Leilani Dowding
| Leilani Dowding | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Leilani Anne Dowding 30 January 1980 [1] Bournemouth, Dorset, England |
| Ethnicity | English/Filipina (British) |
| Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) |
| Weight | 112 lb (51 kg) |
| Website | |
| http://www.leilanidowding.net | |
Leilani Dowding (born 30 January 1980)[1] is an English former Page Three girl, glamour model, television celebrity, and Miss Universe contestant.
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[edit] Early life
Dowding grew up in Bournemouth, and has a younger sister Melanie. They were brought up Roman Catholic by their Filipina mother Zena, and British father Chris.[1] Leilani was named for her mother's cousin and her name literally means "heavenly flower".[2]
Dowding and her sister attended St Peter's School in Bournemouth. She did well in school, earning eleven GCSEs and three A-levels.[1] She studied for an economics degree at Royal Holloway, University of London, in Surrey, with the intention of becoming a city trader.[3] The then eighteen-year-old entered and won the 1998 Miss Great Britain competition.[4] In Hawaii later that year she became the first woman of Asian descent to represent Britain in the Miss Universe pageant.[1]
[edit] Career
After her success in beauty pageants, Dowding dropped out of university to pursue a full-time modelling career.[1] Although she had not originally considered topless modelling, she started appearing as a Page Three girl in The Sun newspaper in 1999.[1] Her younger sister Melanie ("Mel") Dowding also had a brief career as a model, during which the sisters posed topless together. Melanie is working as a promotional model in the motorsport industry.[5]
In 2003 she was rated #89 on the FHM Sexiest Women in World list.[6]
Dowding has been a guest on various British television shows, modelling on the Big Breakfast and This Morning, and appearing on Faking It Celebrity Wrestling and Celebrity Fear Factor.[7] She has also enjoyed a season in pantomime as Tiger Lilly in Peter Pan.[1]
Dowding appeared on a charity Page 3 episode of The Weakest Link where she lost out in the sudden death round to Jakki Degg. Dowding was competing on behalf of the RSPCA and breast cancer charities.[8] She joked "I look forward to using my brain for the first time in three years."[9]
Dowding has competed in celebrity poker tournaments and done promotional work for Ladbrokes.[1][10]
She also appears in the American TV Reality Show Tough Love Miami as a contestant/performer/particpant, in which she deals with her superficiality in order to find a suitable mate.
She has travelled to Bosnia, Kosovo. Iraq and Cyprus on morale-boosting trips for British troops abroad.[1]
She appeared in the December 2011 edition of US Maxim
Leilani now has her own clothing line Leiluna Collection
[edit] Personal life
Dowding has been engaged to former Wimbledon and Northern Ireland defender Mark Williams and was engaged to Middlesbrough footballer Jérémie Aliadière.[3][11]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Biography". Leilani Dowding's Official Site. http://www.leilanifanclub.co.uk/biography.asp. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
- ^ http://page3.com/girl/leilani_dowding/index.shtml Quote: "Leilani was my mum's cousin's name, it means heavenly flower"
- ^ a b John Aizlewood (2006-01-15). "The top 10 footballers' Page 3 playmates". The Times (London: News International). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article788752.ece. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
- ^ "Student Leylani Dowding carries off the Miss Great Britain Universe honours". BBC News. 1998-03-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/64835.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
- ^ http://www.modelmayhem.com/902154
- ^ http://www.fhm.com/girls/The-Sexiest-Women-In-The-World-2003-20070307
- ^ Leilani Dowding at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ http://archive.dorsetecho.co.uk/2002/4/27/90376.html
- ^ Giovanni Iozzi (2002-07-13). "Jakki has the most up top!". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/life/185539/Jakki-has-the-most-up-top.html. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- ^ http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/12/rajesh-modha-ladbrokes-poker-million.htm http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/news/latest-news/8596/ladbrokes-poker-vegas-dream-packages.html
- ^ http://blog.vh1.com/nggallery/post/meet-the-cast-of-tough-love-miami/image/49187
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leilani Dowding |
