Vida Samadzai (born 22 February 1978) is an Afghan-American actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was Miss Afghanistan in 2003. As the first

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pash ...

woman to participate in an international

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

since 1974, her appearance in a red

bikini A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features two triangles of fabric on top that cover the breasts, and two triangles of fabric on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but exposing the navel, and the back coverin ...

in the 2003 edition of

Miss Earth Miss Earth is an annual international major beauty pageant based in the Philippines that advocates for environmental awareness, conservation and social responsibility. Along with Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss International, it is on ...

pageant created controversy in her native country. She was a contestant on the popular reality show ''

Bigg Boss ''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality television game show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through Viacom18 and Disney Star. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made ...

'' in 2011.

Biography

Samadzai, an ethnic

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

, was born and raised in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

, and moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 1996. She graduated from

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

at Fullerton and became a citizen of the U.S. Samadzai also helped found a US-based women's

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

that seeks to raise awareness of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countri ...

and education in the Afghanistan. After placing as the third runner up in

Susan Jeske Susan Jeske (born November 28, 1961) is the current CEO of Ms. America Pageant. In 1997 she was the first winner of Ms. America, a lesser known beauty peagant, which she purchased afterwards, holding a remodeled version of it since 2002. She has ...

's first Ms. America International pageant in 2002, she applicated for consideration in the new

pageant in 2003 and was selected as Afghanistan's representative from abroad, as there were no beauty queen contests in Afghanistan. Although she did not hold the title of a "Miss Afghanistan", this made her the first Afghan woman to take part in an international beauty contest since Zohra Daoud had been crowned Miss Afghanistan in 1974. Her participation in the Miss Earth

was condemned by the Afghan Supreme Court, saying such a display of the female body goes against

Islamic law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

and

Afghan culture The culture of Afghanistan has persisted for over three millennia, tracing record to at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire in 500 BCE, and encompasses the cultural diversity of the nation. Afghanistan's culture is historically strongly c ...

. In particular, traditionalists objected to her appearance in a red bikini during the pageant's press presentation. She was given a special "

Beauty for a Cause Beauty for a Cause is the slogan of the Miss Earth beauty pageant adopted since the pageant's inception in 2001. It empowers the contestants to work with an environmental advocacy that is personally significant to them. The first Beauty for a Cause ...

" award at that year's Miss Earth competition. The following year, Samadzai returned to the pageant and was among the 11 jurors who helped choose

Priscilla Meirelles Priscilla Meirelles de Almeida-Estrada (born 5 September 1983) is a Brazilian model, host, actress, environmentalist and beauty queen. She won the Miss Earth 2004 pageant held in the Philippines. She also won the Miss Globe 2003 pageant. Meirel ...

Miss Earth 2004 Miss Earth 2004, the 4th edition of the Miss Earth pageant, was held on October 24, 2004 at the University of the Philippines Theater in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. Dania Prince of Honduras crowned her successor Priscilla Meirelles of ...

. On coronation night, the young women's rights

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

wore a gown, saying: "I don't know if they'll have a problem this time because I'm not showing any skin or wearing a swimsuit". On May 1, 2005, Vida Samadzai won Susan Jeske's little known Ms. America 2005-06 pageant.

Television

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samadzai, Vida 1978 births Afghan emigrants to the United States California State University, Fullerton alumni Living people Miss Earth 2003 contestants Pashtun women People from Kabul Afghan female models Afghan beauty pageant winners American people of Pashtun descent 20th-century Afghan women 21st-century Afghan women Bigg Boss (Hindi TV series) contestants