Ali Landry

Landry was named after Ali MacGraw after her mother had seen the 1970 film Love Story.

Landry grew up in Cecilia, Louisiana, the daughter of Renella (Ray) and Gene Allen Landry.

Landry is of French (Cajun) descent.

Ali Germaine Landry (born July 21, 1973) is an American actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1996.

Her first foray into pageantry came in 1990 when she was crowned Miss Louisiana Teen USA.

She represented Louisiana in the 1990 Miss Teen USA 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.

She attended Cecilia High School, graduating in 1991.

In high school, she was captain of the cheerleaders.

She attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and majored in mass communication.

She is a member of Kappa Delta sorority.

In 1995, Landry won the 1996 Miss Louisiana USA title, becoming the first former Miss Louisiana Teen USA to win the Miss USA crown.

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 win the Miss USA crown outright (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 competed 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 into the next round of six delegates, but she was eliminated after the judges' questions.

She played Rita Lefleur on the UPN sitcom Eve and was the Doritos Girl in a 1998 Super Bowl commercial.

In 1998, she was named by People magazine as one of 50 most beautiful people in the world.

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 the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1998.

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.

Landry met actor and TV personality Mario Lopez when he presented the Miss Teen USA 1998 pageant and she was a commentator.

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.

Landry has done much modeling for photographers and magazines.

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.

She has hosted the English and Spanish-language versions of Spotlight to Nightlight, an interview show on Yahoo! where she talks with celebrity mothers about parenting issues.

They were engaged during the summer of 2003 and married on April 24, 2004, in a Roman Catholic ceremony in front of 50 guests at the exclusive Las Alamandas resort outside Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

She also launched a lifestyle line, Belle Parish in 2009.

Belle Parish launched with a children's clothing line in September 2009, to be in stores spring 2010.

The line is inspired by her Southern upbringing and the keepsake items her mother saved from her childhood.

Landry starred in (and was the executive producer of) TV Guide Network's show, Hollywood Moms' Club, in November 2011.

For the year 2012 she was the new face and spokesmodel of Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula, following in the footsteps of celeb moms Samantha Harris and Laila Ali who previously posed for Palmer's.