Maria Menounos
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Maria Menounos (born on June 8, 1978 in Medford, Massachusetts) is an American actress/journalist/television presenter. She is of Greek ancestry and speaks Greek fluently.
In 1995, Menounos began to competein beauty pageants. The following year, she won the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA and competed at Miss Teen USA where she failed to place. That pageant was won by Christie Lee Woods, who later competed on The Amazing Race 5.
Later Menounos attended Boston's Emerson College. During her senior year, she was hired as a reporter for Channel One News, known as the top news source for American students. Her work for Channel One's 10-minute segments included traveling to El Salvador to report on the earthquake of 2001 and interviewing President George W. Bush.
Entertainment Tonight hired Menounos as a correspondent in 2002, where she reported on movies, music and fashion. ET executives offered her a hosting gig for ET on MTV & VH1; she left the program in 2005 to focus on her acting career, though she would be joining rival program Access Hollywood later that Fall as a special correspondent.
Menounos appeared in FHM magazine and in People magazine in 2004 as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People," as well as recurring roles on Without a Trace and One Tree Hill. It is rumored that she has or had a romance with Hollywood star Vin Diesel. At the 2004 Oscars she wore a diamond-studded dress worth more than $2.5 million.
In the summer of 2005, she appeared in the comic book film Fantastic Four, where she played a nurse who is romanced by the "Human Torch," played by Chris Evans. Her likeness and voice was featured in the 2005 Electronic Arts video game, From Russia with Love as Eva Adara, Red Grant's henchwoman, which stars Sean Connery as James Bond. She is also the spokesperson for Pantene hair products.
Menounos will present the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest (along with Greek singer Sakis Rouvas) that will take place in Athens in May.
Menounos has stated in interviews that her biggest beauty challenge is grooming her eyebrows. She has also admitted that she even has a unibrow and must stay on top of the hair removal at all times.Template:Fact