AMELIA VEGA

Santo Domingo grad, Amelia Vega (born November 7, 1984 in Santiago de los Caballeros, Santiago, Dominican Republic) became the first Dominican woman to be named Miss Universe, in 2003. At the age of 18, she was the youngest winner since 1994.

After winning the Miss Dominican Republic Universe title, Vega represented the Dominican Republic in the Miss Universe 2003 pageant held in Panama City, Panama on June 3, 2003. She became the first titleholder from this country to win the title.

Vega has appeared in the cover of several magazines, from her local country's Mujer Unica and Oh! Magazine, to internationally known Cosmopolitan, Caras, and Vanidades. She also was the lead image for campaigns made by the beauty cosmetics company Cover Girl.

After her reign as Miss Universe came to an end, Vega worked temporarily as the host of the reality show Voces de América, that aired on the Telemundo network. Later she hosted "Suegras", a Mexican reality show. Her film debut was in 2005, co-starring in the film The Lost City directed by Andy Garcia. She will soon appear in Homie Spumoni, a motion picture starring Donald Faison and scheduled to be released in summer 2008.