Kenya Moore

Kenya Summer Moore
Born	Kenya Summer Moore (1971-01-24) January 24, 1971 Detroit, Michigan, United States
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Beauty pageant titleholder
Title	Miss Michigan USA 1993 Miss USA 1993
Hair color	Dark brown
Eye color	brown
Major competition(s)	Miss USA 1993 (Winner) Miss Universe 1993 (Top 6)

Kenya Summer Moore (born January 24, 1971) is an American actress, model, author, and producer. She was the 1993 winner of the Miss Michigan USA title, going on to win Miss USA 1993 and finishing in the top six of the Miss Universe 1993 pageant. She is also the creator of the Kenya Moore Foundation, a charity which awards scholarships to under-privileged girls from her high school alma mater.

Early life

Moore is African American, born in Detroit, Michigan and was raised by her grandmother and aunt. She is a graduate of Cass Technical High School (also the alma mater of Carole Gist, the first African American Miss USA titleholder). After high school she attended Wayne State University, majoring in Psychology.

Pageants

Moore competed in numerous beauty pageants in 1993; first becoming Miss Michigan USA, then Miss USA 1993. Moore was crowned by outgoing titleholder Shannon Marketic of California. Moore became the second Miss USA titileholder from Michigan and the second African-American winner ever, and then competed in Miss Universe 1993, where she finished fifth. At Miss Universe 1993, Kenya was heavily booed after becoming one of the 10 semifinalists. This may have been attributed to Kenya's entry into the top 10, while Miss Mexico 1993 failed to make the cut.

Acting & music videos

Moore has acted in movies including Deliver Us from Eva and I Know Who Killed Me. She co-starred in the independent film Trois which also starred Gretchen Palmer and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation star Gary Dourdan. Trois went on to become one of the highest grossing African-American films of 2000 [Domestic Total Gross: $1,161,843]. She has appeared on the cover of several major magazines, including Glamour, Seventeen, Ebony and Essence.

Moore has also been featured in several music videos, including R&B group Shai's "I Don't Wanna Be Alone", rapper Nas' "Street Dreams" and the Jay-Z & Jermaine Dupri Grammy-nominated hit "Money Ain't a Thang".

In 2010 Moore starred in the film Trapped: Haitian Nights.

Starting in spring of 2012, she began filming as the one of newest housewives on The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Producer

Moore's first produced-by/director credit was a feature entitled Haitian Nights, written by Obba Babatundé and Marc Cayce. After the project lost its director for unspecified reasons, Moore took over the production and completed the film. "Haitian Nights" was nominated for Best Narrative Feature in the 2009 Black Film Festival.

Since Haitian Nights' failure to find distribution, Moore has founded Moore Vision Media in 2008, an independent movie production and home video distribution company According to her Facebook, the company was officially launched at a gala in Miami Beach, FL.

The first production under her company's banner was the erotic thriller The Confidant which stars Moore, Billy Zane, Boris Kodjoe, David Banner, Bai Ling, and Richard Roundtree. The movie was released by Universal Vivendi August 24, 2010 .

TV appearances

• Video Soul - Guest Hostess
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1994) — Dana
• Martin (1996) — Lena Bozack
• Homeboys in Outer Space (1996) — Nefertiti
• Sparks (1997) — Ms. Collins
• Smart Guy (1997) as Vivian Kennedy
• Living Single (1997) — Lisa DeLongpre
• Damon (1998) — Julia Burton
• The Steve Harvey Show (1998) — Miss Gerard
• In the House (1999) — Valerie Bridgeforth
• The Jamie Foxx Show (1999) - Heidi Junk
• The Parent 'Hood (1999) — Celeste
• Nubian Goddess (1999) — Host
• Men, Women & Dogs (2001) — Carmen
• The Parkers (2002) — Herself
• Girlfriends (2004) — Kara
• Brothers in Arms (2005) — Mara
• Under One Roof (2008) — Moose
• Meet The Browns (2009) - Tamiko
• The Real Housewives of Atlanta (2012) - Herself

References

Trois (2000)

External links

• Kenya Moore at IMDb
• Kenya Moore's Official Website
• Game, Get Some! on Amazon.com
• Trois - Box Office Mojo