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Maria Menounos ( mə-NOO-nohss; Greek: Μαρία Μενούνος [maˈri.a meˈnunos]; born June 8, 1978) is an American television presenter. She has hosted Extra and E! News; she was a TV correspondent for Today, Access Hollywood, and co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece. She also co-created and is currently CEO of online podcast series network AfterBuzz TV. She is currently signed to WWE where she has served as an ambassador since 2013, having even competed in some tag team events as a pro since 2009. She hosted the podcast Conversations with Maria Menounos. She also co-hosted Miss Universe 2023 pageant on November 18, 2023. Early life Menounos was born in the Boston suburb of Medford, Massachusetts, to Greek immigrant parents Costas and Litsa Menounos who worked as janitors in a Boston nightclub. She has a younger brother named Peter. Maria Menounos attended the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Somerville, Massachusetts. She also attended Medford High School in Medford. In 1995, Menounos began to compete in beauty pageants. The following year, she won the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA, and she competed at Miss Teen USA where she placed in the top 15, receiving an honorary mention, during the preliminary competition. She placed 13th in the preliminaries. She competed for the title of Miss Massachusetts USA 2000 and was the first runner-up. Menounos attended Boston's Emerson College participating there in the organization Emerson Independent Video. She graduated from Emerson in 2000. Career Film, television, and radio During her senior year at Emerson, Menounos worked as a reporter for Channel One News. For her 10-minute segments, she traveled to El Salvador to report on the January 2001 and February 2001 earthquakes, interviewed NATO aircrew members aboard an E-3 AWACS plane during the military alliance's Operation Eagle Assist, and interviewed President George W. Bush. Entertainment Tonight hired Menounos as a correspondent in 2002; she reported on movies, music, and fashion. She left the program in 2005 to focus on her acting career, although she joined rival program Access Hollywood that fall as a correspondent. She went on to co-host a few episodes of the Today show in the late summer and fall of 2006 as well as in April 2007. In 2003, she appeared on the November 30 episode of Punk'd as one of many celebrities caught in the awkward and embarrassing "Red Carpet Interviews". In 2004, Menounos appeared in an episode of the UPN series One on One as Glenda, an eccentric, self-proclaimed "Fairy Godmother to the Stars". In the summer of 2005, she appeared in the comic book film Fantastic Four playing a nurse romanced by the Human Torch who is played by Chris Evans. Her likeness and voice was featured in the 2005 Electronic Arts video game James Bond 007: 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 presented the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest (along with Greek singer Sakis Rouvas) which took place in Athens. Menounos also directed Longtime Listener starring Wilmer Valderrama. The film was an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival 2006. She acted in and produced Adventures of Serial Buddies, which is credited with being the first serial killer buddy comedy. At the age of 17, Menounos produced In the Land of Merry Misfits, an independent film fairy tale. The 35 mm feature film was produced by Menounos while attending Emerson College with director Keven Undergaro, then head writer for MTV's Singled Out. The negative of the film was stolen and the film was never completed but her work on the film, and the film's director, helped her land her reporting job at Channel One News and at MTV (ET on MTV). She however, never forgot the film or the film's director. In 2005, she personally funded the recovery and restoration of the film, which was narrated by John Waters and starred an eclectic group in the Waters vein — including former WWE champion Bob Backlund, actress Josie Davis from the TV show Charles in Charge, and B-movie icon Randal Malone. The film premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Menounos also maintains AfterBuzzTV, an online entertainment network she founded with Undergaro, for which she was named the 2014 CES Entertainment Matters Ambassador. As an actress, she had recurring roles on the CBS-TV program Without a Trace and as Jules in the second season of The CW's One Tree Hill (during its run on The WB). Menounos also appeared on the Scrubs episode "My Extra Mile", which aired in May 2006 where she is attracted to John Dorian because she likes his hair. In 2006, she appeared in the music video for "A Public Affair" by Jessica Simpson. On April 27, 2007, Menounos starred in Kickin' It Old Skool. In 2007, she continued in her run as international spokesperson doing print and television commercials for Pantene hair products as well as print ads for New York & Company. From December 17 to 20, 2007, she hosted the reality game show miniseries Clash of the Choirs. In 2008, she became the host of Hollywood Green on the Planet Green network. In 2008, she had a role in the movie Tropic Thunder, and in the same year became the first (and to date the only) journalist to interview the entire Obama family as a whole. She also reported for NBC Nightly News. In May 2008, Menounos played in the AVP Cuervo Gold Crown Huntington Beach Open but was eliminated in the qualifying round. On July 13, 2008, she played in the celebrity softball game at Yankee Stadium in New York. In November 2008, when Richard Belzer fell ill, she filled in as host for the North Shore Animal League's Dogcatemy Celebrity Gala, which is held at NYC's Capitale. From 2009 to 2012 she hosted various reunion specials of MTV's The Real World and The Challenge. She appeared on the 2008 Knight Rider series episode "Fly By Knight", which aired on February 11, 2009; she played a DEA agent who is in charge of investigating a plane crash. On August 4, 2011, it was announced that she would join Warner Bros.'s Extra, where she co-hosted the show with Mario Lopez. She also had on-air duties at Dr. Drew's Lifechangers, with plans to develop new projects. For her work on Extra, Menounos won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment News Program. She was a contestant on the 14th season of Dancing with the Stars partnering with Derek Hough. The couple was eliminated on May 15, 2012 placing fourth in the competition. In May 2013, Menounos began a new interview series called Conversations with Maria Menounos; Zoe Saldana being her first guest. On March 18, 2014, Menounos' reality TV series Chasing Maria Menounos premiered on the Oxygen Network. In May 2014, after three years of hosting Extra, Menounos left the show signing a multi-year contract with E! Entertainment to host and produce several programs. In July 2015, The Hollywood .... Discover the Jessica Gregory popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jessica Gregory books.