Alicia Machado was born on 6th December, 1976 in Yaracuy, Venezuela. She is the 4th woman from Venezuela to win the Miss Universe crown. She won the Miss Venezuela 1995 pageant representing Yaracuy. Though she was not quite the favourite during the Miss Venezuela contest yet she defied all those for whom she was not their favourite by her continuous hard work for this contest and training herself hard, up to 14 hours a day which included catwalking, picture posing, oratory, English, etc...Ultimately she swept away the Miss Universe crown.

However controversies soon followed after winning the crown when suddenly she started gaining weight which she attributed to the wisdom tooth. The Board of Directors were not happy with this and it even annoyed the President who forced her to work out in front of the photographers

When she returned the croqn to her succesor, she started working as an actress performing in telenovela "Samata" winning the Nidia Awards as best actress. She's worked on a number of telenovelas, and she's still as beautiful as she can be.

One of the most controversial beauty queens in history, she has followed a short television career with a new foray into music. In 2004 she launched the Latin American segment of her new album by performing onstage at the Miss Venezuela pageant, appearing as an honored guest along with the country's first Miss Universe, Maritza Sayalero.

Among the controversies that have followed her career is a supposed rivalry with fellow former Miss Universe Amelia Vega, who is also breaking into the Latin American music industry. Another was the breakup of her engagement to major league baseball star Bobby Abreu in May, 2005. Abreu, an idol in the Latin world and an icon in Venezuela, split with Machado after she was filmed being intimate with another man on "La Granja" ("The Farm"), a Spanish program similar to Big Brother. They were planning to wed in December