Maria Menounos life and biography

Maria Menounos is an American actress, journalist, and television presenter known in America for her appearances as a correspondent for Today, Access Hollywood, Extra, and abroad for co-hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece.

Menounos, a Greek American, was born in Medford, Massachusetts to immigrant parents Costas and Litsa Menounos. She has a younger brother, Peter, and is fluent in the Greek language. At age 17, she was an employee of Dunkin' Donuts. Menounos attended the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Menounos attended Medford High School in Medford, MA. In 1995, Menounos began to compete in beauty pageants. The following year, she won the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA and competed at Miss Teen USA where she placed in the top 15, receiving an honorary mention, during the preliminary competition; Menounos placed 13th in preliminaries. The pageant was won by Christie Lee Woods. Maria competed for the title of Miss Massachusetts USA 2000; she was the 1st runner up.

Now a correspondent for both The Today Show and Access Hollywood, Maria is also cobbling together something of an acting career. She has appeared on the TV shows Without a Trace (Poppy Montgomery, Roselyn Sanchez), One Tree Hill (Sophia Bush, Hilary Burton, Chad Michael Murray) and Scrubs, the movies Fantastic Four (Jessica Alba) and Kickin It Old School (Vivica A. Fox) and the Jessica Simpson video "Public Affair," along with fellow sizzlers Eva Longoria, Christina Applegate and Christina Millian (Maria's the one beating the crap out of Jessica Simpson…and providing catharsis for much of America). Maria also files an occasional report for the NBC Nightly News, proving she can handle the hard news in addition to the entertainment beat.

Looking ahead, Maria will continue to pop up on your TV in a number of different roles actress, reporter, Pantene pitchwoman. And she'll probably be dating a guy with large teeth: Maria lists a nice big smile as one of her turn-ons. Which reminds us it's probably about time we check in with our dentist….

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