12 Celebrities Who Got Their Start As Beauty Queens (or Kings)

Find out which stars took part in beauty pageants…

When Priyanka Chopra was a teenager, her mother submitted her to the Miss India pageant committee. While Priyanka wasn’t a big fan of the “soft-focus pictures,” it clearly impressed the judges and she was invited to compete. She ended up winning the entire contest and then went on to win Miss World in 2000. It helped launch a successful career in Bollywood before she broke into the American film industry. As for how she feels about pageants now, Priyanka says she still supports them — as long as women know it’s not their only option for success.

“I feel like in an evolved world, where we are today, as long as a woman understands that that;s not [her] only option. And then chooses to do it. Who is anyone to judge her?” she told Vogue India. “But when women are made to feel like your only option to succeed is to be okay with being objectified or being made to feel stupid…then it’s wrong.”

When Eva Longoria was still a student, she was struggling to pay her tuition for her senior year at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. A friend suggested that she enter a scholarship pageant and in the hopes of winning a cash prize, Eva agreed — and ended up winning the whole thing. She then moved on to the next competition and eventually became Miss Corpus Christi in 1998. And because she won, she was then entered into a talent contest which ended up being her ticket to Hollywood.

“But, in my prize package for Miss Corpus Christi, was a trip to Los Angeles. And, I just thought, ‘Oh, that’ll be fun,’” she said in an interview for The Academy. “I didn’t think, ‘I’m going to be an act[ress]… and when I went into the talent competition, I won everything. And, all these managers and agents wanted to sign me. It was 1998, which is like Ricky [Martin] mania, J-Lo mania. And, to be Latina in the industry in that moment, a lot of doors were opening.”

Selena Gomez says she’s been a performer since she was a little girl. In an interview with Vogue, she shared that she loved putting on concerts in her living room and getting dressed up — and her mom eventually began entering her in beauty pageants. In 2015, Selena shared a throwback to one of those pageants, posting an old photo where she could be seen wearing a blue dress and a tiara while standing next to a trophy that was almost as big as her.

Halle Berry actually got her start in pageants because of an old boyfriend. At the time, Halle was just a teenager and her unnamed partner thought it would be cool to have a girlfriend who was in pageants. He ended up entering her in the Miss Teen Ohio contest without her knowing and she later got a letter telling her she was a finalist.

“Actually, my boyfriend at the time wanted a beauty pageant girlfriend. So he entered me and I got this letter in the mail saying, ‘You are a finalist in the Miss [Teen] Ohio,’ and I thought, ‘Uh, what is this?’” Halle told W Magazine. “And then he told me, ‘Oh, by the way, I sent your prom picture in and now you have to go.’”

She added, “I ended up winning. And once you start winning these things it’s like a snowball. And you have to go to the next one, and if you [win] there, you go to the next one, and I kept winning all the way until the Miss USA pageant, where I did not win. I was first runner-up to Christy Fichtner. And that ended my beauty pageant career.”

Gal Gadot may have won Miss Israel in 2004 but she was never really interested in competing. In fact, she really wanted to study to become a lawyer. When she was convinced by a pageant scout to take part in the competition, she agreed to do it for the experience but had no idea she’d actually win. She then had to go on to compete in Miss World but she didn’t want to win so badly that she threw the competition.

“But at 18 I was approached to compete in Miss Israel. I thought, ‘That would be a nice experience.’ I never thought I would win! I was shocked when they crowned me; when I went to Miss Universe, I rebelled. I was afraid I might get picked again. I showed up late. I came without gowns. They tell you to come to breakfast in a gown. I was like, ‘No way am I having breakfast in a gown!’ Who needs to wear an evening gown at 10:30 A.M.?” Gal told Glamour.

Michelle Pfeiffer got her start early in her career doing pageants in California. Looking back, she says she always wanted to be an actress and heard that one of the judges was a commercial agent and sometimes signed people who competed. Michelle ended up winning Miss Orange County and went on to take part in Miss California.

“I went in doing this because I was told that one of the judges was a commercial agent and he had been known to sign people from the pageant. So that was the whole reason I did it,” Michelle said on The Drew Barrymore Show. “I actually signed with the agency and started doing commercials.”

Vanessa Williams started her beauty pageant career on a whim. While studying musical theater at Syracuse University, she was discovered by a pageant scout and was convinced to enter so she could win scholarship money. During her first and only pageant circuit, she ended up winning Miss Syracuse, then Miss New York and eventually became the first Black woman to win Miss America in 1983.

“I just basically was there to have a good time. I really did not think that I would win because I didn’t think that it was the time, you know. There had never been a Black Miss America so why would it be this year? If so, possibly, I knew that I had What it took but I didn’t think they’d actually go for it,” Vanessa shared on Oprah’s Master Class.

Growing up in New Jersey, Chelsea Handler took part in a few different pageants. When she was just 14, she participated in Miss Teen New Jersey but ended up giving up her pageant career when she realized you needed to showcase a talent in order to win.

“I was in like two beauty pageants and then I found out you had to have a talent and I was like, you know, what am I going to do? I can’t really dance and I can’t play an instrument,” she said on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “You get like three minutes to show off some talent and once I found that out I was like, ‘Oh I’ll just become a model’ and then that failed miserably so I became a stand-up comedian.”

In 1998, Vanessa Lachey became the first ever Miss Teen USA winner from South Carolina. Looking back, Vanessa says she didn’t feel like she deserved to win and ended up asking the judges why they chose her. Their response ended up being incredibly complimentary.

“I don’t say this in a self-depreciating, confident way but I was not the prettiest girl on stage and I did not have the best dress. My parents made me feel beautiful for who I was, not how I looked,” she told Entertainment Weekly.

She continued, “When I won I later asked the judges, ‘What was it?’ And they said, ‘You acted like you were 17. You were just a fun, quirky 17 year old. You weren’t trying to be somebody you weren’t or answer the questions the way you thought the judges wanted them to be answered. You acted like you were 17 and that’s what we want, Miss Teen USA.’ So I won by being me and not what I thought everyone wanted me to be, and it really gave me that full confidence boost that I needed for the rest of my life.”

In 1977, Matthew McConaughey’s mother entered him in a Little Mr Texas contest. He took part and at the end, his name was called as one of the winners. His mother went on to frame a photo from the competition and often reminded Matthew that he had won the entire contest. For almost his entire life, Matthew believed he had won the pageant but when he was recently doing research for his memoir, he learned that he was actually the runner-up.

“I called my mom…She said, ‘No, no, no. That kid who won, his family was really rich so they had money to buy him a nice three-piece suit and we call that cheating,” he said on In Depth With Graham Bensinger. “The running joke has been sort of like, would I be where I am now in life if I had not lived the last however many years thinking that I was Little Mr Texas? What would have happened to me if I’d have grown up thinking I was runner-up?”

Demi Lovato grew up participating in beauty pageants but it wasn’t a positive experience for her. Despite winning competitions, like the Mini Miss Texas title she took home at just 7, she says being judged for her beauty took a toll on her self-esteem. On her Dancing With the Devil docuseries, Demi recalled making a pact with herself that she would “never eat again” if she lost a pageant.

“I was put in beauty pageants where it’s extremely competitive and it’s all about your looks and your talent. My self-esteem was just completely damaged,” Demi shared.

Sharon Stone grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania and started taking part in pageants in order to afford college. Sharon ended up winning Miss Crawford County which took her to Miss Pennsylvania and opened up many doors for her in entertainment. Muhammad Ali was actually at the pageant and asked Sharon to be in The Greatest. While Sharon’s father turned down the opportunity, Muhammad predicted she would be a movie star.

“We were broke, and Miss Crawford County was a sub-pageant of the Miss America Pageant. And by winning Miss Crawford County, I got a partial scholarship to college. And I also had an academic scholarship because I was going to college at age 15. So, it really helped because my dad was a factory worker who worked swing shift an hour away from home. So this was a hardscrabble upbringing,” Sharon said on the Don’t Shoot The Messenger podcast.