, Menounos produced In the Land of Merry Misfits, independent film's first fairy tale. The 35mm feature film was produced by Menounos while attending Emerson College with director Keven Undergaro, then head writer for MTV's Singled Out. The negative of the film was stolen and the film was never completed but her work on the film, and the film's director, helped her land her reporting job at Channel One News and at MTV (ET on MTV). Menounos, however, never forgot the film or the film's director. In 2005, Menounos personally funded the recovery and restoration of the film.

Menounos also directed Longtime Listener starring Wilmer Valderrama. The film is an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival 2006.

Popular awards

Menounos appeared in FHM magazine and in People magazine in 2004 as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People." In another poll conducted by askmen.com, Menounos was voted one of the top five girls a guy would most want to marry, along with Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron and Jessica Alba. She has also beaten Jessica Alba and Charlize Theron for "Cyber Vixen of the Year" on Spike TV's video game awards.

Charity work

Menounos founded the charity "Take Action Hollywood!" after her trip to South Africa. Reporting on the devastating effects of the AIDS crisis she was inspired to create TAH!, a charity that utilizes the power of the entertainment industry and the medium of film to affect for positive social change. Maria also created the Cosmo Girl Cup, a national, annual competition and award given to the group of teens who do the most in their communities to affect for positive social change.

Trivia

• Being of Greek descent, she speaks Greek fluently (she learned Greek before she learned English) and has a preference for Greek cuisine.
  
• Maria only received one detention throughout her academic career. It came, of all years, during her senior year of high school when she cut school to go to a Boston Red Sox game.
  
• Maria is a diehard fan of all Boston sports teams including the New England Patriots, the Boston Bruins, the Boston Celtics, and the Boston Red Sox, although she admits she's more of a fan of contact sports (and thus her favorite teams are the Patriots and the Bruins).
  
• Has admitted to having a crush on Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady.
  
• At the 2004 Oscars, she wore a diamond-studded dress worth $2.3 million.
  
• She'd never heard of the Eurovision Song Contest until being asked to be the co-host in 2006.
  
• At the opening ceremony of the Eurovision semifinal she demonstrated her singing voice in a duet with Sakis Rouvas.
  
• In 2006, she was featured in Jessica Simpson's music video for "A Public Affair". She once worked at Dunkin' Donuts.

Links

• Maria Menounos at the Internet Movie Database

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