Background and career
Dayana Sabrina Mendoza Uribe (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈʝana menˈdosa]; née Moncada; born 1 June 1986) is a Venezuelan actress, model, film producer, director, and former beauty queen. She is most notably known for winning the Miss Universe 2008 pageant. Mendoza is also widely known for participating in The Celebrity Apprentice 5 in 2012. In 2018, she ventured as a producer and director of films.
Dayana Sabrina Mendoza Moncada, was born on 1 June 1986 in Caracas, Venezuela to Willy Mendoza and María Moncada, from the states of Táchira and Aragua respectively. Mendoza was once kidnapped in Venezuela, and stated that its psychological trauma taught her to remain poised under pressure. In 2001, she signed with Elite Model Management after being Top 15 semifinalist at the Elite Model Look International 2001 held in Nice, France.
Mendoza beat out 27 other candidates to win Miss Venezuela 2007 on 13 September 2007, and became only the second woman representing the Amazonas state to win, following Carolina Izsak in 1991.
She was crowned Miss Universe 2008 at the pageant at the Crown Convention Center, Nha Trang, Vietnam, on 13 July 2008. Mendoza became the first pageant winner from Venezuela since Miss Universe 1996's winner Alicia Machado. Miss Universe 2007 Riyo Mori crowned her with a tiara worth US$120,000. Her prize package includes cash, a year contract promoting Miss Universe, world travel, a rent-free prestigious New York City apartment, a luxury apartment, and a gift bag stuffed with designer shoes, dresses and beauty products, a US$100,000 stipend for a two-year course at the New York Film Academy and free access to famous fashion houses, and beauty parlors. Mendoza will spend her year-long reign traveling the world to lecture on humanitarian issues and to promote education regarding HIV/AIDS. As of June 2009, Mendoza as Miss Universe has traveled to Indonesia, Singapore, Spain, France, Nicaragua, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Bahamas, Russia, El Salvador, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Bolivia, Argentina, Romania, and Vietnam, in addition to numerous trips around the United States and her homecoming in Venezuela. On 23 August 2009, she crowned her successor, fellow Venezuelan Stefanía Fernández, at the Imperial Ballroom in Nassau, The Bahamas.
After photos of Mendoza modeling naked for a jewelry firm surfaced, officials from the Miss Universe Organization decided not to penalize her, saying that the candid photos were not pornographic but "artistic in nature, and they don't have an ounce of pornographic content to them."
On 27 March 2009, she documented a visit to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp on her Internet blog. In it, she was quoted as saying, "[Guantanamo] was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful". She also stated that when she visited the detainees camps, "...we saw the jails, where they shower, how they entertain themselves with movies, art classes, books. It was very interesting." In her home country, president Hugo Chávez publicly reconsidered the praise he had previously given her. The Miss Universe Organization has replied that "...[her] comments on her blog were in reference to the hospitality she received while meeting the members of the U.S. Military and their families who are stationed in Guantánamo". On 1 April 2009, the entry was removed from her blog.
