Alicia Machado Biography

Yoseph Alicia Machado Fajardo (who was born December 6, 1976, in Maracay) is a Venezuelan-born American actress, TV host, singer and beauty queen who won Miss Universe 1996. She was the fourth woman from Venezuela to be named Miss Universe.

Career

Machado won the 1995 Miss Venezuela pageant entering Yaracuy and then the Miss Universe 1996 crown in Las Vegas. The runner-up, Jacqueline Aguilera, also won the Miss World 1995 crown, marking the second time that two Venezuelans from the same pageant won two world titles. Machado's reign came as American businessman Donald Trump took ownership of the Miss Universe pageant.

During her reign as Miss Universe, Machado made headlines when it was reported that she gained too much weight and the Miss Universe Organization was considering replacing her with her runner-up, Taryn Mansell of Aruba. After winning the Miss Universe title in 1996, Machado announced that all she wanted to do was "eat, eat and eat". Machado retained her title. Trump called her "an eating machine", generating controversy. In 1998, she made her debut on the popular Venezuelan soap opera Samantha in the titular role. She won the Midia Award in Spain and the Ace award in New York City, as the new Actress of the Year. Following the success of Samantha she was called to star in Infierno en el Paraiso, another successful soap opera. In 1999 she released her debut album Alicia En El Pais De Las Maravillas. A second album was released in November 2007.

In 2001, she had a small role on the international soap opera Secreto de Amor. During 2004-2005, she pursued a career as a TV commercial model with particular success in promoting a dieting product. In 2005, Machado appeared on a Spanish reality show called La Granja de los famosos ("The Farm"). On February 19, 2006, Machado debuted on a Mexican reality show named Cantando Por Un Sueo ("Singing For A Dream"), a program in the line of the previous Bailando Por Un Sueo ("Dancing For A Dream"), in which the winner has the chance for a dream to come true. The show is very similar to Dancing with the Stars (U.S.) and Ms que baile! (formerly titled Mira Quin Baila!) ("Look Who's Dancing!") (Spain).

Machado appeared in (and on the cover of) the February 2006 issue of Playboy magazine's Mexican edition, becoming the only Miss Universe to pose nude for Playboy. On September 9, 2012, she was one of ten competitors on the third season of Mira Quien Baila. On November 18, 2012, Alicia won 3rd place in the 3rd season of Univision's dance competition Mira Quien Baila. In 2013, Machado stars as the protagonist of La Madame, a television serial produced by RTI Productions and RCN TV in Colombia. In February 2014, she joined Univision's beauty pageant Nuestra Belleza Latina 2014 as a mentor where she coach the participants on how to succeed in the modeling and television industry.

Personal life

Relationships

Machado once dated professional baseball player Bobby Abreu; the couple later split, calling off their engagement.

Political views

On November 24, 2010, BBC Mundo confirmed that Machado had to close her Twitter account after writing a tweet that called for "peace between the Chinas", referring to North and South Korea. Her gaffe unleashed a rush of insulting posts, prompting her to go offline. "I now have a lot of psychopaths on the account and it's best I start another one, kisses," she signed off, according to Venezuelan media.

Since June 2016 she has been publicly campaigning for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

In May 2016, Machado became a U.S. citizen. She has spoken out many times against Donald Trump, who, during her year as Miss Universe, she claims called her "Miss Piggy" because she gained weight and "Miss Housekeeping" because of her Hispanic background. Trump said: "She was impossible" and that "[s]he was the winner and you know, she gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem. We had a real problem. Not only that, her attitude, and we had a real problem with her."

Filmography

Telenovelas

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Samantha	Samantha del Llano	Protagonist
1999	Infierno en el paraso	Marian Ordiales
2002	Mambo y Canela	Canela
2007	Amor sin maquillaje	Marina Fernndez Rosales	Co-protagonist
2009-10	Hasta que el dinero nos separe	Karen Sandoval	Supporting Role
2009-10	Atrevete a Soar	Electra	Special Appearance
2011-12	Una familia con suerte	Candelaria "Candy" Lpez	Co-protagonist
2012-13	Porque el amor manda	Candela	Special Appearance
2013	La Madame	Madame Rochy "La Madame"	Protagonist
2015	Lo imperdonable	Claudia Ordaz	Co-protagonist

Series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	La Niera
2000	Estamos Unidos	Mari
2007	El Pantera	Diana Rodrguez
2009	Los simuladores 2	Camila	1 Episode: "El precio de la fama"

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Cansada de besar sapos	Cassandra
2007	Dios o demonio	Giselle

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Un amante a la medida	Linda
2010	Los Alacranes
	Hairspray, El Musical	Velma

Discography

• Alicia Machado (2004)
• Si se Acabara el Mundo (2010)

TV programs

Year	Show		Notes
2005	La Granja	Herself	Participant Finished 8th place
2007	Nuestra Belleza Latina 2007		Judge
2012	2012 Premios Juventud		Host
	Mira Quien Baila		Participant Finished 3rd place
2014	Nuestra Belleza Latina 2014		Participated as a mentor/team leader

Awards and nominations

Midia

Year	Category	Telenovela	Result
1998	Best New Actress	Samantha	rowspan=2
	It's the best history

Premios ACE

Year	Category	Telenovela	Result
1999	Best Revelation of the Year	Samantha

Paseo de las Luminarias

Year	Nominee	Result
2010	In recognition of her artistic career in Mexico

TVyNovelas Awards

Year	Category	Telenovela	Result
2012	Best Co-star Actress	Una familia con suerte

Premios People en Espaol

Year	Category	Telenovela	Result
2012	Best Supporting Actress	Una familia con suerte