Mariángel Ruiz Torrealba (born 7 January 1980) is a Venezuelan actress, tv host, singer, fashion model and beauty pageant titleholder. Winning Miss Venezuela 2002 as Miss Aragua, she then placed 1st runner-up at Miss Universe 2003.

Pageant career

Miss Venezuela 2002

Ruiz tried twice for the Miss Venezuela title, the first time in 1998 when she did not place in the top 120 candidates. In 2002, she won the preliminary casting in Maracay, becoming Miss Aragua 2002. Ruiz won the pageant, which for the first time was judged entirely by former Miss Venezuela titleholders.

Miss Universe 2003

One 9 May 2003, the Miss Venezuela Organization announced that Ruiz would not compete at Miss Universe. This was due to strict foreign exchange controls imposed by then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to prevent capital flight, which made the organization unable to send Ruiz to Panama. However, Venezuelan businessman Gustavo Cisneros provided funding for Ruiz to compete in Panama. Mireya Moscoso, then-President of Panama, had urged Cisneros to ensure that a Venezuelan candidate would compete at Miss Universe.

Work on TV

Ruiz has appeared on several TV shows of Venevisión. Her main credits include: She has also done specials for the Miss Venezuela and Mister Venezuela pageants. In October 2005, she started filming the show Bailando con las Estrellas (Dancing with the Stars), which is similar to several other shows in other countries with the same format. Ruiz was threatened twice: she made it through on the first one, but on the second threat she got eliminated.

Personal life

She was born in San Juan de los Morros, Guárico. In December 2005, she announced her marriage and pregnancy to Major League Baseball center fielder Tony Álvarez. Their civil wedding was the same month, and their religious wedding was held on 28 January 2006. Ruiz gave birth to a girl named Mariángel Victoria, in August of the same year. The two divorced in 2008.

Publicity

Ruiz has worked with several companies to promote their products, those include:

Modeling

In November 2008, Ruiz posed for the cover of the prestigious Venezuelan Urbe Bikini magazine.