Born in the Santurce district of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Olavarría was an expressive and eloquent child. Those qualities made her embark in the world of beauty pageants, TV hosting and modeling since she was a teenager. At age 11, she won her first beauty pageant, "Miss Reina Infantil" and became the host of the famous Puerto Rican child game show Contra el Reloj con Pacheco ("Against the Clock with Pacheco").
At age 18, she started out as a model by competing in Elite Model Look Puerto Rico's Competition, where she placed third. This served as a springboard to develop a long modeling career where she has enjoyed success, achieving over 20 magazine covers and publications in Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, Miami, New York, and Puerto Rico.
Many awards have been given to her for her trajectory, including two awards for "Best Female Model" and a recognition as a Puerto Rican "Top Model". She also received the "International Model Ambassador Award" at the Chicago Latino Fashion Week in 2007, and another recognition as "Outstanding Model of the Year" in the Latin Pride National Awards.
Beauty pageants
Olavarria's history with pageants started at age 11, when she won her first beauty pageant, "Miss Reina Infantil". When she became 18, she competed in Elite Model Look Puerto Rico.
After graduating from college, Olavarría was headed towards a Master's degree in Entertainment Law as well as a career with Elite Model Management when she decided to temporarily change her path and participated in the Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2005 pageant, where she won the crown representing the municipality of Salinas in October 2004.
She represented Puerto Rico in Miss Universe 2005 pageant held in Bangkok, Thailand on May 31, 2005. Olavarría became the first Puerto Rican in the Miss Universe history to place 1st Runner-Up. One of her 1st Runner-Up duties included attending to the crowning ceremony of Miss Indonesia 2006 pageant, on behalf of the Miss Universe Organization.
Given her success in beauty pageants she has been invited to be a judge in several international beauty pageants, along with hosting some of them. Including to host "Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2018 and 2019 pageants for WAPA-TV and WAPA America.[1]
Acting career
After finishing her undergraduate studies and returning from Miss Universe, Olavarria began taking acting lessons with actresses Elia Enid Cadilla, Flor Nunez, Sebastian Ligarde and Hector Zavaleta, in order to become an actress. Her television debut was as the protagonist of a mini-series called Cuando el Universo Conspira in 2005. Later she made her theater debut by playing a major role as a princess in the child-oriented play La Princesa de los Ojos Tristes. In 2006, she appeared in Victor Manuelle and Sin Bandera’s musical video entitled Maldita Suerte.[2][3] In 2007, she landed the protagonist role in the first-ever online telenovela for the Hispanic market, Mi Adorada Malena,[4] which was produced by Univision and broadcast on its website. Due to its success, it was later broadcast nationally on the network.
In July 2010, she landed the role of Lucy Saldana in Telemundo's telenovela-thriller Alguien Te Mira.[5] She plays a crazy massage therapist that is obsessed with one of her coworkers, and will stop at nothing to destroy his marriage so she can have him. In December 2010, she also played the main role in the music video of Jencarlos Canela's new single, titled Mi Corazon Insiste.
In 2011 she signed a contract with Telemundo Studios and became an Exclusive talent for the Network.[6] In April 2011, she filmed "Mi Corazón Insiste" My Heart Beats For Lola Volcán as "Sofia Palacios ,and in 2012-2013 was part of the telenovela El Rostro De la Venganza[7] as Diana Mercader. [8]
In August 2013 Cynthia won the "Best Supporting Actress Award" in "Premios Tu Mundo" for her role as the good natured Diana Mercader in the telenovela-thriller El Rostro De La Venganza.[9]
As much as Cynthia enjoyed winning a "Tu Mundo" for interpreting angelic/good natured roles she also feared the award might typecast her indefinitely in such characters. However, early in November 2014 People en Español magazine announced that Telemundo Studios had cast Cynthia in a stellar villainess role in Tierra De Reyes,[10] a remake of the highly popular Colombian telenovela "Pasion De Gavilanes". This time she would be interpreting the diabolical, Isadora Valverde, a dangerous and obsessive woman who runs a drug cartel and who obsesses in a love triangle between actors Fabian Rios and Aaron Diaz.
In 2015, she won the "Best Villain Award" for that role.[11]
In 2016 she moved to the Dominican Republic to film "Loki 7" as Kandy Canovas and later that year made a special appearance in the movie "Juan Apóstol, El Más Amado", filmed in Almeria, Spain.[12]
In 2021-2022 she filmed "La Mujer De Mi Vida" in Telemundo Global Studios Miami.
Television
Her hosting career started at an early age when she became the host of Contra el Reloj con Pacheco.
In 2007, Univision recruited her to become the official Runway Coach of the hit reality show Nuestra Belleza Latina which airs on the Univision network. There she held an active role in this position for three years total (2007–2010) while also doing work for other Univision sister networks. In February 2010 she moved on to work for GalavisionUniMás, as a news correspondent and co-host of Acceso Maximo.
Cynthia also worked for Univision's rival network Telemundo as the host of Decisiones Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican adaptation of the Telemundo's series Decisiones. In 2008, she also hosted a Miss Universe special titled “Intimamente con Miss Universo” for Telemundo. The one-hour show follows the steps of Miss Universe 2008, after winning the title.
In 2013 she became the official host of A & E Network for an exclusive coverage of "Festival Viña Del Mar" in Chile. Olavarria had one on one interviews with Ricky Martin, Jesse & Joy, Melendi and Carlos Vives.[15]
Early in 2013 it was announced that Cynthia will be starring in Top Chef Estrellas, a Latin American version of the reality cooking television show Top Chef that will air Telemundo with stars competing for their choice of charity.[16]
From 2016-2018 Olavarria moved to LA, to work on a Reality Show , empowering woman to become the best version of themselves. It aired on Azteca America.
In 2019 she joined ABC Puerto Rico to host "Primetime", a variety and entertainment daily show.[17] In 2020 she was the Fashion Reporter for ABC Puerto Rico's Oscars Ceremony.
In 2021 she was invited by Telemundo Network to be apart of "Las Nuestras", a Tv Show to discuss several topics related beauty pageants, alongside Lupita Jones, Dayanara Torres, Estefanía Fernández, journalist Luis Alfonso Borrego Univision and actress Aylin Mujica Telemundo.
Present
Her life flashed before her eyes the summer of 2018 after a snake bite in the middle of a photo shoot in Miami. “They told me the venom wouldn’t leave my body within 12 months… I thought it will leave sooner but it was worse with the months” said sobbing Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2005.
Doctors had told her “you probably won't be the same person, you will have to use a machine in your leg, so you can be able to walk.[18]
Cynthia is always active on Social Media, an is well known as a Beauty, Fashion, and Lifestyle Influencer. She's also a Social Media Manager, Pageant Consultant, and Runway Coach, on her successful online platform: "Proyecto Missma".
In 2024 she published on Instagram that has a big announcement to make.
^Alequín, Héctor Aponte (23 August 2013). "El triunfo emociona a Cynthia Olavarría -VÍDEO" [The Triumph Excites Cynthia Olavarría -VIDEO] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
