Sophie Thalmann (born 7 May 1976) is a French TV host and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss Lorraine 1997 and

Miss France Miss (pronounced ) is an English language honorific typically used for a girl, for an unmarried woman (when not using another title such as "Doctor" or "Dame"), or for a married woman retaining her maiden name. Originating in the 17th century, it ...

1998.

Early life and education

Thalmann was born in

Bar-le-Duc Bar-le-Duc (), formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the capital. The department is in Grand Est in northeastern France. The lower, more modern and busier part of the town extends along a narrow valley, sh ...

in the department of

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

, the daughter of the owner of a driving school and a seamstress. She studied in Nancy and gained a diploma in public relations in the arts and cultural sector. She then studied at the European Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual at the

University of Lorraine The University of Lorraine (), often abbreviated in UL, is a grand établissement created on 1 January 2012, by the merger of Henri Poincaré University, Nancy 2 University, Paul Verlaine University – Metz and the National Polytechnic Institute ...

in Nancy.

Miss France

In 1996, at the age of 20, Thalmann won the title of Miss Meuse and was runner up in the Miss Lorraine contest. The following year she won the title of Miss Lorraine in

, which qualified her to enter the

contest on 13 December 1997. She was crowned Miss France at age 21 in

Deauville Deauville () is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its harbour, race course, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino, and sumptuous hotels. The first Deauville Asian Film Fes ...

in front of a TV audience of 15 million. For the year she reigned as Miss France, Thalmann travelled the country with

Geneviève de Fontenay Geneviève Suzanne Marie-Thérèse Mulmann (born 30 August 1932), known professionally as Geneviève de Fontenay (), is a French businesswoman who served as the president of the Miss France Committee from 1981 until 2007. After leaving her positi ...

, director of Miss France, and appeared as a guest in a number of television programmes. She participated in the game shows ''une famille en or'' on

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

and '' Fort Boyard'' on

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...

. On 12 May 1998, Thalmann represented France at the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

contest, which took place in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, but did not make it into the final ten. For the

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

contest that took place on 26 November 1998 in

Mahé, Seychelles Mahé is the largest island of Seychelles, with an area of , lying in the northeast of the Seychellean nation in the Somali Sea part of the Indian Ocean. The population of Mahé was 77,000, as of the 2010 census. It contains the capital city ...

, she was replaced by her first runner-up Véronique Caloc, who went on to be first runner-up to

Linor Abargil Linor Abargil ( he, לינור אברג'יל, sometimes spelled ''Linor Aberjil''; born February 17, 1980) is an Israeli lawyer, actress, model and beauty queen who won the Miss World beauty pageant in 1998, shortly after being raped. Since then ...

. On 12 July 1998 she appeared at the FIFA World Cup Final at the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

, where

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

were victorious over

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Television career

Thalmann began her career on television in 1999 with her first season on ''Téléfoot'' on

. For three seasons she co-hosted the programme alongside

Thierry Roland Thierry José Roland (; 4 August 1937 – 16 June 2012) was a French sports commentator who was France's leading football commentator for 59 years. He began his career as a radio journalist for the ORTF when he was just 16 years old. Roland then ...

. She then co-hosted other programmes on the same channel such as ''

Y'a pas photo ''Y'a pas photo'' was a French television program shown on TF1 from September 1997, produced by Loribel and animated by Laurent Fontaine and Pascal Bataille, with help from Sophie Thalmann, Sabrina Kléber, and Georges Chétochine. The program ...

'' (1999–2000), ''Les Petits Princes'' (2000), ''Combien ça coûte ?'' (2001–2002) with

Jean-Pierre Pernaut Jean-Pierre Pernaut (; 8 April 1950 – 2 March 2022) was a French news presenter and broadcaster. He was widely known simply by his initials, JPP. Biography Pernaut was born in Amiens, Somme, on 8 April 1950. The regular presenter of station ...

and ''Le bêtisier du sport'' (2001–02). In 2004, she co-hosted with ''Vous pouvez répéter la question ?'' on

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...

. She then presented ''Le matin de Diane'' on 10 June 2007 on the Equidia channel. From 2006 to 2009 she presented ''Sophie club'' and once a month during the season from 2004–05 she presented ''J'ai aimé un cheval''. In November 2009, she started presenting ''Ch'val dire à Sophie'' on the same channel. She also hosted radio programmes including ''Passionnément Sophie'' in 2001 on

France Bleu Sud Lorraine France Bleu Sud Lorraine is a regional radio station serving Southern Lorraine from studios in Nancy. It is part of the France Bleu network of regional radio stations in France. History The station was founded in October 1944 following the Ba ...

and ''Les tontons footeux'' in 2003 on RTL.

Personal life

Thalmann married Belgian jockey

Christophe Soumillon Christophe Soumillon (born 4 June 1981) is a Belgian jockey based in France. Career Coming from a racing background, Soumillon is the son of jump jockey Jean-Marc Soumillon. He rode in pony races and left Belgium aged fifteen to go to the racing ...

on 22 July 2006. The couple have three children, daughter Charlie (born September 2005), son Mika (born November 2008) and son Robin (born April 2017).

Titles

*Miss France 1998 *Miss Lorraine 1997 *1st runner-up at Miss Lorraine 1996 *Miss Meuse 1996

Books

*2001 : ''Ça fait quoi d'être Miss France ?'' (Michel Lafon) *2003 : ''Cheval mon ami'' (Jacques-Marie Laffont) *2006 : ''Passions chevaux'' (

Flammarion Flammarion may refer to: * Camille Flammarion (1842–1925), French astronomer and author * Gabrielle Renaudot Flammarion (1877–1962), French astronomer, wife of Camille Flammarion * Flammarion engraving by unknown artist; appeared in a book by C ...

) *2008 : ''Au galop'' (

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachett ...

) *2009 : ''Mon journal d'équitation'' (Hachette) *2013 : ''Un nouveau pensionnaire'', Book 1 of series: ''Mes amis les chevaux'' (Hachette jeunesse)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thalmann, Sophie 1976 births 21st-century French non-fiction writers French female models French non-fiction writers 21st-century French women writers French television presenters Living people Miss France winners Miss Universe 1998 contestants People from Bar-le-Duc Pony books Writers on horsemanship French women television presenters 20th-century French women