Shandi Ren Finnessey (born June 9, 1978) is an American actress, model, TV host and beauty pageant titleholder.

The teasing made it difficult for her to focus on her studies, so for her junior year she transferred to the private all-girls Incarnate Word Academy, where she graduated in 1996.

[4] She began working on her Masters in Counseling, also at Lindenwood, but postponed her studies after being crowned Miss USA in 2004.

[12] She represented Missouri in the Miss America 2003 pageant, where she won an evening gown preliminary award but did not place.

[13] During her six-month reign as Miss Missouri USA, Finnessey was involved in such charities as the Variety Club Telethon, St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm Up for local charities, AIDS Foundation, Special Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri and Gilda's Club.

[14][15] She represented Missouri in the April 12, 2004, nationally televised Miss USA 2004 pageant at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles in front of hosts Nancy O'Dell and Billy Bush and judges Jeff Gordon, Jerry Buss, John Salley, Mekhi Phifer, Rocco DiSpirito and Jill Stuart.

She has also worked with Special Olympics, the National Down Syndrome Convention, American Cancer Society and Derek Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation (which helps at-risk kids choose healthier lifestyles).

[2] Finnessey resided in a luxury Riverside Drive apartment in New York City provided by the Miss Universe Organization and pageant co-owner Donald Trump.

The event was hosted by Bush and Daisy Fuentes and the judges included Petra Nemcova, Emilio Estefan and Bo Derek.

[23] Finnessey provided color commentary at the Miss USA 2005 pageant live from Baltimore, Maryland, on April 11, where she was the outgoing titleholder.

On July 23, 2006, she also co-hosted the Miss Universe 2006 pageant live from Los Angeles, California, as a commentator with Carson Kressley.

She again served as a commentator for the Miss Universe 2011 pageant in São Paulo, Brazil along with Jeannie Mai on September 12, 2011.

[31] She also appeared alongside Chris Myers as part of the coverage of the New Year's Eve 2007 Festivities for Fox.

In August, 2010, she appeared on a special "Girls of Summer" week airing of NBC's Minute to Win It on an episode called "Last Beauty Standing."

The episode featured 10 beauty pageant winners competing for $100,000 towards their chosen charities along with a chance to win a $1,000,000 challenge.

[37] She played the role of Stephie in the Roger Corman-produced Sharktopus (2010) which aired on the Syfy Channel three years before the same network made waves with its Sharknado movie franchise.

[38][39] In January 2012, she became one of the original reporters for ENTV News (a branch of TVLine) on a premium YouTube Channel.

[48] She has three brothers (Shane, Damion, and Paul), and her grandmothers' names are Mildred Finnessey and Fern Miller.

[29] According to the press release issued at the time of her first public appearance as Miss USA on April 17, 2004, in New York City, she plays both the violin and piano.

[54] Later that year, she posed nude for a PETA anti-fur campaign opposing the distribution of fur coats as prizes during beauty pageants.