Daisy Fuentes extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Daisy Fuentes
Daisy Fuentes
Born	Daisy Fuentes November 17, 1966 (1966-11-17) (age 42) Havana, Cuba
Occupation	Model and Hostess

Daisy Fuentes (born November 17, 1966 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban-born American model and television personality. Daisy Fuentes broke barriers as MTV's first Latina VJ (Signed to MTV US and MTV Latin America simultaneously), and as Revlon's first Latina spokesperson to be signed to a worldwide contract.¹² Fuentes is an international TV personality, TV producer, fitness and beauty expert, and mogul. She is considered a role model for the growing millions of Latina-American women in the U.S.³

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Philanthropy 4 Personal life 5 Biography 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Fuentes was born in Havana, Cuba to a Cuban father and Spanish mother. When Fuentes was three years old, her family fled the island due to political turmoil and moved to Madrid, Spain. Years later, she and her family moved to Newark, New Jersey. Fuentes did not speak any English, and her Latino schoolmates had trouble understanding her heavy Castilian accent. Fuentes toned down her accent, and learned to speak English, while watching I Love Lucy episodes. Soon thereafter, she moved with her family to Harrison, New Jersey, where she attended Harrison High School, was voted Homecoming Queen, and graduated class of '84. Fuentes started modeling during her senior year in high school. While studying communications at Bergen Community College, she was hired as the weather-girl for WNJU-TV, the Telemundo New York affiliate station. Shortly after, she moved on to New York's Univision affiliate where she became the weather anchor and reporter for the evening news.²

Career

Daisy Fuentes was first hired in 1988 as the host of "MYV Internacional", a one-hour Spanish-language music show aired in Latin America and the USA. Later, Fuentes moved to MTV, where she achieved name recognition as one of that network's more popular hosts and soon was courted by companies to be a spokesmodel.⁴ She later landed a role on the ABC soap opera Loving. Fuentes appeared on shows such as Dream On, The Larry Sanders Show, and Cybill. From 1994 to 1995, she hosted her own talk show, Daisy, on CNBC. She was the host of America's Funniest Home Videos from 1998 to 1999. She hosted The ALMA Awards, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, the 1998 World Music Awards, the 1999 Billboard Latin Awards, and the Miss Teen USA, Miss USA, and Miss Universe pageants. She Guest starred in the TV series Queen Of Swords episode "Runaways" 2000.

Daisy Fuentes has appeared on many magazine covers and has starred in nationally televised ads for Revlon, Pantene, American Express, M&Ms and others. Fuentes also appeared in Fitness magazine's September cover. She was the first Mind, Body, Spirit Superstar, which was created to generate awareness of top women's health causes and work to promote change.⁵ In 2005, Fuentes appeared on the three page cover of People en Español's "50 most beautiful" women.⁶ Fuentes has hosted numerous TV shows and specials such as The Miss Universe Pageants, Fashionably Loud, America’s Funniest Videos, MTV’s House of Style, CNBC Talk All Stars, Eco Zone, Ultimate Style, and Countdown To The Latin Grammys which earned Fuentes an Emmy for outstanding achievement as host.⁷⁸ Currently Daisy is set to host and Co-Executive produce the nationally syndicated show American Latino.⁹

In 2004, Fuentes successfully launched the first clothing line bearing her name, sold exclusively by Kohl's Department Stores.¹⁰ In June 2007, her clothing line came under intense scrutiny after the National Labor Committee reported that they were using a Guatemalan sweatshop to produce their clothes. According to Charles Kernaghan, director of the NLC, the factory workers earned $0.90 to $1.12 per hour. In response, Kohl's stopped selling a few styles in Daisy's clothing line.¹¹

On August 4, 2009, the video game Daisy Fuentes Pilates was released for the Wii. It is the first pilates game for the console.¹² Fuentes is writing her first book, entitled Unforgettable You, to be published by Simon and Schuster in the Spring of 2010.¹³

Philanthropy

In addition to her work as an actress and model, Fuentes has become actively involved in charity, helping raise money for breast cancer research and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Daisy Fuentes speaks often in support of charities including the March of Dimes and Starlight Children’s Foundation.¹⁴¹⁵ Fuentes has been the celebrity chairman for the annual St. Jude Angeles & Stars gala in Miami since its debut in Miami more than 5 years ago, raising millions of dollars for this organization.¹⁶ Fuentes has also worked with many breast cancer awareness causes such as the Revlon / UCLA Women’s Breast Cancer Research program. In 2007, Fuentes worked for Girls On the Run, a non-profit prevention program that encouraged preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.⁵

Personal life

She currently resides with her fiancé, ex-Bros member Matt Goss, twin brother of actor Luke Goss, in the Los Angeles area, with their two dogs, Alfie and Rita, who were featured on National Geographic's show Dog Whisperer.¹⁷

Biography

Education:

• Harrison High School, Harrison, New Jersey - high school diploma (Class of 1984)
• Bergen Community College, Paramus, New Jersey - (majored in Communications)

Height:

• 5 ft 10in (1.77 m)

Husband:

• Timothy Adams (actor: high school sweetheart; married in 1990; divorced in 1994).

Relationships:

• Luis Miguel (singer; met 1991; together from 1995 to 1998)
• Currently engaged to Matt Goss.

Claim to fame:

• As an MTV VJ

Breast cancer activist:

• Fuentes received an award at The Wellness Community West Los Angeles Tribute to the Human Spirit Awards dinner for her commitment to spreading breast cancer awareness, particularly in the Latino community.¹⁸

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Daisy Fuentes

• Daisy Fuentes at the Internet Movie Database
• World Poker Tour profile

Preceded by Bob Saget	Co-Host of America's Funniest Home Videos with John Fugelsang 1997–2000	Succeeded by Tom Bergeron
Preceded by Amber Valletta and Shalom Harlow	Host of House of Style 1997-98	Succeeded by Rebecca Romijn