Cheryl Moana Marie Nunes (born May 17, 1971, in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, U.S.) is a

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

, former Oakland Raiderette, beauty pageant winner, and musician.

Early life

Nunes was born on May 17, 1971, in

Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies, ...

. She was named for the

John Rowles Sir John Edward Rowles (born 26 March 1947) is a New Zealand singer. He was most popular in the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, and he is best known in New Zealand for his song from 1970, "Cheryl Moana Marie", which he wrote about his younge ...

song "Cheryl Moana Marie". Soon after her birth, her parents, both from Hawaii, decided to move the family back to the Island of Kaua'i.

Career

Her first performances were at an early age, in school plays and local music competitions. By the age of 14, she was chosen to perform at

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

, Japan, at the World Gala Event in Tokyo. By age 17, she won several beauty contests including, Miss Kauai America (the youngest winner of this title), and placing in the top five of the Miss Hawaii America competition. During her reign as Miss Kauai America, she began modeling for

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

photographer, Bob Coello. She later moved to Los Angeles and competed in

Miss California USA Miss California USA is the beauty pageant that selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss USA pageant, and the name of the title held by that winner. The pageant is directed by Crown Diva Productions. California's most ...

where she placed top five and won the coveted title as Miss Asia USA. She was selected to be a Los Angeles Raiderette and continued with the team when they moved to Oakland in 1995 to become an Oakland Raiderette. She sang the

Star Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bo ...

, for the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

, Ice Dogs Hockey League,

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

NHRA The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorspo ...

and the

Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. Christopher Pook is the founder of the event. It wa ...

. She also recorded the theme song for

Hawaiian Tropic Hawaiian Tropic is an American brand of suntan lotion. Hawaiian Tropic was founded by Ron Rice in 1969. Rice became the largest private manufacturer of sun care products in the United States, until Hawaiian Tropic was acquired by Playtex Produ ...

, "Come With Me". She was asked to record for

Sony International Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

- John Kalodner,

J Records J Records was an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG’s record labels in late 2008. It was distributed through the RCA Music Gro ...

- Clive Davis,

G funk G-funk, short for gangsta funk, is a sub-genre of gangsta rap that emerged from the West Coast scene in the late 1980s. The genre is heavily influenced by 1970s psychedelic funk (P-funk) sound of artists such as Parliament-Funkadelic. Character ...

Camp and

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

, which led to Cheryl becoming one of Luis Miguel's back-up singers touring the US as well as

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

among other countries. She was an on-air presenter for the STARZ movie channel conducting interviews with,

Antonio Banderas José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Antonio Ba ...

, Ice Cube,

Cedric the Entertainer Cedric Antonio Kyles (born April 24, 1964), better known by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He hosted BET's ''ComicView'' during the 1993–1994 season and ''Def Comedy Jam'' in 1995. He is bes ...

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award. Liu has star ...

Raquel Welch Jo Raquel Welch ( Tejada; September 5, 1940) is an American actress. She first won attention for her role in ''Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer ...

Matthew Perry Matthew Langford Perry (born August 19, 1969) is an American-Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994–2004). As well as starring in the short-lived television series ''Stud ...

, Mary Wilson and

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

MoTown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

. She also recorded ads for Dominican Republic Tourism Bureau, Clairol Shampoo and

MTV Network MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. She later worked with

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

when their Hawaiian

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. ...

was introduced in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

. She has appeared in 15 national commercials including: Miller Genuine Draft Beer,

Mervyns Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, ...

FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

Heineken Beer Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Febru ...

, GMC Motors,

Albertsons Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...

Taco Bueno Taco Management LLC, doing business as Taco Bueno, is a U.S.-based, quick service restaurant chain specializing in Tex-Mex-style cuisine. The company is headquartered in Farmers Branch, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. Its fi ...

. She is 'Bond Girl' Dominique Paradis in James Bond 007: Nightfire. She has booked modeling ads for La Jolla Swimwear, Bridal Magazine and Hinano Beer Tahiti. She released an EP album on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

CD Baby CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...

and 33 other distribution sites. Cheryl and her family appeared on ABC's ''

Celebrity Wife Swap ''Wife Swap'' is an American reality television program that was first broadcast on ABC in 2004 based on the British show with the same name. In the program, two families, usually from different social classes and lifestyles, swap wives/mothers ...

'' on January 31, 2012. She traded places on the show with

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

wrestler Mick Foley's wife, Colette Foley.

Personal life

In May 2011, Nunes gave birth to her first child, a son named Antonio Kamakanaalohamaikalani Harvey Sabàto, with

Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

model and actor

Antonio Sabàto Jr. Antonio Sabàto Jr. (born February 29, 1972) is an Italian-born American model and actor. Sabàto first found fame in the 1990s as an underwear model for Calvin Klein and playing Jagger Cates on the soap opera ''General Hospital'' from 1992 to 19 ...

The couple met in Hawaii during the filming of the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

reality TV show, ''My Antonio''. Sabàto has two children, son Jack and daughter Mina, from previous relationships. Their son was named for his father while his middle name, an uncommon name of Hawaiian origin meaning "the beloved gift from the Heavens," was given in honor of Nunes'

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

heritage. Nunes and Sabàto married in Hawaii on 25 September 2012 and Sabàto filed for divorce on 20 December 2016, citing irreconcilable differences. Nunes alleged that Sabàto revealed to her that he'd been struggling with

prescription drug abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

following a car accident and that, in the past, he was addicted to

crystal meth Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunes, Cheryl Moana Marie Living people Musicians from Hillsboro, Oregon People from Hawaii American pageant participants of Filipino descent American people of Portuguese descent American people of Chinese descent American people of Native Hawaiian descent American beauty pageant winners Native Hawaiian people of Filipino descent National Football League cheerleaders American female models American television hosts American cheerleaders 1971 births Singers from Oregon 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers American women television presenters