Kenya Moore (1971- ) is an American beauty who was Miss USA in 1993, the second black woman to win the title. She is also an actress, but even now, nearly 15 years later, she is still better known for her beauty than her acting.
She has beautiful eyes, a pretty face, deep, dark brown skin and a wonderful figure. She has long black hair from the Native Americans on her mother’s side of the family. So far as I know she is all natural.
She grew up in Detroit, brought up by her grandmother. She went to Cass Technical High School, the magnet school that Diana Ross went to – and Carole Gist too, the first black Miss USA!
After Cass, Moore studied psychology at Wayne State University and started modelling. She appeared in over 30 magazines and on the cover of at least Glamour, Seventeen, Ebony and Essence.
She entered beauty pageants too. In 1993 she won Miss Michigan and then Miss USA. She went to Mexico for the Miss Universe pageant. The Mexicans booed her as an American but she came in fifth place all the same.
After Miss Universe she gave up modelling: “I grew breasts. I had an ass. They didn’t want that on the runway!”
So she headed to Hollywood to become an actress.
She has had small parts on many television shows, like “Fresh Prince”, “The Steve Harvey Show” and “The Parenthood”.
She has also appeared in several films.
In “Waiting to Exhale” (1995) she was the other woman to Whitney Houston. She was in “Deliver Us from Eva” (2003), starring LL Cool J and Gabrielle Union, a friend of hers. She has been in several other films, most of them forgettable, some going straight to video. In 2007 she appeared in “I Know Who Killed Me” starring Lindsay Lohan.
Her best film so far is “Trois” (2000). She played the lead female character who agrees to have a threesome with her husband and another woman. Reviewers called her performance “memorable”, “impressive” and “riveting”. They also noticed her “striking looks”. She helped to produce the film. It did well for an independent, black film.
Moore says Hollywood is not what it seems. For example, she says that John Singleton would not give her a part in “Baby Boy” (2001) because she would not sleep with him. On top of that he made sure Fox never hired her. She says Union has had the same sort of trouble, but wonders about Sanaa Lathan.
She has appeared in only one music video: “Sweet Dreams” (1998 ) by Nas. She was his girlfriend both in the video and off the set. They went together for four months. But she says that after a while, “the parties and the hang-on girls and the spoils of new success took him away from me.”
In 2007 she came out with a new book, “Game, Get Some!” in which she tells men about women in sports terms. She also got married.
Last update: December 22nd 2007
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Wed 5 Dec 2007 at 06:51:25
[...] an interesting post today on Kenya MooreHere’s a quick [...]
Wed 5 Dec 2007 at 17:11:54
Kenya Moore is truly a beauty and I hope she go far with her talent for acting. She would have been a great actress have Hollywood haven’t set up such rigid ideas of what a Black woman should act and look.
I, for one was very elated when she won the Miss USA pagent back in 1993.
Kenya Moore, I salute you.
Stephanie B.
Wed 5 Dec 2007 at 20:43:53
She’s one of the most beautiful women in the world. She wasn’t a supermodel because those gay modeling agencies and designers couldn’t handle her big breast and her big booty. They was afraid that they might turn straight.
Thu 6 Dec 2007 at 15:17:44
[...] Kenya MooreBy abagondKenya Moore (1971- ) is an American beauty who was Miss USA in 1993, the second black woman to win the title. She is also an actress, but even now, nearly 15 years later, she is still better known for her beauty than her acting. …Abagond – http://abagond.wordpress.com [...]
Wed 14 May 2008 at 05:43:26
A true black goddesss..
Fri 26 Sep 2008 at 02:38:55
She is a knockout from head to toe!
Fri 31 Oct 2008 at 22:24:03
One of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in the industry! Damn!
I didn’t know that she and Nas were a short-lived couple. I also never knew of the Singleton incident. You learn something new everyday. (Out of curiosity, where did you find out this info, I can’t find too many interviews or articles about her on the internet)
You know me, I have to “correct” some things (LOL):
She isn’t married and never has been.
Also, “Street Dreams” was not the only video she’s starred in. She also appeared in the clips for Shai’s “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” and Jermaine Dupri & Jay-Z’s “Money Ain’t A Thang”.
Tue 17 Feb 2009 at 02:19:56
Kenya Moore is gorgeous and she has also appeared in Keith Washington’s video “Stay In My Corner”
Tue 17 Feb 2009 at 06:49:42
Pretty. She looks like Natalie Cole.
Tue 17 Feb 2009 at 22:10:11
I see what you mean.
Thu 28 May 2009 at 17:26:14
she wears weave
Thu 28 May 2009 at 18:27:18
Kenya’s hair has always been her own. Black people have hair too.
Thu 28 May 2009 at 19:26:43
^^^
Thank you, Lynette. I’m so sick of people making that implication. Especially when they are black themselves.
Thu 28 May 2009 at 19:59:37
That is my greatest pet peeve. It happens to me much too frequently.
Thu 28 May 2009 at 21:53:33
Word. Another pet peeve that’s related is when they act like black women who are not light-colored (A.K.A. the vast majority) aren’t supposed to have long hair. That’s what I think may drive the speculation that beautiful women like you and Kenya get.
Thu 28 May 2009 at 22:08:10
You are really sweet. I do think that it is strange to them to see dark-skinned or brown-skinned women with long hair. I always feel that is why I appear so strange to many.
Thu 28 May 2009 at 22:49:42
Yeah, I guess seeing black women in the normal black shade range (medium brown to dark brown) is going against stereotype for many. Funny, the majority of black women who did a long length of hair usually were in the normal shade range.
Ananada Lewis, Keisha Knight Pulliam, Lark Voohries, Maia Campbell, Zoe Saldana, Jayne Kennedy and the late Aaliyah are other examples of black female celebs who have naturally long hair. And no, none of them have a white parent or could be described as “light skinned blacks”.
Thu 28 May 2009 at 22:52:57
i would describe aaliyah as a light skinned black
Thu 28 May 2009 at 22:56:22
You are so right! My sister and I had this talk earlier. She stated that most Black women with naturally long hair are dark skinned.
All of those women you named are so beautiful. I always thought Maia Campbell was gorgeous.
Thu 28 May 2009 at 22:59:26
I wouldn’t describe Aaliyah as light-skinned. She was definitely a brown girl. I would describe Alicia Keys as light-skinned.
Fri 29 May 2009 at 00:05:00
i disagree what vanessa said. just because some black women that’s brown skinned or darker that wear weaves doesn’t mean all of them do. i’ve seen plenty of black women with brown or darker skin with long thick hair. i used to have long hair when i was younger and people would come to me at times saying, “is that your real hair?” i guess people are used to seeing light skin women with long hair and assume that because you’re not light, you’re hair must be fake. i hate it sometimes because black women do have hair on their heads and don’t always have to go out and buy them. even though my hair is not that long, sometimes i still get comments wondering if it’s mine. but i choose to ignore it because i know it’s real.
Fri 29 May 2009 at 00:24:29
^^^
Exactly, Lynette. Co-sign on the previous two comments.
As I think back, the three black women who I’ve encountered who had the longest textures of hair were Nigerian, Haitian and Jamaican. Long hair is merely a human trait. Why would anyone with sense be surprised to see anyone with it?
As we all know, Color is completely subjective. What’s “light skinned” to one person may be “dark” to another. Who’s wrong?
Maia Campbell IS gorgeous. I think every guy had a crush on her back in the day when she was on “In The House”. It was a three way tie betwen her, Tatyana Ali and Regean Gomez-Preston as the “baddest” sitcom chicks of the ’90s! LOL.
Fri 29 May 2009 at 00:42:46
LOL.
Thu 18 Jun 2009 at 18:34:13
Kenya Moore is a beautiful black woman who deserves much respect. She is in the category of Lisa Raye and Tyra Banks, who of course are lighter skinned beautiful black women. It’s 2009 now. We have a black president. So what we need to do is embrace darker skinned black women in the media, movies and magazines.
Fri 19 Jun 2009 at 01:36:58
Tyra Banks is “lighter skinned”? Since when? Compared to who? A Dinka from Sudan?
I didn’t know LisaRaye was a household name either.
Damn, I learn something new everyday!
Fri 10 Jul 2009 at 07:23:21
I ADMIRE YOU FOR YOUR MORALS
Sat 15 Aug 2009 at 03:08:42
Any female of color or what American society considers “black” can have long hair without being “mixed”, having indigenous parents, or etc. Most women that naturally has none straight hair buy perms to try to make their hair more straight because “society” have them thinking that their natural hair in is not pretty. “She got that good hair”, sounds familiar? Then after they buy the perms that break their hair off and make it short, they turn around and buy hair weave. Women should be proud of their natural hair and not care what anybody else thinks or say. But if a woman with coarse hair wants her hair straight and long, stay away from the perms. The black women I have personally seen with the longest natural hair did not have perms. Their hair was straightened with a hot comb. I know because I asked them. The sad thing is that millions of American women do not know that. The information definitely is not on TV. and American “society” wants women with coarse hair to have low self esteem and/or waste their money trying to have straight hair.
Sat 26 Sep 2009 at 07:53:58
hello