Olivia Culpo is a very known and beautiful reality TV celebrity and an influencer who became a star after being crowned as Miss USA in 2012, after which she became Miss Universe the same year.
This was a huge accomplishment for her but also her country because she brought the title of Miss Universe to the US after 15 years. After this great success she became a known model and an actress, and recently a businesswoman who owns her own restaurant in Rhode Island.
Early years
She was born as Olivia Frances Culpo on May 8, 1992, in a city called Cranston, located in Rhode Island in the United States.
She was born into a loving family of Susan and Peter Culpo. She has four more siblings and she is a middle child amongst them. She always got along good with her brothers and sisters and they were always very close.
Her father was a restaurateur and worked in Boston but he played a musical instrument just like her mother who learned her all about music and motivated her to start learning playing cello.
Olivia has been playing this instrument since her early childhood but had continued doing that in her beauty pageants shows and continued doing it until today.
She once stated that she felt being separated or different from other children, especially since most children thought her instrument was boring but as she grew older she was grateful because she had become aware of the great talent she has.
She has spent most of her summers in band camps where she played the cello. She explained in one interview how she was annoyed by the size of her cello because when her friends wanted to go out and she wanted to join them she couldn’t have done it because the cello was too big to fit in any car her friends drove so she would always go home after school instead of going out.
She has spent her childhood in a neighborhood called Edgewood. Her name is connected to Italy since her parents are of Italian descent. A part of her is Irish through her mother’s family.
She was a student at St. Mary Academy – Bay View Catholic School located in Riverside. Her family is Catholic so it is no surprise that she was enrolled in a Catholic School.
She eventually entered Boston University but didn’t finish and graduate from the university.
She was a student of the 2nd grade when she started playing the cello and she became a part of a few orchestras like Rhode Island Youth Orchestra, Chamber Ensemble, and All-State Orchestra. She was a student at Brevard’s Music Center located in North Carolina.
Career development
She was a huge surprise after she won the Miss Rhode Island competition in 2012 because she had never been a beauty pageant.
She has explained how come her first pageant was when she was 18 years old. It was because she wanted to become an actress and wanted to work on her stage presence and public appearances so she thought that entering the pageant show would help her in it.
She thought it would make her more recognizable and maybe someone would be caught her talent.
She always spoke about Halle Berry and her start in pageants and today she is a very popular actress.
She impressed all the judges with her beauty and talent and she was a favorite from the start. Her hometown Cranston gave her a huge homecoming celebration after she returned with her crown.
She even received the key to the city from its Mayor Allan Fung who thanked her for her work and the fame she brought to her hometown.
In December 2012 she continued her beauty pageant story by representing the United States in the Miss Universe pageant which took place in Las Vegas in Nevada. In the end, she had won this competition too and brought the crown back to the United States after 15 years.
She also became the first girl from Rhode Island to become the Miss Universe. She has received her crown from Angola’s titleholder, Leila Lopes.
In 2013, a year after she has receives the crown she went to Indonesia where she was involved in crowning the winner of Miss Universe Indonesia, commonly known as “Puteri Indonesia” in that country. She has visited a lot of places while she was there: Yogyakarta, Bali, Jakarta and more.
Olivia was also involved in HIV prevention campaign for the United Nations so she hosted a few meetings and discussions with the youth in Indonesia. They were held in the US Embassy.
In the summer of 2013, her name was added to the name of Albert Avenue in her hometown which was a way for her city to honor her great success and engagement. The same year she visited the Trump Tower which is located in New York where she walked for Sherri Hill on a fashion show held there.
In 2013 she joined the crew on the new Miss Universe pageant held in India. The winner was Gabriela Isler, from Venezuela, and Olivia crowned her as the New Miss Universe.
Due to her great success in winning the Miss Universe pageant, Olivia gathers an enormous fan base on all her social media accounts, from Instagram to Twitter which gave her an opportunity to work for a lot of fashion brand and she got involved in work with beauty products.
Olivia became an influencer that way and wasn’t just shopping there – she wanted to become a serious businesswoman so she had opened her restaurant in Rhode Island. She did it together with her family. It was in 2017 and the restaurant is called “Back 40”.
She explained that she had a passion for cooking from an early age and that her family was always into cooking meals and having parties, mostly serving Italian food so she was thrilled when she found out that she has a talent for it also.
In 2018 she made it to the covers of “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue” which was a huge success since a lot of beautiful and talented women wanted to be in that magazine too.
She has increased her net worth by advertising various products for a lot of beauty brands such as L’Oreal.
In 2018 she made a TV appearance in an American documentary series which aired on E!. It was a reality show named “Model Squad” and it followed the life of top models and social media influencers like her.
It was filmed in 8 episodes and she starred in it alongside Shanina Shaik, Daniela Braga, Ping Hue and more.
In 2018 she has even appeared in two movies: in a comedy movie, “I Feel Pretty” with Amy Schumer where she played the role of Hope and in an action thriller movie called “Reprisal”.
This Brian Miller’s movie included the appearance of a lot of stars like Bruce Willis and Frank Grillo so she was very honored to star in it. She played the role of Christina, Jacob’s wife. Jacob’s role was played by Frank Grillo.
The movie was not a success at the box office but it was a great experience for her. She was grateful for every role she gained because she feels that only practice can make her performance prefect and give her the chance to show her great acting skills.
She has also appeared in a TV movie called “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” where she starred as herself in the role of Miss USA in 2012.
She appeared in various talk shows and one of them was “Live with Kelly and Michael”.
She was involved in a controversy in 2013 because she violated India’s Heritage Act by having a photo shoot in front of one of the most important India’s monuments: Taj Mahal.
The Miss Universe officials stated an apology because of conducting commercial activity on the ground of Taj Mahal. Olivia broke the law by showing off her high heeled shoes in her campaign for a known footwear brand.
Personal life
Olivia became known worldwide in 2013 when she started dating Nick Jonas, a famous American singer. They stayed together for 2 years and eventually got separated in 2015.
After that, it was rumored that she is romantically involved with Tim Tebow, a football player. In 2016 she started dating Danny Amendola, also a Detroit Lions football player. They were together until April 2019 when they finished their turbulent relationship.
She is very close to her family, especially to her four siblings but her parents Peter and Susan (who are both musicians) are her greatest supporters.
As for her personal preferences, she is a big fan of peanut butter and loves ti have a cheat day at the Dunkin’ Donuts. Her favorite actor is Tom Hanks and she is also a huge fan of Nicki Minaj.
Her greatest role model is Audrey Hepburn and she had watched all of her movies several times. She had worked with Amy Schumer and claims that Amy is one of the most talented people she knows, especially since comedy niche is so hard to do.
She loves to cook and often tries out new recipes and even makes up her own. She posts about it on her Instagram account, as well as placing her videos of playing the cello.
She is known for her beautiful eyebrows today but in her teenage years, she was ashamed of it and was often mocked about them. Today she points them out with her make-up and loves the way they round up her face.
Olivia says that she loves to meditate and that it calms her down and makes her peaceful. Her work can be very stressing, especially when she travels a lot but she keeps herself calm by doing meditation.
She likes to travel for vacation and posts a lot of photos from places she visited on her Instagram.
She has over 4 million followers on her Instagram account and she communicates with them often so the number will only go up.
Quick summary
Full name: Olivia Frances Culpo
Date of birth: May 8, 1992
Birthplace: Cranston, Rhode Island, United States
Age: 27
Profession: model, beauty pageant winner, actress, host, Miss America, Miss Universe, social media influencer
Height: 166 cm
Weight: 52 kg
Net Worth: $4 million