Childhood & Early Life
Olivia was born Olivia Frances Culpo, on May 8, 1992, in Cranston, Rhode Island, and has been raised in the Edgewood neighborhood of Cranston. Her father, Peter Culpo, is a restaurateur and a co-owner of several Boston businesses, including the 'Parish Café' and 'The Lower Depths Tap Room.' Olivia is of Italian ethnicity and also has Irish roots from her mother Susan Culpo's side. She has two older siblings named Pete and Aurora and two younger siblings named Gus and Sophie.
Olivia began learning to play the cello in second grade. Her interest in music was influenced by her parents, who were also musicians. Olivia has performed with the 'Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestra,’ the 'Rhode Island Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble,' the 'Bay View Orchestra,' the 'Rhode Island All-State Orchestra,' and the 'Boston Accompaniett.' For two summers, she attended the 'Brevard Music Center,' in Brevard, North Carolina.
Olivia attended the 'St. Mary Academy',' Bay View, and later went to 'Boston University.'
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Career
Olivia's modeling career began with her signing a contract with the Boston-based modeling agency 'Maggie, Inc.' in 2010. She won the 2012 'Miss Rhode Island USA' competition, the first beauty pageant she had participated in. Following this, she won the 'Miss USA' title on June 3, 2012, and qualified to represent the US at the 'Miss Universe' pageant.
On July 6, 2012, Allan Fung, the Cranston mayor, honored Olivia with a “key” to the city in a homecoming celebration in honor of her 'Miss USA' pageant win. She was crowned 'Miss Universe 2012’ by the previous year's title-holder, Leila Lopes, from Angola, on December 19, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Olivia is the eighth 'Miss USA' and the first Rhode Islander to win the title.
In January 2013, Olivia visited Indonesia. As part of her tour, Olivia traveled to Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bali, and Jakarta. She hosted a conference to address young Indonesians on the prevention of HIV. The conference was organized by the 'United Nations Population Fund.' She was accompanied on stage by Whulandary Herman, the ‘Puteri Indonesia 2013.’ .
On August 25, 2013, Cranston's city council renamed a section of Albert Avenue (where Olivia had grown up) in her honor.
Culpo is a spokesperson for efforts against breast and ovarian cancer and works in collaboration with organizations such as the 'Susan G. Komen for the Cure,' the largest breast cancer organization in the US.
The same year, in September, Olivia walked the runway for designer Sherri Hill at the 'Trump Tower' in New York City. Her next destination was India, where she did a photo shoot at the Taj Mahal. The shoot dragged her into a major controversy.
Olivia made her film debut with the 2014 comedy 'The Other Woman,' in which she had a cameo. Additionally, she was featured in the music videos 'Jealous' by Nick Jonas and 'Amor' by Emin Agalarov.
Olivia Next appeared as ‘Gretchen,’ the girlfriend of ‘Johnny Faust,’ played by Andy Biersack, in the 2017 supernatural musical thriller film 'American Satan.'
In 2018, Olivia made a guest appearance on the reality show 'Hell's Kitchen' and appeared in the 'E!' documentary series 'Model Squad.' She appeared as ‘Hope’ in the comedy 'I Feel Pretty' and as ‘Christina’ (wife of ‘Jacob,’ played by Frank Grillo) in the action–thriller 'Reprisal.' Olivia will be seen as ‘Kate’ in 'Tired Lungs,' which is still in the pre-production stage.
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Olivia was featured in the 2018 and 2019 editions of the 'Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.' The ‘Swimsuit Issue’ is published annually by 'Sports Illustrated.' She has been featured in campaigns for brands such as 'L'Oréal' and 'Kipling.'
Olivia ventured into entrepreneurship in 2017, when she teamed up with her father to start 'Back 40,' a country-style, all-American cuisine restaurant in her home state of Rhode Island. The name 'Back 40' represents the restaurant's location, an estate behind a farm in North Kingstown, south of Providence and near Cranston. Olivia and her father are silent financiers of 'Back 40,' while the venture is primarily run by her cousin Joshua Culpo and a partner named Justin Dalton-Ameen.
In 2018, Olivia unveiled her clothing line, which she had designed in collaboration with 'Marled by Reunited Clothing.' The exclusive range offers jumpsuits, dresses, dressed-up sweats, and statement-making tracksuit sets, which reflect Olivia's personal style statement. The collection is available on 'revolve.com.'
Controversies
Soon after being crowned 'Miss Universe,' Olivia became part of a controversy. Her victory was questioned and many claimed it was pre-decided by the then-pageant owner, Donald Trump. Because of this controversy, Olivia withdrew from judging the 2015 'Miss USA' pageant.
In 2013, the 'Archaeological Survey of India' (ASI) filed a complaint against Olivia and the 'Miss Universe' officials for violating India's ‘Heritage Act.’ Olivia had reportedly done a promotional photo shoot in front of the Taj Mahal. India's ‘Supreme Court’ strictly bans any commercial or advertising activity on Taj's premises. The 'Miss Universe' committee, on behalf of Olivia, later apologized to the body and said that the act was not intentional.
The popular 'Instagram' account 'Diet Prada' trolled Olivia for promoting a dress under her fashion line. The dress was apparently a rip-off of an outfit from another brand. Interestingly, Olivia had worn the same outfit at an event in Ibiza in 2018.
