Filipina-Indian Beauty Queen Venus Raj

Born as Maria Venus Bayonito Raj on July 7, 1988, our featured Pinay celebrity represented the Philippines in the 2010 Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada, placing fourth runner-up to Mexico's Ximen Navarrete.

She is a mixed Asian, of Indian and Filipino descent. Raised by her mother, a former tenant farmer and dressmaker in the rural town of Bato, Camarines Sur, Miss Venus Raj was not born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth. For twenty years, she lived in a wood and bamboo hut with no electricity in the middle of a rice field.

The Filipina-Indian beauty, who at the Miss Universe pageant stood at 5 foot 9 inches with very slim 22 inch waistline, graduated cum laude at the Bicol University in Albay with a degree in Communication Arts, major in Journalism.

She has been crowned in various pageants: as Miss Bicolandia, Miss Philippines Earth Eco Tourism in 2008, and finally Binibining Pilipinas Universe in March 2010, where she coined the term "major major" in the question and answer portion with American actor William Baldwin.

Miss Raj signed up an exclusive contract with ABS-CBN on January 2011, where she has starred and guested in various TV programs such as Wansapanataym, Maalala Mo Kaya: Korona, Kris TV, Happy Yipee Yehey, ASAP, among others. She is now a regular host of the morning program, Umagang Kay Ganda.

In 2012, she is cast in the movie "Pridyider" by Regal Films.

More photos of our featured Filipina celeb (click to enlarge)!

source: Wikipedia