Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir (born 25 May 1984) is an Icelandic actress, lawyer, police officer, model and beauty queen who won Miss Iceland 2005 and later won

Miss World 2005 Miss World 2005, the 55th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 10 December 2005 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China. María Julia Mantilla of Peru crowned her successor Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir of Iceland. 102 conte ...

pageant.

Career

Beauty Queen

She was crowned

on 10 December 2005 in the

Crown of Beauty Theatre Beauty Crown Grand Theater () is an indoor arena or theater in seven-star Beauty Crown Hotel Complex in the tropical city of Sanya, Hainan Island, China, and it is currently one of the biggest arena or theater for arts and entertainment venues, ...

, located in the Chinese beach city of

Sanya Sanya; Chinese postal romanization, also spelled Samah is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan, Hainan Province in Southeast China, South China. According to the Sixth National Populati ...

, by the reigning beauty queen, 2004's Miss Peru

Maju Mantilla Maju or MAJU may refer to: Education *Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, Pakistan *Maju Institute of Education Development, an organisation under the Malaysian Indian Congress Transport * ''Maju'' (iron ship), a full-rigged ship built in 1874 *Ma ...

. Mexico (

Dafne Molina Dafne Molina Lona (born February 24, 1982, in Mexico City, Distrito Federal) is a Mexican designer, model and beauty pageant titleholder who represented her country in the Miss World 2005 pageant, held in Sanya, China on December 10, 2005. Biogra ...

Lona) and

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

( Ingrid Marie Rivera) were the first and second runners up. Other contestants who made it into the final six were Miss Italy (Sofia Bruscoli), Miss Korea (

Oh Eun-young Oh Eun-young (; born September 9, 1965) is a South Korean child psychiatrist and television host. She is the host of ''My Golden Kids'', a weekly show that consults children with emotional and behavioral disorders. Oh also operates a hospital ...

), and

Miss Tanzania Miss Tanzania is a national Beauty pageant in Tanzania. History Miss Tanzania started in the 1967 and the participants for the most part were from Dar es Salaam, the winners were however not sent to compete internationally. In 1968, the govern ...

(

Nancy Abraham Sumari Nancy Abraham Sumari is a Tanzanian author, business woman, social entrepreneur and Beauty pageant titleholder. She is the Managing Director of Bongo5 Media Group (T) Ltd, The Executive Director of The Neghesti Sumari Foundation and The Jenga Hu ...

Education and Miss World

In 2005, she studied

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

and planned to proceed with studies to become a lawyer. During the summer of 2005, Unnur Birna did temporary work as a police officer at

Keflavík International Airport Keflavík Airport ( ) , also known as Reykjavík–Keflavík Airport, is the largest airport in Iceland and the country's main airline hub, hub for international transportation. The airport is located approximately west of the town of Keflaví ...

. She was the chairperson of the college social club and teaches dance. She enjoys acting, singing, all types of dancing, snow-boarding, hiking, camping, horsemanship, and has a special talent for choreography and playing the piano. Her mother, Unnur Steinsson, won the Miss Iceland pageant in 1983 and was a finalist at the Miss World 1983 pageant. Unnur's mother was 3–4 months pregnant during the pageant. This was against the pageant rules and warrants disqualification. However, this was not found out until after the pageant was over. Unnur is the third Miss World from Iceland; the former two were Linda Pétursdóttir in 1988 and Hólmfríður Karlsdóttir in 1985. Unnur Birna's reign as Miss World was the shortest ever, which only lasted nine months since the 2006 edition was scheduled in September. During her reign, she traveled to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and many more countries. She crowned her successor,

Taťána Kuchařová Taťána Kuchařová, formerly Taťána Gregor Brzobohatá (; born 23 December 1987) is a Czech model and beauty queen who won the title of Miss Czech Republic and Miss World 2006. In doing so, she made history to become the first woman from th ...

of Czech Republic, on 30 September 2006.

Acting

Unnur has starred in the movie ''The Higher Force'' as Anna – the girl on the dance floor. In 2009, she portrayed a character named Tóta in a movie named ''Jóhannes''.

Commercial model

In 2011, Unnur featured in an advert promoting The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa and tourist attraction in Iceland.

Master of ceremonies

Unnur hosted the "Miss Reykjavik 2010" pageant.

Personal life

On 4 August 2009, Unnur married her long-term partner Pétur Rúnar Heimisson

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilhjalmsdottir, Unnur Birna 1984 births Living people Miss World winners Miss World 2005 delegates Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir