Nathalie Marquay was the first Miss France elected live on television. After her, more and more winners of a competition that went from a family status to a very large audience were able to take advantage of their victory and their exposure to begin a career in entertainment, cinema or television.
Companion of Jean-Pierre Pernaut Miss France 1987 remained a known face to the French since she embraced a career as an actress after her coronation.
She succeeded Valérie Pascal (Miss France 1987) who also remained in the visual field of the French. In addition to her life as an actress, she has presented various television shows, notably teleshopping.
Sophie Thalmann (Miss France 1998) Élodie Gossuin (Miss France 2001), Camille Cerf (Miss France 2015), Delphine Wespiser (Miss France 2012) or Mareva Galanter (Miss France 1999) work or have worked for television. The latter has also released five music albums.
Among the cathodic careers, that of Laury Thilleman shines even more than the others since Miss France 2011 presented live broadcasts such as the Fête de la Musique or the Victoires de la Musique before being offered in August 2024 to replace Raphaël de Casabianca at the presentation of Rendez-vous en terre stranger, the magazine created by Frédéric Lopez.
Linda Hardy (Miss France 1992), Sonia Rolland (Miss France 2000) have taken off in cinema or series. Born in Kigali (Rwanda), Sonia Rolland also became a director.
There are also unique destinies in recent years, such as that of Marine Loiseau (Miss France 2013). After her coronation, she resumed her medical studies. Having become a general practitioner, she also joined the Health Magazine presented by Jimmy Mohamed on France 5 since the start of the 2024 school year.
That of Sylvie Tellier (Miss France 2002) is also very special. If she continued to gravitate around Geneviève de Fontenay after her election, she ended up becoming general director of the Miss France company before leaving her post in 2022, replaced by Miss France 2005, Cindy Fabre.
Finally, recent years have been marked by Iris Mittenaere, Miss France 2016 who became Miss Universe 2016, 64 years after the coronation of Christiane Martel.
Her successors have, above all, increased their notoriety and their image by associating themselves with beauty products, by becoming muses, becoming models or by collaborating with brands via their social networks: Indira Ampiot, Miss France 2023 and her 430,000 followers on Instagram, Miss France 2022, Diane Leyre, (562,000 followers), Amandine Petit, Miss France 2021 (644,000 followers), Maeva Coucke, Miss France 2018, (392,000 followers)…
Vaimalama Chaves, Miss France 2019 (524,000 followers) is also an ambassador for Air Tahiti and has released a record (she plays the ukulele).
Ditto for Alicia Aylies, Miss France 2017 (438,000 followers) who released the title Mojo in December 2021 and in the clip of which feature former Miss France.
The only certainty at the moment for the latest queen, Eve Gilles, Miss France 2024, is an aspiration for a part of her previous life. In an interview with Parisian where she reveals that she suffers from a rare disease, she indicated that she intended to resume her studies in mathematics. “It’s certain that I will finish my degree, I want to complete my bachelor’s and master’s degrees to keep the doors open” she said, specifying that she plans to resettle in her native North.
episodes of our series
On the occasion of Miss France, which will take place in Poitiers (Vienna) on December 14, La Nouvelle République has decided to introduce you to several aspects of this extraordinary competition.