Corinna "Cory" Everson ( née Kneuer; born January 4, 1958) is an American female bodybuilding champion and actress. Everson won the

Ms. Olympia The IFBB Ms. Olympia is both the highest ranking professional female bodybuilding competition and the title of the winner of the competition. It was first organized in 1980, and was held as part of the Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance ...

contest six years in a row from 1984 to 1989.

Education

Corinna Kneuer was born in

Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...

, Wisconsin and attended high school in Deerfield, Illinois. She attended the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, where she was a multi-sport standout (gymnastics, track & field and

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

Early career

While attending the

, she met Jeff Everson, a competitive bodybuilder who worked there as a strength coach. They married in 1982. While they were married, the Eversons built a successful mail-order clothing business called Sampson and Delilah.

Bodybuilding career

Everson began to train seriously as a bodybuilder after her graduation, and made rapid progress. In the early years, she and Jeff trained at Ernie's Gym on Sherman Avenue in Madison. She won the Ms. Olympia contest at her first participation and remained undefeated from 1984 to 1989 when she retired from competition.

Contest history

*1980 Ms. Mid America - 1st (Tall and Overall) *1980 American Couples - 3rd (with Jeff Everson) *1981 Ms. Midwest Open - 1st (Tall & Overall) *1981 Ms. Central USA - 1st (HW and Overall) *1981 Couples America - 1st (with Jeff Everson) *1981 American Championships - 11th (MW) *1982 Ms. East Coast - 1st (MW) *1982 Bodybuilding Expo III - 2nd (MW) *1982 Bodybuilding Expo Couples - 2nd (with Jeff Everson) *1982 AFWB American Championships - 5th (HW) *1982 IFBB North American - 1st (MW and Overall) *1982 IFBB North American Mixed Pairs - 1st *1983 Bodybuilding Expo IV - 1st (MW and Overall) *1983 Bodybuilding Expo Mixed Pairs - 1st *1983 U.S. Bodybuilding Championships Couples - 1st (with Jeff Everson) *1983 AFWB American Championships - 8th (HW) *1983 NPC Nationals - 2nd (HW) *1984 American Women's Championships - 1st (HW and Overall) *1984 NPC Nationals - 1st (HW and Overall) *1984 IFBB

- 1st *1985 IFBB

- 1st *1986 IFBB

- 1st *1987 IFBB

- 1st *1988 IFBB

- 1st *1989 IFBB

- 1st

Awards and honors

In January 1999, Everson was inducted into the

IFBB Hall of Fame The IFBB Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to honor outstanding athletes and officials in the sport of bodybuilding. There have been no inductees since 2011. Induction years 1999 *Carla Dunlap *Cory Everson *John Grimek * Lee Haney * Rachel Mc ...

, as part of the inaugural group. She was inducted into the

Muscle Beach Muscle Beach is the birthplace of the United States physical fitness boom, which started in 1934 with predominantly gymnastics activities on the south side of the Santa Monica Pier. Muscle Beach Venice is the contemporary title of the outdoor we ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

Body Building Hall of Fame on September 5, 2005. At the 2007

Arnold Classic The IFBB Arnold Sports Festival, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, is an annual multi-sport event consisting of professional bodybuilding (''Arnold Classic''), strongman ('' Arnold Strongman Classic''), fitness, figure ...

she became the first woman to be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2008 was inducted into the

National Fitness Hall of Fame National Fitness Hall of Fame is an American hall of fame for notable fitness professionals. It includes notable figures involved in fitness instruction, training, education, fitness management and product development. The mission is to recognize ...

Film and television career

After retiring from competition, she turned to acting with her first major movie appearance being ''

Double Impact ''Double Impact'' is a 1991 American action film written and directed by Sheldon Lettich, and written, produced by and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chad and Alex Wagner. The film marks Van Damme's third collaboration with director Sheldon ...

'' (1991) alongside

Jean-Claude Van Damme Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (, ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme (, ), is a Belgian actor, martial artist, filmmaker, and fight choreographer. Born and raised in Brussels, Belgium, at the ag ...

. She took a minor role in ''

Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American crime film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims of traumatic childho ...

'' (1994). Then in ''Ballistic'' (1995), she reprised the evil musclewoman role, losing the final fight to

Marjean Holden Margaret Jean Holden (born November 3, 1964) is an American actress, stuntwoman and martial artist. Early life and education Margaret Jean Holden was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 3, 1964, and attended Northern Arizona Universit ...

playing an undercover cop. Everson has made a number of guest appearances in television series, most notably playing

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

on ''

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' is an American television series filmed in New Zealand, based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles (Hercules was his Roman analogue). Starring Kevin Sorbo as Hercules and Michael Hurst as ...

''. She appeared in two episodes of '' The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.'' with her sister, Cameo Kneuer. In 1991 Everson appeared on '' To Tell The Truth'' Game Show. Everson was the original host of the fitness show ''

BodyShaping ''BodyShaping'' is an American fitness and exercise television series that has shown on ESPN, with segments on weight training, cardiovascular exercise, stretching and nutrition. It was in production from 1988 to 1998, and has been in reruns ever ...

'', which she also produced. She also hosted her own exercise show on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

, ''Cory Everson's Gotta Sweat'', for seven years.

Film

Television

Personal life

Cory and Jeff Everson divorced in 1996; however, she kept 'Everson' as her stage name. In 1998, she married Dr. Steve Donia, a cosmetic dentist; they have two children whom they adopted from Russia. She became active with Nightlight Christian Adoptions, an adoption agency that brings orphans from Russia and Belarus to the US to stay with families looking to adopt a child. Everson's sister, Cameo Kneuer, is a two-time Ms. National Fitness champion and a mainstay of the TV game series ''

Knights and Warriors ''Knights and Warriors'' is an American competition television program that premiered in syndication on September 19, 1992. The program aired on weekends for one season, with episodes airing until September 11, 1993. The show was a production of ...

''.

Books authored

*''Strength Training for Beauty Volume 3 - Number 1''Runner's World Magazine Company (1986) *''Superflex: Ms. Olympia's Guide to Building a Strong & Sexy Body'' Contemporary Books (1987) with Jeff Everson *''Back in Shape'' Houghton Mifflin Company (1991) with Stephen Hochschuler *''Cory Everson's Workout'' Perigee Trade (1991) with Jeff Everson *''Cory Everson's Fat-Free & Fit'' Perigee Trade (1994) with Carole Jacobs *''Cory Everson's Lifebalance'' Perigee Trade (1998)

References

External links

Facebook PageMs Olympia 1986 online - Cory everson win
*
Cory Everson
fitness filmography at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

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Carla Dunlap Carla Dunlap-Kaan (born October 22, 1954) is a professional American female bodybuilding champion. Early life and education Dunlap was born in 1954, in Newark, New Jersey. She started competing in sports with gymnastics at age 10. She later c ...

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Lenda Murray Lenda Murray (born February 22, 1962) is an American professional female bodybuilding champion. Early life and education Murray was born in 1962 in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Darcelious and Louvelle Murray. She began participating in or ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Everson, Corinna 1958 births American exercise and fitness writers American exercise instructors American female bodybuilders American film actresses American television actresses Living people People from Deerfield, Illinois Professional bodybuilders Sportspeople from Racine, Wisconsin 21st-century American women