Manpreet Kaur Brar is an Indian actress,

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

and beauty pageant titleholder. She won the

Miss India Miss India may refer to: Beauty pageants * Femina Miss India, selects representatives to compete in Miss World ** Femina Miss India Bangalore ** Femina Miss India Delhi ** Femina Miss India South * Miss India Worldwide India, selects representa ...

1995, and was the first runner-up at the 1995

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 ...

pageant.

Early life

Manpreet was born on 9 June 1973 to a Brar Jat Sikh family in

Mizoram Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its Capital city, capital and largest city. It shares 722-kilometres (449 miles) of international borders with Bangladesh to the west, and Myanmar t ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. She graduated from

Lady Irwin College Lady Irwin College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi located on the North Campus. Established in 1932, it is a women's college located in New Delhi, India, and offers graduate courses in Home Science and Food Technology as ...

, Delhi and was an honours student of Community Resource Management and Extension. Manpreet was also the college president in her final year.

Career

Brar was crowned Femina Miss India Universe 1995 by the reigning Miss Universe

Sushmita Sen Sushmita Sen (; born 19 November 1975) is an Indian actress and beauty pageant titleholder, who was crowned Miss Universe 1994, becoming the first Indian people, Indian woman to win the title. Sen has since predominantly worked in Hindi films, ...

. She participated in the

Miss Universe 1995 Miss Universe 1995 was the 44th Miss Universe pageant, held on 12 May 1995 at the Windhoek Country Club Resort in Windhoek, Namibia. Chelsi Smith of the United States was crowned by Sushmita Sen of India at the end of the event. Eighty-two co ...

held in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

and was crowned 1st Runner-Up behind Miss USA

Chelsi Smith 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 Ca ...

. Upon her return to India she did several fashion shows. Brar modeled an ethnic wardrobe designed by

Ritu Kumar Ritu Kumar is an Indian fashion designer. Early life and education The lack of educational opportunities in Amritsar led her to move to Simla for her schooling, where she attended Loreto Convent, Tara Hall, Shimla, Loreto Convent. She later stud ...

and financed by ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

''. Besides winning the Femina Miss India title in 1995, she also became the first runner-up at the Miss Universe pageant the same year. She was a brand ambassador for the watch company Omega. She was also the host of the Filmfare Awards, Graviera Manhunt and AD Club awards. She hosted several TV shows like Star Miss India, BPL Oye and Mangta Hai on Channel V.

Personal life

Manpreet is married to Arjun Walia, with whom she has two children. She is an self-professed

eggetarian Lacto-ovo vegetarianism or ovo-lacto vegetarianism is a type of vegetarianism which forbids animal flesh but allows the consumption of animal products such as dairy and eggs. Unlike pescetarianism, it does not include fish or other seafood. A t ...

Awards

References

1973 births Femina Miss India winners Living people Miss Universe 1995 contestants People from Jalandhar Female models from Delhi Lady Irwin College alumni {{Asia-pageant-bio-stub