Kenya Summer Moore is an American actress, model, author, television personality, producer
and former Miss USA.
She participated in the 1993 Miss Michigan USA pageant and won the Miss USA 1993 title
while later finishing in the top six of the Miss Universe 1993 pageant.
Moore was the second African-American and Detroit native to be crowned Miss USA.
She currently stars as one of six members in the Bravo reality television series The
Real Housewives of Atlanta since its fifth season premiere on November 4, 2012.
Additionally, she founded the Kenya Moore Foundation, a charity which awards scholarships
to underprivileged girls from her high school alma mater.
Moore will be a contestant on the Celebrity Apprentice season 7, which will air sometime
in 2014.
Early life, modeling and pageants Moore was born in Detroit, Michigan to teenage
parents Ronald Grant and Patricia Moore.
She was raised by her grandmother and aunt after being abandoned by her mother at birth.
After she was born, Kenya was sent to live with her grandmother.
The reality TV show star revealed that her mother never named her.“Since birth, my
mother made the decision at age 16 to pretend she never had me.
She has never spoken to me,” Kenya wrote.
“Even if present in the same room with other people and family, she pretends that I simply
don’t exist.
She pretends I’m invisible" Kenya revealed on her bravo blog.”
She graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1989 and attended Wayne State University,
where she majored in psychology and minored in communication, graduating magna cum laude
She began modeling at the age of 14 being on the cover of the January 1992 issue of
Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company's Ebony Man's magazine.
She also became a model for the Ebony Fashion Fair cosmetic line.
At 22, Kenya Moore won Miss Michigan USA and then became the second African American woman
to win Miss USA.
She then represented America in the Miss Universe 1993 pageant, which she placed sixth in.
Post-pageant career Moore successfully leveraged her pageant wins
into appearances in several television programs including: Video Soul, The Fresh Prince of
Bel-Air, Martin, Homeboys in Outer Space, Sparks, Smart Guy, Living Single, Damon, The
Steve Harvey Show, In the House, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Parent 'Hood, Nubian Goddess,
Men, Women & Dogs, The Parkers, Girlfriends, Under One Roof, and Meet The Browns She has
also appeared on the covers of Glamour, Seventeen, Ebony, and Essence magazines and can be seen
in the music videos for Jermaine Dupri's "Money Ain't a Thang", Shai's "I Don't Wanna Be Alone",
Tupac's "tempataions" and Nas' "Street Dreams".
Additionally, Moore has appeared in several films: Waiting to Exhale, Senseless, Trois,
Deliver Us from Eva, Brothers in Arms, Cloud 9, I Know Who Killed Me, and Trapped: Haitian
Nights.
Since 2007, she has also been producing and directing, and launched her own company, Moore
Vision Media in 2008.
So far, her company has produced an erotic thriller entitled, “The Confidant”.
In May 2012, Moore joined the season five cast of Bravo's The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
In 2013, she released a workout DVD titled Kenya Moore: Booty Boot Camp.
Moore will be a contestant on the Celebrity Apprentice season 7 later on in 2014, a premiere
date not yet announced.
Production Moore was credited as producer/director of
the film Haitian Nights; after the project lost its director for unspecified reasons,
Moore took over the production and completed the film.
When the film failed to find distribution, Moore founded Moore Vision Media, an independent
movie production and home-video distribution company.
The company's first production was The Confidant, released by Universal Vivendi on August 24,
2010.
Filmography References
External links Kenya Moore at the Internet Movie Database
Kenya Moore's Official Website Game, Get Some!
on Amazon.com Trois – Box Office Mojo