Jennifer Hawkins (born 22 December 1983) is a beauty queen and television presenter from Newcastle, Australia.

Jennifer Hawkins represented Australia at the internationally televised Miss Universe 2004 pageant held in Quito, Ecuador on 1 June 2004. She became the first Australian to make the semi-finals since 1992, and then proceeded to the top ten after competing in the evening gown competition. After the swimsuit competition, Hawkins advanced to the top five, and eventually won the Miss Universe title. The remaining top five were all from the Americas and Caribbean, and included Shandi Finnessey of the USA (1st runner-up), Alba Reyes of Puerto Rico (2nd runner-up), Yanina Gonzalez of Paraguay (3rd runner-up) and Danielle Jones of Trinidad and Tobago (4th runner-up). Hawkins was the first winner from Oceania since Lorraine Downes of New Zealand held the title in 1983, and the first Australian since Kerry Anne Wells in 1972.

Hawkins was crowned by outgoing titleholder Amelia Vega from the Dominican Republic, after famously being announced by host Billy Bush as the “thunder from down under”. She wore an unusual vintage copper gown designed by her stylist Paris Dwyer a decade before.

* In August 2006, she became ambassador for Grand Waterfront, a joint residential development between Henderson Land Development and its associate the Hong Kong & China Gas Company in Hong Kong. Full front page colour photographs of her have appeared as advertisements in several Chinese language newspapers; Minute-long glamorous advertisements for the development have been aired on primetime television in Hong Kong with Hawkins as the principal subject.
* In November 2006, Hawkins endorsed a range of Asus laptops in Sydney, Australia, at which the company donated the proceeds of an Ebay sale of a special edition pink S6 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

* In January 2007, it was announced that Hawkins had signed a deal with Australian Department Store Myer worth $4million (AUD).

20 pictures in the gallery

read comments (0)