Melanie Winiger, is a former Miss Switzerland

Miss Switzerland

Miss Switzerland is a Swiss beauty pageant for young women. Candidates are selected by television viewers and a jury. The winner is awarded the title Miss Switzerland...

 winner and current film actress and model

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

.

Early life

The daughter of a German speaking

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 Swiss national and a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n origin, Melanie Winiger was brought up in Ticino

Ticino

Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...

, the Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 region of Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Modelling career

After winning Miss Switzerland in 1996, Winiger began working as a model in Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, and Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 in the late 1990s. Around the same time, she gained notoriety in Switzerland as a TV host and endorser of the Italian boutique chain Oviesse.

Acting

In 2003, she starred in the Swiss movie Achtung, fertig, Charlie!

She subsequently moved to Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, where she attended the West Hollywood branch of the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute

Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute

__notoc__The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute is an acting school located at 115 East 15th Street between Union Square East and Irving Place in the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, as well as at 7936 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California...

 until 2005.

Since then, she has starred in both American and Swiss film and TV productions, including Sonjas Rückkehr, Love Made Easy, Breakout, and Heldin der Lüfte.

In 2008, she starred in a TV commercial for Moschino

Moschino

Moschino is an Italian fashion design house and manufacturer of women's, men's and children's fashion.-History:The brand was originally created in 1983 by the late Franco Moschino...

, which was aired in several European countries.

On 28 August 2008, she hosted the draw for UEFA Champions League groups, which took place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco

Monaco

Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

. She hosted the draw again at the same place on 26 August 2010, this time for 2010–11 Champions League

2010–11 UEFA Champions League group stage

This article details the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League group stage.The group stage featured 32 teams: the 22 automatic qualifiers and the 10 winners of the play-off round ....

 and again on 25 August 2011 for the 2011-12 Champions League. Winiger was the host for the opening ceremony at the 61st FIFA Congress

61st FIFA Congress

The 61st FIFA Congress was held between 31 May and 1 June 2011 at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland. FIFA is the governing body of world association football, and the congress is the annual meeting of FIFA's supreme legislative body. This is the eighth congress to be held in Zurich, and the...

.

Personal life

Melanie Winiger has a son. In 2008, she married the Swiss rapper, Stress. On September 13, 2011, they announced their relationship to be over.

She is fluent in Italian, German and English.

Theatre-releases

• 2003 – Ready, Steady, Charlie!
  Ready, steady, Charlie!
  Ready, Steady, Charlie! is a 2003 Swiss movie production directed by Mike Eschmann, starring newcomer Michael Koch, beauty queen Melanie Winiger and comedian Marco Rima...
  
   (Achtung, fertig, Charlie!), Swiss Army comedy (Swiss-German)
• 2006 – Love Made Easy, Road movie (English)
• 2007 – Breakout
  Breakout (film)
  Breakout is a 1975 action film starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Robert Duvall, John Huston, Sheree North and Randy Quaid.Harris Wagner frames Jay Wagner . In order to keep him silent, Jay is incarcerated in a Mexican prison. In the actual event, Vasilios Basil Choulos flew a helicopter...
  
  , Youth drama (Swiss-German)

TV Films

• 2006 – Sonjas Rückkehr, Social drama (Swiss-German)
• 2008 – Heldin der Lüfte, featuring REGA air rescue
  Rega (air rescue)
  The Rega is the air rescue service which provides emergency medical assistance in Switzerland, notably in mountains but also in cases of life-threatening emergencies elsewhere. They will also return a patron to Switzerland from a foreign country if they are in need of urgent medical care. Rega was...
  
   (Swiss-German)

External links