Taliana María Vargas Carrillo (born December 20, 1987) is a Colombian actress, model, and television personality who was crowned

Miss Colombia 2007 Miss Colombia 2007, the 73rd Miss Colombia pageant, was held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, on November 12, 2007. The pageant was broadcast live on RCN TV from the Centro de Convenciones Cartagena de Indias in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. ...

and placed 1st Runner-Up at

Miss Universe 2008 Miss Universe 2008 was the 57th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 14, 2008. This was the first time that the Miss Universe pageant was broadcast in 1080i High-definition. At the end of th ...

. Vargas is a student of

Journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

at the

Northern Virginia Community College Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC; informally known as NOVA) is a public community college composed of six campuses and four centers in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Northern Virginia Community College is the third-la ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Born and raised in

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...

, Vargas is of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and Lebanese descent through her grandparents, and has

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

relatives. She speaks fluent Spanish, English, and Italian, as well as some Greek and Arabic.

Pageantry

Miss Colombia 2007

Vargas was crowned as Miss Colombia on November 12, 2007, thus bringing the first crown to her home department of Magdalena, Colombia. During the three-week-long competition, she was also awarded with the Miss Elegance, Best Face Award and The Queen of the Police.

Miss Universe 2008

During the pageant, Vargas was a top 10 finalist in the Best National Costume competition and in the Best In Bikini event (which had no bearings on the selection of the top 15 semi-finalists), Vargas was awarded 2nd place while Miss Mexico, Elisa Nájera, took first place. On July 14, 2008 during the pageant's finals, Vargas was announced as one of the 15 semi-finalists. In the swimsuit competition, she received the highest score with 9.433, thus entering the top 10 in first place. During the evening gown portion, she received one of the highest televised scores in recent years: 9.829. Vargas thus became one of the 5 final contestants, coming in first place. Despite being the clear winner in two out of the three rounds, after the interview portion, it was

Dayana Mendoza Dayana Sabrina Mendoza Moncada (born 1 June 1986) is a Venezuelan actress, model, film producer and director. She is also a former beauty queen, winner of the titles of Miss Venezuela 2007 and Miss Universe 2008. Dayana Mendoza, in 2012, parti ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

who went on to win title of

while Vargas ended up as 1st Runner-Up. Colombia has reached the 1st Runner-Up in Miss Universe during three consecutive years:

Paola Turbay Paola Turbay Gómez (born November 29, 1970) is a Colombian-American actress, model, beauty queen, and television presenter. Related to Julio César Turbay Ayala, Turbay represented Bogotá in the Miss Colombia beauty pageant and won in 1991. ...

in 1992,

Paula Andrea Betancourt Paula Andrea Betancur Arroyave (born June 1, 1972) is a Colombian model and beauty pageant titleholder. Betancur represented the department of Amazonas in the 1992 National Beauty Contest and was elected Miss Colombia 1992. Pageantry Miss Un ...

in 1993, and Carolina Gomez in 1994. Her placement as 1st Runner-Up was the highest one of Colombia until

Paulina Vega Paulina Vega Dieppa (; born 15 January 1993) is a Colombian television host, model and beauty queen crowned Miss Colombia 2013 and Miss Universe 2014. Vega is the second Miss Universe from Colombia. Early life Paulina Vega Dieppa was born in Ba ...

's win in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Acting career

Taliana appeared in her first leading role as Niña Cabrales in the

RCN TV RCN may refer to: * ''Radio Cadena Nacional (disambiguation)'', a broadcast network in Colombia ** RCN Radio ** RCN TV * RCN Corporation (formerly Residential Communications Network), a cable television, telephone, and Internet service provider in ...

soap opera ''Chepe Fortuna'' in 2010. The show, a huge success in Colombia and other parts of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, won Taliana a TVyNovelas Award for Favourite Actress in a Leading Role.Premio TV y Novelas a Mejor actriz de telenovela: Taliana Vargas de Chepe Fortuna
/ref> Taliana Vargas is the main character in a Colombian soap opera ''Rafael Orozco El Idolo''. The soap opera is about a Vallenato singer from Valledupar, Colombia and Taliana plays the wife of the singer. In 2017, she played Paola Salcedo, the wife of the

Cali Cartel The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. They broke away fr ...

's security chief in the third season of the American series made by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

; ''

Narcos ''Narcos'' is an American-Colombian crime drama television series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Set and filmed in Colombia, seasons 1 and 2 are based on the story of Colombian narcoterrorist and drug kin ...

''. She has been the image of various brands in Colombia such as

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...

Paris Elvive, Studio F,

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

Personal life

Taliana Vargas is married to Alejandro Éder, a senior policy advisor to the Colombian government; they wed in 2015. They have two children, Alicia María Éder Vargas (born 2019) and Antonio Éder Vargas (born 2020).

References

External links

Taliana Vargas' Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Taliana 1987 births Living people Miss Colombia winners Miss Universe 2008 contestants Colombian beauty pageant winners Colombian people of Lebanese descent Colombian people of Greek descent Colombian female models