Chelsi Mariam Pearl Smith (August 23, 1973 – September 8, 2018) was an American actress, singer, TV host and beauty queen who was crowned Miss USA 1995 and Miss Universe 1995. Smith was the third Miss USA of African-American origin, after

Carole Gist Carole Anne-Marie Gist (born May 8, 1969) is an American tv host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 1990. Gist was the first African American woman to win the Miss USA title. Gist first won the title of Miss Michigan ...

(

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

) and

Kenya Moore Kenya Summer Moore (born January 24, 1971) is an American actress, author, entrepreneur, television personality and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1993. Since 2012, she stars on the reality TV series, ''The Real Housewives of Atlant ...

(

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

), in addition to being the sixth American woman to win Miss Universe and the first since

Shawn Weatherly Shawn Weatherly (born July 24, 1959) is an American actress and beauty queen who won the titles of Miss USA 1980 and Miss Universe 1980. She starred as Cadet Karen Adams in the film '' Police Academy 3: Back in Training'' (1986) and as Jill R ...

was crowned Miss Universe 1980.

Early life

Smith was born in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose, California, San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 accor ...

, to 19-year-old parents Craig Smith, an African-American maintenance man, and Mary Denise Trimble, a white American secretary. Her parents divorced before she was two, and her mother, an alcoholic at the time, granted Smith's maternal grandparents Barnie and Jeanette custody of her. When Smith was seven years old, she moved to Kingwood, Texas, where her grandparents would later get divorced. Smith grew up in a divided home while she attended

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in Deer Park, Texas. Prior to her win at Miss USA, she was a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

majoring in education at San Jacinto College.

Pageantry

Miss Texas USA

Smith competed in her first major beauty contest in 1994, when she was a semifinalist in the Miss Texas USA pageant, as Miss South East Texas USA. The following year, she competed again as Miss Galveston County USA, and won the title, as well as the Miss Congeniality award. Smith, a

multiracial American Multiracial Americans, also known as mixed-race Americans, are Americans who have mixed ancestry of two or more races. The term may also include Americans of mixed-race ancestry who self-identify with just one group culturally and socially (cf. ...

, was the first titleholder of African-American heritage in the pageant's history.

Miss USA 1995

Smith went on to compete and win at Miss USA 1995 on February 10, 1995. In the top three final question. When asked how she, as an advisor, would change the First Lady's image if asked for a consultation, Smith replied: She became the seventh woman from her state to hold the

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020. ...

title and also won the Miss Congeniality award as she had at her state pageant, becoming the only

winner and

Miss Texas USA The Miss Texas USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state Texas in the Miss USA pageant, and the name of the title held by that winner. This pageant is part of the Miss USA Organization, owned by Texas nativ ...

in history to win this award. After her win, Smith appeared as a celebrity contestant on '' Wheel of Fortune'' and as an award presenter at the

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the fans and general public. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls un ...

Miss Universe 1995

After winning Miss USA, Smith competed and won at Miss Universe 1995, at the Windhoek Country Club,

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

, on May 12, 1995. She was the highest placed contestant after the preliminary competition, which pushed her into the top ten. The first runner-up was Manpreet Brar of India, and Smith became the first Miss USA and sixth representative to win

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

in 15 years. At the end of her reign, she crowned

Alicia Machado Yoseph Alicia Machado Fajardo (; born December 6, 1976) is a Venezuelan-American actress, TV host, singer and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1996, she previously crowned Miss Venezuela 1995. She was the fourth woman from Venezuel ...

of Venezuela as her successor.

Life after Miss Universe

As a model, Smith worked for

Hawaiian Tropic Hawaiian Tropic is an American brand of suntan lotion that was founded by Ron Rice in 1969. Hawaiian Tropic became the largest private manufacturer of sun care products in the United States. The company was acquired by Playtex Products, Inc. in ...

, Jantzen, Pontiac, Venus Swimwear, and Pure Protein among others. She made appearances on ''

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

'', '' Due South'' and the

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

documentary ''The History of the Bathing Suit''. With the support of

Music World Entertainment Mathew Knowles (born January 9, 1952)Knowles in is an American record executive, businessman and university lecturer. He is best known for being the manager of Destiny's Child. He also once managed the solo careers of his daughters Beyoncé a ...

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

, Smith co-wrote and recorded with producer Damon Elliott her first single, "Dom Da Da", part of the soundtrack for '' The Sweetest Thing'', starring

Cameron Diaz Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress. Prolific in both comedy and drama, Cameron Diaz filmography, her films have grossed over $3 billion in the U.S. box-office. Her output of romantic comedies in the late 1990s a ...

. In 2003, she appeared in the independent film ''Playas Ball'', where she co-starred with Allen Payne and Elise Neal. She also co-hosted

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

's special ''Beyonce: Family and Friends Tour'' on pay-per-view and appeared on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

in Saladin Patterson's short film ''One Flight Stand'' with

Marc Blucas Marcus Paul Blucas (; born January 11, 1972) is an American actor. Prior to his acting career, he played college basketball with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He had his first starring role as soldier and love interest Riley Finn on the WB su ...

and

Aisha Tyler Aisha Tyler (born September 18, 1970) is an American actress and talk show host. She is known for playing Andrea Marino in the first season of ''Ghost Whisperer'', Dr. Tara Lewis in ''Criminal Minds'' since 2015, Mother Nature in the final two ...

. She was a judge at the 2006

Miss Teen USA Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant that has been run since 1983 by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19 years old as of January 1st of the competition year. They must be US citizens, and cannot have been married, pregnant, or ...

pageant and a guest judge for the Miss Peru 2016 beauty pageant. In 2011, she was presented with the Influential Multiracial Public Figure award. Smith married and later divorced fitness coach Kelly Blair, and after her reign as Miss Universe moved to Los Angeles.

Death

Smith was diagnosed with

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

in 2017. She died at her mother's home in Mifflin, Pennsylvania, aged 45 on September 8, 2018.

References

External links

Official Miss Universe website - Past titleholders
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Chelsi Place of death missing 1973 births 2018 deaths 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers American female models American film actresses Deaths from liver cancer in Pennsylvania Miss Universe 1995 contestants Miss Universe winners Miss USA 1995 delegates Miss USA winners People from Kingwood, Texas People from Redwood City, California African-American beauty pageant winners 20th-century African-American actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses