Achintya Holte Nilsen is an Indonesian beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Indonesia 2017. She represented Indonesia at the

Miss World 2017 Miss World 2017 was the 67th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Sanya City Arena in Sanya, China, on 18 November 2017. Stephanie Del Valle of Puerto Rico crowned Manushi Chhillar of India as her successor at the end of the event. ...

pageant and finished in the top 10, winning

Beauty with a Purpose Julia Evelyn Morley (née Pritchard; born 25 October 1939) is an English businesswoman, charity worker and former model. She is the chairman and CEO of the Miss World Organization, which organizes the Miss World and Mister World pageants. Sh ...

Miss World Asia Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss In ...

and Best Designer Award.

Early life, background and career

Achintya Holte Nilsen was born 1 January 1999 in

Denpasar Denpasar (; Balinese script, Balinese: ᬤᬾᬦ᭄ᬧᬲᬃ, ''Dénpasar'') is the capital city of the province of Bali, Indonesia. Denpasar is the largest city in the Lesser Sunda Islands and the second largest city in Eastern Indonesia after ...

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

, Indonesia, to a

Balinese Balinese may refer to: *Bali, an Indonesian island *Balinese art *Balinese dance *Balinese people *Balinese language *Nusa Penida Balinese * Bali Aga Balinese **Balinese script **Balinese (Unicode block) *Balinese mythology *Balinese cat, a cat bre ...

mother, Ni Nyoman Parvati from

– Bali and a Norwegian father, Terje Holte Nilsen from

Risør is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the Skagerrak coast in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of Ri ...

Østre Agder Østre Agder is a district or region in Agder county in southern Norway. The district covers the eastern, coastal areas of the county including the eight municipalities of Arendal, Tvedestrand, Risør, Grimstad, Gjerstad, Vegårshei, Åmli, and Fr ...

County, Norway. She is the niece of Norwegian Olympic cross-country skier

Elin Nilsen Elin Nilsen (born 12 August 1968) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier who competed from 1990 to 2004. She won three silver medals in the 4 × 5 km relay at the Winter Olympics (1992, 1994, 1998). Her best individual Olympic finish wa ...

, and cousin of Olympic

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marath ...

Simen Spieler Nilsen Simen Spieler Nilsen (born 4 August 1993) is a Norwegian speed skater. Career He placed 15th in the 2013 World Allround Championships in Vikingskipet, Hamar. In the 2013 World Single Distance Championships in Adler Arena, Sochi, he placed 5th ...

. She worked as a singer and plays the

Marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

. Nilsen is a

trilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monoling ...

speaker, she is fluently speak in Norwegian, English and

Bahasa Indonesia Indonesian (; ) is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standardized variety of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries. With over 2 ...

. She attended Bali International Green School (primary-secondary) and graduated in 2017. Here she also took part in

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

activism. She holds a

bachelor of fine arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

degree in Filmmaking and Television from the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

in New York City, United States. In 2023, Nilsen obtained her Master of Arts (MA) in Acting program from

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights located on West 44th Street in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. The studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method actin ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden. She has represented Indonesia at Bali Model United Nations 2013-2014 and as well as Taiwan Model United Nations 2015. In 16 November 2018, Nilsen released her very first English poetry book titled “Permanent”. In this book, Nilsen said “My writing has always been an extension of myself, and therefore very personal. As a way to go forward with my vulnerability, I took steps toward sharing my work with close friends, and family”. In 7 July 2022, Nilsen appeared as the main character in a music video directed by the Stockholm Film School, titled “Under My Skin” with Swedish singer David Elfström Lilja.

Pageantry

Miss Indonesia 2017

Nilsen's first pageant was in 2017, when she competed and won the

Miss Indonesia Miss Indonesia is a national beauty pageant in Indonesia, organized by MNC Group under Miss Indonesia Organization, chaired by Liliana Tanoesoedibjo and sponsored by Sariayu Martha Tilaar. The winner of Miss Indonesia represents the country in M ...

national beauty pageant in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

, representing her home province

West Nusa Tenggara West Nusa Tenggara ( – NTB) is a provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It comprises the western portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the exception of Bali which is its own province. The area of this province is which consists of ...

The grand finale was held in MNC Studio, Jakarta, Indonesia, on 22 April 2017. Nilsen was crowned by the outgoing titleholder of Miss Indonesia 2016 and the

Miss World 2016 Miss World 2016 was the 66th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, United States, on 18 December 2016. Mireia Lalaguna of Spain crowned her successor Stephanie Del Valle of Puerto Rico at the ...

2nd Runner-up, Natasha Mannuela Halim of

Bangka Belitung The Bangka Belitung Islands (; Jawi: ) is a province of Indonesia. Situated off the southeastern coast of Sumatra, the province comprises two main land masses — the islands of Bangka and Belitung — and numerous smaller islands. Bangka B ...

. The president of

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...

organization

Julia Morley Julia Evelyn Morley (née Pritchard; born 25 October 1939) is an English businesswoman, charity worker and former model. She is the chairman and CEO of the Miss World Organization, which organizes the Miss World and Mister World pageants. She ...

and Miss World 2016,

Stephanie Del Valle Stephanie del Valle Díaz (born December 30, 1996) is a Puerto Rican musician, model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss World 2016. She became the second contestant from Puerto Rico to win the Miss World title, after Wilnelia Merced in 19 ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

attended the awarding night. Her final answer on the pageant itself is praised by the current President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), often known mononymously as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician, engineer, and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic ...

: Nilsen's reign as Miss Indonesia 2017 ended on 22 February 2018, when she crowned her successor Alya Nurshabrina from

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

as Miss Indonesia 2018 in MNC Studio, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Miss World 2017

As Miss Indonesia 2017, Nilsen represented Indonesia at

, held in Sanya City Arena,

Sanya Sanya; Chinese postal romanization, also spelled Samah is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan, Hainan Province in Southeast China, South China. According to the Sixth National Populati ...

, China, on 18 November 2017. During the pageant, she won a ''Head-to-Head Challenge'', beating other countries in the group with her ''Olympic rings'' answer. At the Finale, Nilsen was placed in the top 10 finalists and was also declared as the winner of ''

'',

and ''"Best Designer Award"'' in the pageant.

crowned

Manushi Chhillar Manushi Chhillar (born 14 May 1997) is an Indian actress, model and the winner of Miss World 2017 pageant. She represented her state of Haryana at the Femina Miss India 2017 pageant and won the title of Femina Miss India, Femina Miss India Wor ...

of India as the new titleholder at the end of the event.

References

External links

*
Achintya Holte Nilsen Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsen, Achintya 1999 births Living people Indo people Balinese people New York University alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni Miss Indonesia winners Puteri Indonesia winners Indonesian beauty pageant winners Indonesian activists Indonesian Christians Indonesian people of Norwegian descent People associated with Greenpeace People from Denpasar Miss World 2017 delegates