Television personality and former beauty queen Susie Castillo was born on January 6, 1980 in Methuen, Massachusetts. Born to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother, she grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts, when her father left the family. Forced to take on multiple jobs to support her family, as well as her education, she began modeling at a young age. By the time she turned 16, she is already a veteran of the modeling scene, having appeared in numerous teen-oriented magazines and advertisements.
Castillo’s rise to fame got a boost in 1997, when she beat over 40 contestants to become Massachusetts’s representative to the following year’s Miss Teen USA pageant. Although she eventually placed 13th—that year’s title was won by future colleague Vanessa Minnillo—she won the pageant’s Clairol Herbal Essence Award. She later entered, and graduated from, Endicott College with a degree in interior design.
Not giving up, Castillo went on to represent her state in the Miss USA pageant in 2003. Already the state’s first Latina titleholder, she went on to win the national title. This made her the United States’ representative to that year’s Miss Universe pageant, which was held in Panama; she didn’t make the final ten, again landing at the 13th slot. The title eventually went to Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic.
Castillo went on to take hosting gigs on television, notably becoming one of the on-air personalities of MTV. Aside from hosting the channel’s flagship show, TRL, she helped in launching its sister Latino channel, MTV Tr3s. She later left the network to pursue an acting career, appearing as a guest on shows such as My Wife and Kids and House of Payne, and in the 2007 film Underdog. She still continued pursuing her hosting career, recently heading the reality show America’s Prom Queen and later, the co-hosting the dance competition program Superstars of Dance with Michael Flatley.