Mariángel Ruiz Torrealba (born 7 January 1980) is a Venezuelan actress, tv host, singer, fashion model and beauty pageant titleholder. Winning Miss Venezuela 2002 as Miss Aragua, she then placed 1st runner-up at

Miss Universe 2003 Miss Universe 2003 was the 52nd Miss Universe pageant, held at the Figali Convention Center in Panama City, Panama on 3 June 2003. The winner, Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic was crowned by Justine Pasek of Panama as Miss Universe 2003. ...

Pageant career

Miss Venezuela 2002

Ruiz tried twice for the

Miss Venezuela Miss Venezuela (Spanish: ''Organización Miss Venezuela'') is a Venezuelan beauty pageant operated by the Cisneros Group. Founded in 1952, it currently selects Venezuelan representatives to Miss Universe, Miss World, and Miss International. ...

title, the first time in 1998 when she did not place in the top 120 candidates. In 2002, she won the preliminary casting in Maracay, becoming Miss Aragua 2002. Ruiz won the pageant, which for the first time was judged entirely by former Miss Venezuela titleholders.

Miss Universe 2003

One 9 May 2003, the Miss Venezuela Organization announced that Ruiz would not compete at Miss Universe. This was due to strict foreign exchange controls imposed by then-Venezuelan President

Hugo Chavez Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Hugo (film), ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise ...

to prevent capital flight, which made the organization unable to send Ruiz to Panama. However, Venezuelan businessman

Gustavo Cisneros Gustavo Alfredo Jiménez de Cisneros y Rendiles (1 June 1945 – 29 December 2023) was a Venezuelan businessman and Chairman of '' Grupo Cisneros''. A onetime billionaire, according to ''Forbes,'' his net worth peaked at US$6.0 billion in 2007 ...

provided funding for Ruiz to compete in Panama.

Mireya Moscoso Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez (born 1 July 1946) is a Panamanian politician who served as the President of Panama from 1999 to 2004. She is the country's first and to date only female president. Born into a rural family, Moscoso became act ...

, then-President of Panama, had urged Cisneros to ensure that a Venezuelan candidate would compete at Miss Universe.

Work on TV

Ruiz has appeared on several TV shows of

Venevisión Venevisión () is a Venezuelan free-to-air television channel and one of Venezuela's largest television networks, owned by the Cisneros Media division of Grupo Cisneros. It was founded in 1961 by Diego Cisneros. It is one of the major telenove ...

. Her main credits include: *''Bailando con las Estrellas'' (2005), as Contestant *''Portada's'' (2005–present), as Hostess *'' Cosita Rica'' (2003), as Alegria Mendez * ''Que Locura'' (2003), as Guest Hostess * '' La viuda joven'' (2011) as Inmaculada Von Parker * ''

Corazón Esmeralda Corazón (Spanish "heart") may refer to: Film and TV * ''Corazón'' (film), a 1947 Argentine film * Corazon, an episode from season 6, of ''Criminal Minds'' * Corazon, the alias of a minor character in the manga series One Piece Music Albums * ...

'' (2014) as Marina Lozano / Graciela Beltrán She has also done specials for the Miss Venezuela and Mister Venezuela pageants. In October 2005, she started filming the show Bailando con las Estrellas (''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''), which is similar to several other shows in other countries with the same format. Ruiz was threatened twice: she made it through on the first one, but on the second threat she got eliminated.

Personal life

She was born in San Juan de los Morros, Guárico. In December 2005, she announced her marriage and pregnancy to

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

Tony Álvarez. Their civil wedding was the same month, and their religious wedding was held on 28 January 2006. Ruiz gave birth to a girl named Mariángel Victoria, in August of the same year. The two divorced in 2008.

Publicity

Ruiz has worked with several companies to promote their products, those include: *''

Pantene Pantene () is an American brand of hair care products now owned by Procter & Gamble. The product line originated in Europe in 1945 by Hoffmann-La Roche of Switzerland, which based the name on panthenol. It started to be introduced in the United ...

'' (2005) *'' Lady Speed Stick'' (2004) *''Atun Margarita'' (2003) *'' Mayonesa Kraft'' (2003) *''Calzados Lucchi'' (2002)

Modeling

In November 2008, Ruiz posed for the cover of the prestigious Venezuelan Urbe Bikini magazine.

References

External links

MariangelRuiz.com.ve
— Official Spanish website {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Mariangel 1980 births Living people Miss Universe 2003 contestants Miss Venezuela winners People from Guárico Spouses of politicians Venezuelan television talk show hosts Venezuelan female models Venezuelan television personalities Venezuelan television presenters Venezuelan telenovela actresses Venezuelan women television presenters