Marianne Cruz González (born April 23, 1985 in

Salcedo Salcedo or Salzedo may refer to: Places ;Dominican Republic * Hermanas Mirabal Province (formerly called Salcedo) * Salcedo, Dominican Republic, the capital of the Hermanas Mirabal Province ;Ecuador * Salcedo Canton, Cotopaxi Province *: Salcedo, ...

) is a Dominican tv host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Dominican Republic 2008 and represented her country at

Miss Universe 2008 Miss Universe 2008 was the 57th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 14, 2008. This was the first time that the Miss Universe pageant was broadcast in 1080i High-definition. At the end of t ...

Personal life

Born in

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

, Marianne is the youngest of three sisters. Her parents were divorced when she was young. At the age of 16, Cruz began

mountain climbing Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

. She has climbed the highest elevation of the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, The

Pico Duarte Pico Duarte is the highest peak in the Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola and in all the Caribbean. At above sea level, it gives Hispaniola the 16th-highest maximum elevation of any island in the world. Additionally, it is only no ...

, in

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. Cruz is studying fashion design at Santo Domingo, and is the voice of many charity campaigns in Dominican Republic.

Beauty Pageants

Miss Dominican Republic 2007

Cruz participated in the Miss Dominican Republic 2007 beauty pageant. Despite her popularity, and her being the favorite candidate during the competition, she lost to

Massiel Taveras Massiel Indira Taveras Henríquez (born 7 July 1984) is a Dominican television host, designer, actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Dominican Republic 2007 and represented her country at Miss Universe 2007. Career In 202 ...

the candidate from the province of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Miss Continente Americano

Later on Cruz went on to participate in the Miss Continente Americano 2007 beauty pageant. Cruz was declared the winner of Miss Continente Americano 2007 and was crowned by Mia Taveras of the

, becoming the first Miss Continente Americano to be crowned by a compatriot.

Miss Dominican Republic 2008

After competing once again for the title of Miss Dominican Republic, 22-year-old Marianne Cruz became Miss Dominican Republic 2008, receiving the crown from Massiel Taveras, Miss Dominican Republic Universe 2007 and gaining the right to represent the Dominican Republic at

Miss Universe 2008

After winning, she represented the Dominican Republic at

, where she finished as 2nd Runner-Up. This is the third highest position Dominican Republic has gotten in Miss Universe after

Ada de la Cruz Ada Aimée de la Cruz Ramírez (born June 15, 1986, in Villa Mella) is a Dominican model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Dominican Republic 2009 and placed 1st Runner-Up at Miss Universe 2009. Biography She first came to fam ...

(Cruz' successor) placed 1st Runner-Up at

Miss Universe 2009 Miss Universe 2009 was the 58th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Imperial Ballroom in Atlantis Paradise Island, Nassau, The Bahamas on August 23, 2009. At the end of the event, Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela crowned Stefanía Fernández of ...

and

Amelia Vega Amelia Vega Polanco (; born 7 November 1984) is a List of people from the Dominican Republic, Dominican actress, model, author, singer and beauty queen. At the age of 18, she won the Miss Universe 2003 pageant, becoming the first ever Miss Univ ...

won

Miss Universe 2003 Miss Universe 2003 was the 52nd Miss Universe pageant, held at the Figali Convention Center in Panama City, Panama on 3 June 2003. The winner, Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic was crowned by Justine Pasek of Panama as Miss Universe 2003. ...

. Cruz was also the second woman representing the Dominican Republic to place 2nd-Runner Up (the 1st was

Renata Soñé Renata De Jesús Soñé Savery (born August 6, 1982 in New York City) is an American-born Dominican actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the 2nd Runner-Up at Miss Universe 2005 after winning Miss Dominican Republic 2005. Lif ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Career in media

Cruz has appeared in several magazines and has been hosting special events. She has been on some fashion runways and had a special appearance on Premios Cassandra and in the Dominican movie ''Playball''. She has done several photoshoots for Dominican International fashion photographers. Cruz is news anchor at ''Noticias SIN'' from 2010 to 2014, and then since 2014 at ''AN 7''. She is also radio host on “El sol de los sábados”.

References

1985 births Living people People from Hermanas Mirabal Province Miss Universe 2008 contestants Miss Dominican Republic Dominican Republic beauty pageant winners Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent Television news anchors White Dominicans {{Pageant-bio-stub