Ali Landry
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ali Germaine Landry (born July 21, 1973) is an American actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1996. She played Rita Lefleur on the UPN sitcom ''
Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...
'' and was the Doritos Girl in a 1998
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
commercial. In 1998, she was named by ''People'' magazine as one of 50 most beautiful people in the world."Ali Landry," ''
People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...
'', May 11, 1998.


Early life

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. 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 The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a Public university, public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus Universi ...
, and majored in mass communication. She is a member of Kappa Delta sorority.


Pageantry

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 Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...
in July 1990, where she placed first in the preliminary swimsuit and evening gown competitions, but was ranked seventh during the final competition. In 1995, Landry won the 1996 Miss Louisiana USA title, becoming the first former Miss Louisiana Teen USA to win Miss Louisiana USA. She went on to compete in the 1996 Miss USA pageant, which was broadcast live from
South Padre Island, Texas South Padre Island is a resort town in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Brownsville, Texas, Brownsville–Harlingen, Texas, Harlingen Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population w ...
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 Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
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. 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.


Post-pageants

Landry has done much modeling for photographers and magazines. As a spokeswoman for the Doritos chips brand, she appeared in celebrated TV commercials airing during the 1998, 1999 and 2000
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
football games. She was named by ''
People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...
'' 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 Magazines 100 Sexiest Women list. Askmen.com has named her one of the 50 Most Beautiful Women and 99 Most Desirable Women in the World. 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 Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...
''. 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! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...
where she talks with celebrity mothers about parenting issues. 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 The American cable television, cable and satellite television network Pop (American TV channel), Pop was originally launched in 1981 as a barker channel service providing a display of localized electronic program guide, channel and program listin ...
'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.


Personal life

Landry met actor and TV personality
Mario Lopez Mario Lopez (born October 10, 1973) is an American actor and television host. He has appeared on several television series, in films, and on Broadway theatre, Broadway. He is known for his portrayal of A.C. Slater on ''Saved by the Bell'', ''S ...
when he presented the Miss Teen USA 1998 pageant and she was a commentator. They were engaged during the summer of 2003 and married on April 24, 2004, in a
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
ceremony in front of 50 guests at the exclusive Las Alamandas resort outside
Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican resort city near the Bahía de Banderas on the Pacific coast of the Mexico, Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalajara ...
, Mexico. Two weeks later, she had the marriage annulled after learning that Lopez was unfaithful during his bachelor party before the wedding. She married film director Alejandro Gómez Monteverde on April 8, 2006, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. They have three children: a daughter born in July 2007, and sons born in October 2011 and July 2013. Their son Valentin's middle name was inspired by
Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
, as Landry and Monteverde met him while she was pregnant and he blessed the baby. Her father-in-law, Juan Manuel Gómez Fernández, and brother-in-law, Juan Manuel Gómez Monteverde, were found dead with fatal head wounds in Pueblo Viejo, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, on September 19, 2015, approximately two weeks after they were kidnapped from their home in nearby Tamaulipas. On November 9, 2015, six people were arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Gómez Fernández and Gómez Monteverde. The suspects were allegedly holding six Central American nationals hostage at the time of their arrest, according to the Chief of the Mexican Federal Police.


Filmography

Landry and her husband Alejandro Monteverde made the film '' Bella'' together. ''Bella'' was directed by Monteverde and was produced by their business partners Sean Wolfington, Eduardo Verástegui, Leo Severino, and Denise Pinckley. Monteverde and the filmmakers received honors for ''Bella'' from the Toronto Film Festival, the Smithsonian and the White House. The Smithsonian Latino Center honored Monteverde with their "Legacy Award". Monteverde was also given the " Outstanding American by Choice" award for ''Bellas positive contribution to Latino art and culture in the U.S. US President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
and First Lady
Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (née Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American educator who was the first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 as the wife of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. Bush was previously the fir ...
saw the film and invited Monteverde to sit with Laura Bush in her private box during the annual
State of the Union The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a Joint session of the United States Congress, joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning ...
speech in 2007.


References


External links


RE/SHAPE by Ali Landry
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Landry, Ali 1973 births American cheerleaders Female models from Louisiana American television actresses Cajun people Living people Miss Photogenic at Miss USA 1990 beauty pageant contestants 20th-century Miss Teen USA delegates Miss Universe 1996 contestants Miss USA 1996 delegates Miss USA winners People from Cecilia, Louisiana University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women American people of French descent